"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be." - Shel Silverstein

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Eeeewwww, I Ain't Touching That!!!

Many of you can relate to what its like to have a kid with sensory issues. Marissa has difficulty handling certain things because of the way they feel. This issue goes beyond her simply not wanting to touch certain items. It also affects the way she eats, or will eat in the future. Her Occupational Therapist has been heavily concentrating on getting her to work through her sensory issues so we can attempt to get her to eat without gagging and throwing up because of the textures. The first step, though, is being able to touch these items with her hands and also being able to tolerate them touching her face.


These are a few of the items she has trouble with, or has had trouble with in the past: A fuzzy sock, creepy tentacle ball, slimy goo, and cotton.

She has overcome her issue with the sock and the slimy goo. She has almost conquered the cotton but the tentacle ball still really creeps her out. At the end of the summer,we finally got her to put her feet and hands in the grass. However, without grass to play in over the winter, I am sure she will regress somewhat.


Marissa's OT has her sit in her high chair every session and gets her to try touching the different items. The next pictures and video show that she has come a long way in overcoming her problem with shaving cream. About a month and a half ago, if you even so much as put the shaving cream on her tray, she would gag and throw up! She then got comfortable enough with it that she could touch it, then her OT tried putting it on her baby's face. You should have seen it. Marissa was actually yelling at us! She couldn't believe how we were torturing her poor baby. Well, as you can see, she has overcome that now. Yay!!









I love how she tries to detract from the situation by dancing. That's my girl!!

She is so proud of herself for being able to touch the sock. You should see her cheer and clap for herself, too cute. I am so proud of her too. It has got to be pretty scary being her sometimes.

9 comments:

Nana and PaPa said...

Even though I know this is a huge challenge and hurdle Marissa has to go through, she is just so darn cute! I know she's come a long way already and still has a long way to go, but it is so much fun watching her react and progress. She makes me laugh! Keep up the good work Rissa Roo!
Love & hugs,
Nana & Papa

Michelle said...

Wohoooo!!! Way to go Rissa! Keep up the great work!

Love you!
Auntie Chelle

Dana said...

O.k. that creepy ball would freak me out as well. :) Good Job Marissa. Baby steps are what we love!!

Hope said...

WTG Marissa! To be honest, I can't stand slimy goo, I get chills touching it. lol Marissa is just the sweetest thing.

Janay said...

Totally understand the tentacle ball, Milo also has no interest in touching such a thing. If it gets in his way (or mom throws it at him) he will move it by picking it up with on tentacle and look disgusted while he does :0)

Good job with the shaving cream!

Janay

Tamara said...

Hi there, thanks for following my blog! Your daughter is so sweet!!!!! I love the video of her dancing!!!!! Oh my goodness its SOOO funny and warms my heart!!!! If you don't mind I would like to add you to my list of blogs I follow. Also, not sure if your interested, but If you'd like I would love to add marissa to Prayers for Little Angels, my other blog. If you go to my site you can click on the button to be re-routed there to see what it's all about. Let me know your thoughts? E-mail me, would love to hear from you! Think of you and your sweet little angle!

Tara said...

That girl cracks me up! I love her dancing/distraction technique. What a character!

Elizabeth said...

She is doing great. Even in the short time I have been following the blog she has really come a long way. She is getting so big and really comunicating well.

Miss and love you guys.
Lots O Love

Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

There is a video on my blog where I am trying to get Anabella to hold a flour tortilla in her hands. I hand it to her and she makes this totally grossed out face. So funny!

I've seen little plots of grass that people give to cats to eat(weird)...maybe that will be good to rub on Marissa's feet during these winter months. Or it being winter justs means your going to focus on other things now.

Love the videos!