Brushes, and pressure and potty trainging...Oh my!

During a therapy visit not to long ago we were given a tool that helps with hitting the feelers. This lovely device is called the Therapressure brush. It is, Ill admit, pretty cool.

This brush contains very fine, and soft to the touch, bristles that are great for kids who have sensory needs. He likes it and it keeps him calm before the process of bed or nap time.

We received this brush as part of a sensory diet package my boy is supposed to be on. When he uses the brush you can see something amazing happen. He smiles, is real gentle with it, and really takes in everything he is experiencing. It's great. If you apply a little bit of pressure it feels like a great soft and gentle massage. He absolutely loves it.

That being said there are only certain times of the day when he wants it and that's right before nap and bed. Now, my son is supposed to be on a sensory diet and sometimes the diet works and we manage to say on top of it and then other days life happens and he gets a good dose of his sensory toys later in the day. I will say it's great in calming him but it is not something that will replace his other sensory needs. Like flapping. He loves flags and seeing things flap, but, for him,  his Therapressure brush won't sate that need. So, if you are thinking of adding it to the routine just know that in my experience it does not replace the other sensory needs. It will help, but doesn't take away those other important sensory needs.  

Links for sensory brushes posted in the post script area of this blog. :-)

Anyway, I find that if my son isn't convinced it's something worth trying he won't, but because good old Mom tried it he was able to and I must say it was relaxing for me to try it with him and walk him through how to use it. Now he is an old pro and will seek out his brush himself.

Another sensory need of my little man's is pressure. I say this, but I should specify that he likes pressure only on his hands and feet and only when falling asleep, If you have a child like this good news...I think I have come up with and awesome pillow that can help. More details and a pattern to come later in June.

Pressure is something that kinda makes me nervous and a little paranoid. How much pressure can I apply to my kids hands and feet? What about things that are weighted...etc. etc. etc. Well we tried the weighted blanket and he asked for that thing to be removed quicker than you can say it, and once it was removed he said, "No. No blanket. No blanket baby." Then spent the rest of that hour repeating those words. It certainly was not a favorite. This has become ritual, applying pressure to his hands and feet happens every night. He will not go to sleep with out that pressure. If he doesn't get that pressure to his hands and feet he has a super hard time calming, never mind sleeping. Anyway, like I said, I have a wicked cool idea for a pillow that can apply that kind of pressure...hopefully it works...stay tuned for more details on that.

And last but not least we come to the dreaded potty training bit of the blog. Lets just say we are still in the beginning phases of potty training and they are not easy. My son has the added bonus of gluten intolerance as well as being lactose intolerant. It makes for some interesting days. We don't have to many accidents but when they happen they happen big. So, I've had to get a little bit more creative when it comes to the being prepared. Here are three tips to keep you ahead of the accidents....

1. Belts. I don't know about you but when my son has an accidents it is usually because the little general has come out to play. If you're kid will wear a belt go ahead and try it. Putting a belt on them will ensure that they don't mess around and pull stuff out that they're not supposed to.

2. Don't ask...INSIST. I try not to ask my son if a potty break is necessary before we leave to go somewhere...I INSIST. Meaning that I take the time to fight him to get him to go to the bathroom because I know giving him the option means he'going to say "No, no potty baby."

3. Always check them regularly, and change accordingly.

Now, this list is for those whose kids are still in the trainers mode. But if you follow these rules along with you're potty training rules you won't have too much of a messy golden/brown experience.  Take it from the Queens of preventing accidents.

Anyway as I write this I can feel the sandman throwing bricks of sand at me saying, "What the hell I worked hard to get those kids of your's to sleep so that you could sleep. Don't waste my sand."

So, I better hit the hay quickly before a kid wakes and sleep deprivation kicks in. As always thanks for reading. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook at, https://www.facebook.com/FindingK and twitter at, https://twitter.com/FindingK2010 .

With Gratitude,
Amber Jones

P.S. Links to where you can find the Therapressure Brush and a less expensive sensory brush. Enjoy!!

http://www.amazon.ca/s?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Therapressure&index=kitchen&search-type=ss

http://www.nationalautismresources.com/sensory-brush.html

What is the formula?

At 4:46 ....A.M. I woke slowly to a little voice. "Mama lie down? Mama lie down?" Somewhere in Mom brain I realized I have approximately 30 seconds to lie down with him to keep him asleep. For some reason I never listen to this voice. This voice tries to save me precious sleep and I always try to ignore it thinking that I can get creative with my bundle of cuddle. Telling him to "go lie down" or "Mommy will be there in a second." It always fails no matter what I say to the extreme of bribing he doesn't go back to sleep by himself and sure enough that 30 seconds passes and I am awake with the 3 year old. The trick to Keltanys going back to sleep is pressure on his hands and feet. It doesn't have to be continual it just has to happen in his stages of grogginess, and he's out like a light, and the world makes sense again. If only it were that easy some days. The trick to even getting Keltanys to sleep is a combination of melatonin and pressure on his hand and feet and no where else. At first I had some really big reservations about using something that would aid him to be groggy. "What kind of Mother would do that to their kid?" Well I can tell you a little story that propelled me to even think about opening the bottle.

For about 6 months after he turned three we experienced what some would describe as child induced insomnia. My son like clock work would wake at 10 A.M. Go down for a small nap at 1 P.M. and then be up till 2 or 3 in the morning. Then back up again at 9 A.M., 10 A.M, .or even 8 A.M. the next morning. It was less than ideal. Part of him staying up was his under sensitivity to movement that I will discuss another time. Anyway, our melatonin runs well so we were exhausted by 11 P.M. plus we were both working not to mention I was pregnant with our second. In a sleep deprived state we walked into the library one day and Will found an amazing book called, "Healing our Autistic Children." Now as a side note, when I first read the title I was not impressed and to be honest still am not a fan of the tittle. I think Autism is not something that needs to be completely healed. I don't mind my kids repetitive behavior, or his sensory preferences, because they are important to him and I think are there for a reason. What I do care about fixing or "healing" are his tummy and sleep issues.  In that book Julie Buckley, M.D. talks about melatonin usage. My husband was really gong ho about all the information. I on the other hand was skeptical to say the least of anything that could help heal my autistic son. But one thing overruled all of my senses and that was sleep deprivation, that was making me cranky and eating copious amounts of chocolate. So, I said why not. I wasn't getting any nicer and my waist line couldn't handle the pressure.

We got home from the local Wal-Mart and waited for 8 P.M. to hit before we opened that bottle. I was nervous honestly,  always second guessing our decision. Wondering if we were good parents for giving something to our child as a sleep aid. I know I had read over and over how melatonin works and that it is not dangerous even for kids, but second guessing doesn't discriminate between good information from the crap you drum up in your head. 8 P.M. came and we halved a 3 mg for our little man. In 30 minutes we saw Keltanys go from high intense running all over the place to, sitting and doing all the bedtime procedures, to asking for "Momma to lie down", to asleep. I was so nervous that I stayed up most of the night checking him ( he slept in our bed that night) to make sure he was alright because it had been many a night that he was up and I just wasn't used to seeing him with his eyes closed.  In the end he was fine and so were we.

He still get's the 3 mgs at night around 7:30 P.M. There is one thing, however, that the melatonin did not help and that was the need for "Momma lie down?" Like clock work every morning my little man at around 4 A.M. will wander over to our bed, rub his eyes and reach for my hand to drag me back to his bed so that I am there to give his little hands a feet the loving pressure he needs to get back to sleep, and I don't think I would have it any other way. There was a time when touching him was a big no go. But that is another story for another time. I'm just so grateful for the wake up call that tells me my differently wired Son still needs me. And I wouldn't trade that for the world. See ya in a post.....

With Gratitude,
Amber