Having A Child With Unique Needs...

Having a child with unique needs makes for an interesting household. We have a couple diagnosis for T-Boss. One is a physical diagnosis: Dandy Walker Variant. The other is neurological: Sensory Processing Disorder. 

At another time, I will write more about what it was like to get either of those diagnosis. Today is more about how we deal with his diagnosis now....

T-Boss is a bright, happy boy. That being said, there are things about him that we just don't know where they come from because they don't fall under the current diagnosis he has. It baffles the school where we get extra help with homeschooling as well. There are days when things just go like clockwork: he remembers everything he is supposed to do and the order to do them in, he can follow more than one direction at a time and school comes easy. There are other days, that for no particular reason, he forgets everything, He looks at you like a deer in the headlights, he appears to have forgotten how to do his schoolwork and just following one simple direction confuses and frustrates him. Why? We don't know. 

This year is his three-year re-evaluation at school for receiving services. (He has been getting help since birth, but they re-evaluate every three years.)There are many different things that they test for to make sure he is still eligible for services. This year they are adding a cognitive test. His cognitive is all over the place as far as we can tell and it depends on the day as well. Some days, he reacts to things more like a 5 year old than an almost 9 year old. Other days, he is right on par. And that is just the neurological. Throw in the physical aspect and most days he is doing things much younger than his age.

Part of what we do for him is making sure he has the scaffolding to help on the days when he seems to forget everything he is supposed to be doing. Most often it is simple things like when to feed his pets or even remembering to feed them. On most days, I don't have to even remind him, but then those weird days come along and it's like he doesn't even realize it was a chore of his. Same with the flow of day. Most days he remembers what comes first, next, last. Other days, he will get dressed, eat breakfast and jump to sitting on the couch waiting to go to school.Totally forgetting what is supposed to be happening in between. 

Something we started doing two years ago was making picture flow charts for him. These are great reminders for him on the bad days and makes it so we don't have to constantly nag. These are also great for learning new tasks. 

Today is the day for making new ones. Every now and then tasks change or the order of the day changes. Because I make these specifically for him and then laminate them, new ones are required for changes...

So...yesterday and today, I sat at DHS in the foster parent waiting room working on blogging and flow charts....

If you have a child with unique needs, I would love to hear your techniques in helping them through their day!