The 1.7 pound difference

A week ago the occupational therapist suggested that we try using a weighted vest to increase Olivia's attention span. I didn't know anything about weighted vests but we're willing to try anything that might help. Olivia's first experience with the weighted vest was Monday during Occupational Therapy. The vest itself is pretty simple, it's a cloth vest with several pockets where weights can be added. The standard weight is 5% of the patients weight so in Olivia's case it's just 1.7 pounds. You wear the vest for 10-15 minutes and then if it is effective then the effects can last for up to 2 hours. The vest seemed to have calming effect on Olivia. As soon as the vest was on Olivia took her chewy tube out of her mouth, she stopped trying to chew the toys. Normally I have to hold Olivia on my lap during Occupational therapy to prevent her from running away and wandering around but with the vest on Olivia calmly sat and interacted with the therapist. It really was very interesting to watch. Olivia wore the vest for about 10 minutes but then during the rest of the session she seemed much more calm and able to follow directions. The entire thing was very interesting.

The speech therapist forgot the vest on Thursday but she brought it with her to Friday's session. Speech is more structured than Occupational Therapy. Olivia wore the vest for about 10 minutes at the beginning of the session and again it seemed to make a big difference. Olivia sat at the table throughout the session and even sang along with the "Wheels on the Bus" song and labeled some objects in a book. Fridays are busy days around here, speech is at 9am for 45 minutes followed by school from 11am to 12pm. When the teacher arrived she noticed immediately that Olivia seemed much calmer. Olivia was able to focus and follow directions so much better today. She purposefully played with the toys that the teacher brought and was able to complete several simple tasks with more independence than she's demonstrated previously. The difference really is quite remarkable.

I'm beginning to look forward to our next appointment at UNC Center for Development and Learning in July as part of Olivia's 12 month post-transplant studies. I won't go so far as to say that it doesn't still sting deeply when I think about Olivia's academic future but I am becoming more comfortable about navigating the world of special education. We'll be meeting at the end of the month to revise Olivia's IEP and I'm actually looking forward to the meeting instead of dreading it.