More On Therapy

Yes, I have been missing in my blogging. We just have been so busy with field trips, horse riding lessons, finishing up school for this year, and just enjoying ourselves with park days, family time and playing with friends. I mentioned before we chose to go with a not so conventional therapy with Selena, horse therapy. There are so many types of therapy that are suggested, more conventional therapies, from one on one counseling to ABA therapy. Every child responds differently to therapies, keeping that in mind we chose to keep with Selena’s interest and go with horse therapy.

The down side is that this is not covered under our insurance and costs us $180.00 a month. Still not a bad price. Selena is learning so much about horses, the changes that take place in a pregnant horse, to why horses mouths are the way they are. She is now learning to communicate with the horse, this involves leading a horse with no lead rope, but instead having a tail whip. No, you don’t whip the horse, it just represents the tail which is representative to the tail of the horse. Horses do talk, they do whisper, they do express themselves with their tails.

This is not the best picture but it is a picture of Selena leading Faye without any lead rope. The other aspect to the therapy is learning to be in total charge, relaxed, in charge of herself, confidence and in charge of the horse. This comes through riding. Let me say the first few times it was hard for Selena to mount the horse, the first time she had to learn to let go and become one with the horse, using her arms like the horses wings, flying through the air. She is swiftly moving from following a ball around the arena to riding independently.

The idea behind following the ball is that it gives the child something to focus on, the child or rider has to guide the horse to the ball so the horse will kick the ball, then no matter what direction the ball goes in the child or rider has to follow it. Sometimes the ball gets jammed against the wall, so now comes the problem solving skills as to how do I get the ball out of this situation while on the horse?

She has now moved on to riding through the obstacle course. Which consists of many obstacles, even a balance beam for the horse to cross.

What have we seen from this therapy? More confidence in Selena. She is willing to go play with friends without me. She is willing and even suggests field trips for the homeschool group. She has a sense of pride for her accomplishments. She is learning more about relationships and how to be a friend as well as how to receive a friend.

This might not work for every child because not all children like horses like Selena does, but for us it is working. My suggestion is to do your research and find what will work for your child.

Guest Post

Natalie at Planet Smarty Pants asked me to write a guest post for her about twice exceptional children. I encourage you all to go read it and then check out the other’s who are sharing their wisdom on this topic through the Hoagies Gifted Education Blog Hop.

The Autistic Side

Remember in this post I talked about the gifted side, and when we began to know that Selena was gifted. Actually from the time Selena was born we suspected there was something not quite right, it wasn't horribly wrong, but she had quirks. Even as a new born she didn't like being swaddled, held to tight, formula dripping on her hand, chin, or clothing, but on the other hand she was so alert, and in tuned to the world around her. I remember at about 6 months old, Selena was laying on the floor, as I was watching a Tennis match on the TV, her little head shifted from right to left as her eyes were glued to that little tennis ball on the screen. She was a very rigid baby and did not like her schedule changing one bit, though she was not a fussy baby, always happy go lucky.

Her first experience in a nursery with other children, without us was before she was a year old. The look on her face as children began to appear was a look of fear, horror, and stress. She didn't whimper or cry but you could tell she did not like this situation one bit. On numerous occasions she would attempt to escape from the nursery, and as soon as we showed up to pick her up she would sob, laugh, cry, and run to our arms all at the same time.

Through out the years we questioned her quirks as a Sensory Processing Disorder. We watched for all sorts of signs, was she sensitive to noise, light, particular textures or odors. The more we watched the more often Autism or Spectrum Disorder would come into the discussion. We took her to Occupational Therapists to have her assessed for sensory issues only to be told that she did not meet the criteria for Sensory Processing Disorder.

She was the one in a group of kids who would take the leader roll and it was not always a pleasant site to see, it could be very embarrassing as she lead the other children astray from what they were suppose to be doing. Yet, she was such a quick learner and even when it seemed she wasn't paying attention she could come home and tell you every single word the instructor or adult had said.

It wasn't until we moved when Selena was 4 that we began to see the full scale changes taking place. She loved the new house, but she missed the old house so bad that she sat and cried for hours. This was the time when the meltdowns began. For a child who never threw a fit in her tender first years, she could sure poor them on at age 4. We had so many different opinions being thrown at us from ADHD, Bipolar, Anxiety Disorder, until finally we heard PDD-NOS Autism, which was the one opinion we could clearly except. Autism was the one we questioned all the time, could she have it? It was the one who fit the puzzle.

Colleen at Raising Lifelong Learners, has an excellent post that discusses the twice exceptional child. I encourage you to go take the time to familiar yourself with her knowledge in this area. I am going to be spending a lot of time writing about what we have learned, how we deal, and how being both gifted and Autistic affects everything in our daily lives, as well as Selena's learning curve.

A Look Into The Day With A Twice Exceptional Child

What is a Twice Exceptional Child? If you caught my post here, you will quickly discover the definition, to put it in laymen terms, this is a child who is Gifted, but has a learning disability. In our home this means a Gifted child with Autism. The Autism brings a lot more then just anxieties, behavioral issues, but also deficits in her learning. I am sure Selena is dyslexic, which is the greatest struggle for her with her handwriting and lack of desire to color and do art.

I love asking Colleen from Raising Lifelong Learners questions, and chatting with her over the answers. She has a way of being informative, yet helping me to think outside the box as to how our school days can be just right for Selena. One of the latest questions I asked her was, "Does she struggle with a child who excels in a subject, yet struggles with the simple concepts?" She directed me to her post on Asynchronous Abilities. I read this post once before, but had forgot it's content. It was great to refresh my memory.

I thought I would share just what a day looks like in our home, homeschooling a Twice Exceptional Child.

 It is not unusual to find Selena in the mornings before school begins cuddled in blankets reading all my resource books. I keep science, and history reference or text books out and available for her to read anytime she desires. These are not children books, but most are my college text books, or reference books I have picked up at used curriculum sales. This is the best way I know to get her learning juices flowing, and spark questions for extra curriculum studies.

 By 9:00 is independent study. I am still working with her on Math and Penmanship, remember, I feel strongly that Selena is Dyslexic, so I kind of hover over these two areas, to try to train her to make her circles in the right direction, and to slow down and think about how she is forming her letters and numbers. Another reason I hover over math, is that while Selena can figure out a lot of hard math problems, and story problems, she has yet been able to memorize her math facts.

We have two sets of phonics, one that covers the basic phonics, because here again while she is a very advanced reader don't dare ask her to give you a rhyming word for CAT. Then we have our more grade leveled phonics where she is right at home in working with more complex phonics concepts. I loved the fact that she did not like the fact that the book called a raccoon just a coon, and had to write raccoon instead of coon. I know she missed a "c" in the word, but hey this was independent work, and she spelled it the way it sounded to her.

After all her independent work is finished, and we have done our together reading it is break time for lunch and for Selena a little nap. Yes, she still takes a nap, in part due to her medication, and also because she doesn't sleep well at night. At this point she is usually ready for an hour or hour and half nap, or a time to just shut off.

 I usually ask her to draw and dictate a story all on her own. I will write the dictation for her. She prefers to do this on the white board rather then on paper, which is perfectly fine with me. She puts a lot of imagination into this and it is fun. In the picture above she drew an alien with an alien duck that came to Earth from Saturn.

Remember this picture? 

Now it is time to research what she read from my reference books. On this day she chose to research the Monarch Butterfly. We do a journal page for her Science scrap book, among other fun coloring or what coloring I can get, and diagrams. We also use a lot of YouTube to reinforce the information she is learning. 

Sometimes we play games or do a lot of hands on learning. One of Selena's favorite games is Scrabble, we also like to use the letters just to practice making words, phonics, practice spelling besides always finishing up with a good game of Scrabble. 

Homeschool wouldn't be complete without life skills. Selena is a great helper when it comes to shopping. She will make the grocery list, help me find the items in the store, check prices, and also thinks it is fun when the clerk allows her to help scan the items at check out. She loves to help me in the kitchen, rather it be stirring, chopping, or cleaning. Some days she vacuums or dusts for me. We definitely have a full day, but of course we always make time for play. 

As you can see, I am challenged to meet two ends of her learning curve, the one that she has deficits in, as well as the one that she excels in. Is homeschooling tough at times, oh yes, you bet it is, but she definitely would not get this attention in a public school.