Monday, February 27, 2012

Be Yourself: I had an extraordinary experience with my son last week. Literally extra-ordinary, out of the ordinary, something I always hoped for but never thought I'd see. He had an important evaluation for which I wished dearly that he would show the doctor his best self, display all his abilities. This has always been a pipe dream; generally, doctor appointments have caused him to proudly bring out all his very oddest behaviors and talk more to his imaginary friends than to the professional in attendance. Which in turn causes said professionals to look at me funny when I talk about how well he's doing and how capable he is and how included he is in school and how college seems like a good plan. How well I know that proceed with caution, mother is deluded look. This particular evaluation came just a day after he'd had an ambulatory EEG, 48-hours of head-wrapped misery, and I would have very well understood if his supply of stress-tolerance was drained to the last drop. But this day, this glorious day, he went into that office and talked amiably in a normal tone of voice and focused well on all the tests and did not complain and did not talk to invisible dogs and truly did the best he could do. Wow. How do I make that happen again?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Terri,
I'm not really sure how this whole blogging experience works so this message actually has nothing to do with your note above (although I'm happy for you that your son presented well)- but I couldn't work out how to send you a general comment.
I just wanted to contact you because I am a paediatric SI OT working in Australia. I had a bit of spare time so I read your book The everything parent's guide to SID. I just wanted to tell you that I think it is the best book on SI that I have read, particularly as one to recommend to parents.
I have just commenced my masters in research as I feel that what we know about SI isn't exactly what's actually happening neurologically. For so many families, books like the out of sync and sensational kids are just plain confusing because of the way it is written- as they can see elements of their child in every category. The way your book is set out, a parent could identify with one or all of the concepts and still not be confused. I also think that your seemingly endless metaphors for relating SI symptoms to an adult's daily life are fantastic- and I might 'borrow' a few for my practice!
I do not know if there is a supplier of your book over her in Aus but if there is or isn't I will be motivating very strongly at both my places of employment that we can organise ways for parents who want further knowledge to purchase your book.
Fantastic work!
Kind Regards,
Brigid

Terri Mauro said...

Brigid, thank you so much! You made my day. That's just what I hoped my book would be -- something to make things clear to parents and give them some useful metaphors to understand and help their child. If you can't get copies of the book, Adams Media has put most or all of it is online at http://www.netplaces.com/sensory-integration-disorder/. There's also some good info on my About.com site at http://specialchildren.about.com/od/sensoryintegration/Sensory_Integration_Disorder.htm that parents might find useful.

Thanks again for taking the time to write me about this. So happy to hear that the book is helpful.

-- Terri