Adventures with My Little Superheroes.

One thing that we love to do as a family is take day trips. We pack the picnic basket, get into the car and pick a direction. Neither of my little superheroes enjoy the unknown - the element of surprise and unknown really throws them both off balance. But throughout life, we all will come across unknown surprises so both Daddy superhero and I want to prepare them. We want them both to know what while preparation for changes is great, every now and then they will come across a change that they didn't know about and that they will be okay.

So the day trips that we take serve two purposes - having fun as a family and preparing them for the future.

About a month ago we decided to go on a day trip and when we got to the motorway, both little superheros pointed south so that's the direction we went in. We ended up down at one of Daddy superheroes old stomping grounds on the south side of Brisbane. There's a great little (well not so little in the grand scheme of things) playground with huge old Moreton Bay fig trees at Wellington Point. After a picnic, both little superheroes took off towards the trees.

Each time we venture to Wellington Point, both little superheroes love to climb up and sit on the branches of the old trees. This time, not only did they just sit on one of the branches, they wanted to have a go at climbing/crawling/shuffling along one of the branches into the tree. This is a huge step, especially for O, as while L really doesn't have a sense of fear, the branches aren't the easiest to climb along.

But they both had a go, and with a little help from Daddy, they both made it into the tree! And not only did they have fun, but by climbing the tree, they gained a little proprioceptive input!!

After some tree climbing, we saw that the tide was on its way out. Each time we've been to Wellington Point, the little superheroes have talked about the little island that is located a short distance off shore from Wellington Point. What they both didn't realise is that when the tide goes out, there is a sand bank that appears that runs between Wellington Point and the island, King Island.

So off came the shoes and we made a snap decision to walk the sand bank to King Island! Now as the tide hadn't gone completely out, we had to cross a small channel to get onto the sand bank. We all pulled our shorts up as far as they would go and waded into the water. Me being my clumsy self, went bum up and was soaked from the waist down - thank goodness, I'd wrapped my phone in a few plastic bags! Both little superheros, and Daddy superhero and the people around us, had a good chuckle. And both little superheroes reminded me "Mummy, you don't have dry clothes in the car. Now you're wet, you going to have to walk home!"

King Island is situated approximately 1 kilometre out from Wellington Point. The island is a conservation park and is a combination of sandy pathways alongside trees and it is surrounded by mangroves. It is uninhabited now, but in the early 1900's, the island was once home to the Phillips family for medicinal reasons - one of their seven children had polio and it was suggested to them that the child would benefit from bathing daily in the sea water. They built a makeshift home on the island and lived there for a number of years.

The walk out to King Island was quite lovely. At one point L told me "It very peaceful out here!" and that it was. We took our time walking out, stopping to look at the coral and shells that were washed up on the sand bar.

The walk was a little too much for O. She did make it out to the island but the shells and coral along the way was too much for her feet. So once we'd made it to the island, she and I headed back while L and Daddy superhero explored the island.

As you can probably tell from the photo, L had a ball bouncing, running and jumping all over the island.

On our way back to Wellington Point, O and I had a talk about what we had learnt from the walk as by that point O was quite teary. Her pain threshold is quite low compared to L's so I wanted to try and take her mind off of the walk itself.

We decided that next time that while we'd take our shoes off to cross over onto the sand bar, we'd bring our shoes so that the coral and shells didn't hurt O's feet. It is wonderful to see her problem solve issues that she comes across as it means that in the future, she will have these skills to help her in every day life.

At one point on the way back, O spotted a lump of dead coral. She knows that as a teenager and young adult, I had my heart set on becoming a marine biologist, so she is always asking me questions about marine life. The coral that she happened to pick up had two, that we could see, different marine creatures living on it. There was a black and brown chiton (a marine mollusc) sticking very tightly and moving very slowly along one edge and in a burrow was the tail end of a mantis shrimp - it was madly clicking as we looked at the coral as if to say "put my home down!"

All in all, it was a great day out. Both little superheroes are already talking about the next time we walk to King Island and what we need to take so that we're a little more prepared. They both did really well to walk the 2 kilometre round trip to King Island, as we kept reminding them - it was the longest walk that they'd both done in quite some time.

Oh, and I didn't need to walk home - we'd packed towels just in case we ended up at a destination where the little superheroes could swim!

What does an Occupational Therapist do?

As I sit here in the reception area of L's therapy provider, I've been pondering - what does an Occupational therapist actually do?

I will be the first to admit that prior to gaining L and O's diagnosis of Autism, I had no idea what an Occupational Therapist actually did! I know now first hand just how incredibly important and beneficial an Occupational Therapist can be. L's Occupational Therapists over the last three and a half years, have been instrumental in the dramatic improvements that L has made. And the same can be said for O's Occupational Therapists.

So how does an Occupational Therapist actually help?

If you have ever sat in on an Occupational Therapy session, you may have noticed that a lot of play and a lot of talking occurs during the session. To the outsider it may appear that there is no benefit of this to the child but there certainly is.

Let's go back to basics ...

An Occupational Therapist can help children, and adults, with a variety of issues from cognitive skills to physical and sensory skills to motor skills and much much more. Occupational Therapy deals with fine motor skills, visual-perception skills, cognitive skills and sensory processing difficulties among others!

But when you hear the word "Occupational," you tend to think of adults. Adults after all have an occupation, or paid work, and yet children do not.

However while children may not have an official occupation, their goal in life is to play - yes play is an occupation - and to learn. Children need to practise skills and learn new skills to assist them later in life and the best way to do this is through play.

When it is simplified, Occupational Therapy is all about making sure that people can do the "occupations" that are important to them. For children - their occupation is to play and learn! If play is fun, children tend to learn and take in more.

Occupational Therapy can benefit individuals who have been diagnosed with Autism, those with sensory processing difficulties, individuals who have sustained traumatic injuries, individuals with developmental delays, individuals who have learning difficulties, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Dyspraxia, Cerebral Palsy and many more difficulties. Occupational Therapy can basically assist an individual who has difficulties with functional skills.

For a child, the first few sessions with an Occupational Therapist is all about assessment. The Occupational Therapist will assess and evaluate (through play) the child's current skill level and may compare their current level to the developmentally appropriate level for their age. While it sounds odd that child's skills are assessed, it is vital that this assessment occurs. Based on their current skill level, a plan can be put in place as to where the child needs to be. 

Both O and L's Occupational Therapy plans are based on where they both currently are and where we want them to be in twelve months time - we want them both to be able to self regulate their emotions. We want them both to be able to recognise their own and others emotions.

Throughout both O and L's Occupational Therapy sessions, assessments are made on a continual basis against their goals. This is to ensure that the goals are being met but also so that the goals can be updated when needed. Every twelve months we sit down with the therapists and reassess the goals.

The great thing about the Occupational Therapy sessions is that neither O nor L realise that they are learning new skills. They both think that they are just having fun! L makes me giggle quietly on a regular basis when he decides that he needs to go to Occupational Therapy instead of school because school is too hard when in actual fact he is working harder in his Occupational Therapy than he is at school!

During L's Occupational Therapy sessions he is working on …..

• Developing his fine motor skills which assist him with his hand-eye coordination and his pencil grip for school. Fine motor skills also assists with developing L's play skills (hitting a ball with a bat,) buttoning up clothes, being able to do up a zipper. Up until a few weeks ago L struggled with zippers and would not even attempt to do one up. He now has the confidence to try to do up a zipper without losing his cool!
• L is beginning to recognise the internal (interoception) feelings of his emotions.
• L is working on his turn taking and sharing skills.
• L has learnt and is continuing to learn how to interact socially with his peers.
• L is learning how to regulate his own emotions. Learning how to stay calm and brave when things get a little hard.
• L is strengthening his proximal stability.
• Everyday life skills and much, much more!

I have a lot of respect for all of L and O's therapists. Occupational Therapy has given L and O so much hope and has increased their confidence that they are able to overcome challenges that they both come across in life.