Bucket List

When I was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago, I wanted to make a "BUCKET LIST".  Corny and overdone, YES.  However, when you are a faced with the question "What if I die from this horrible disease?" You start thinking of all the things you wished you did before you die.  As I started to make my list, there was a recurring theme.

 1. Visit the Grand Canyon

 2. Visit the Redwood Forest

 3. Go to the Gulf shore in Texas

blah, blah, blah...

'

As I wrote all of these desires in my raggedy notebook, I realized that one item on the bucket list could take care of several items at once.  With the killing a bird with one stone attitude creeping into my heart, so did the ONE and ONLY real bucket list item.  If I die tomorrow, I am so content and happy with my life, EXCEPT for achieving my goal to travel the country with my family in a RV.  So there it was, one item on the bucket list.  It seems so difficult to achieve five years ago.  

It has been five long years since I wrote those words.  It has seemed like it may never come to fruition at times.  However, now we are taking the baby steps to make this dream a reality.  Over the course of the next several blog posts, I will start to fill you all in on how we are making this dream a reality.  What steps did we/are we taking to make this bucket list a reality, will be described step by step.  Be sure to follow all of our updates under the Lumpy RV Adventures tab above.

Lumpy Out

Homeschooling a child with Sensory Processing Disorder

As mentioned in my previous post, I am also a home school mom. I didn't mention that my child is amazingly brilliant :) (smile...smile), but she also has some sensory integration issues. When I keep these issues in mind during our learning time, the difference in her ability to learn and focus on the given task is utterly amazing!

It has been really great to see what has been happening in the home school community when it comes to teaching our "unique" children. However, I unfortunately still find that there are many families that home school their children have been so "burnt out" by the public school system, professionals and for fear of labeling their child, they do not look at outside therapists as a beneficial part of the home school environment. (okay, that was a major run on sentence...sorry:))) I don't mean this as an offense at all to anyone, as I see how it is easy to close the doors on the public school system and any services that they may offer. However, there are so many relatively easy techniques, environmental adaptations and tools that can assist your child within their home school environment. By utilizing this information, your child's home school education and the level of your teaching can be greatly improved. In this post, I would like to "define"/explain the terms Sensory Integration Dysfunction or Sensory Processing issues. I will also be adding some links for several AWESOME books and resources that further defines the dysfunction and provides a wide array of activities that can assist children with these issues.

Do you see any of these signs of Sensory Integrative Issues in your child?

Overly sensitive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds

Under reactive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds

Easily distracted

Social and/or emotional problems

Activity level that is unusually high or unusually low

Physical clumsiness or apparent carelessness

Impulsive, lacking in self control

Difficulty making transitions from one situation to another

Inability to unwind or calm self

Poor self concept

Delays in speech, language, or motor skills

Delays in academic achievement

What is sensory integration?

The senses work together. Each sense works with the others to form a composite picture of who we are physically, where we are, and what is going on around us. Sensory integration is the critical function of the brain that is responsible for producing this picture. It is the organization of sensory information for on-going use in almost all tasks in our lives.


For most of us, effective sensory integration occurs automatically, without effort. For some of us, the process is inefficient, demanding effort and attention. When this occurs, the goals we strive for are not easily attained. Sensory experiences include touch, movement, body awareness, sight, sound, and the pull of gravity. The process of the brain organizing and interpreting this information is called sensory integration. Sensory integration provides a basic and necessary foundation for more complex learning and behavior.


For most children, sensory integration develops in the course of ordinary childhood activities. Motor planning ability is a natural outcome of the process, as is the ability to adapt our responses to incoming sensations. But for some children, sensory integration does not develop as efficiently as it should. When the process is disordered, a number of problems in learning, development, or behavior may become evident.


You may know a child who, although bright, has difficulty using a pencil, playing with toys, or doing self-care tasks, like dressing. Maybe you have seen a child who is fearful of movement; that ordinary swings, slides, or jungle gyms will generate extreme fear and insecurity. Maybe you have observed a child whose problems lie at the opposite extreme; uninhibited and overly active, who often falls or runs headlong into dangerous situations and has tremendous difficulty sitting still or focusing on a task. In each of these cases, a sensory integrative problem may be the root cause or at least an underlying factor.


Here is a very, very un-scientific explanation of how I see Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Please don't judge my un-scientific terms or descriptions, as this is the best way I have found to describe this disorder to parents. Imagine for a minute that our brains are filled with parking spaces, in which cars (sensory input and movement output) must move freely around the brain highway and park where ever is appropriate. Then imagine that a person that has a typical system, there is a very mature & experience traffic cop directing all the "cars" to the right spots. For example: The vision cars goes to the vision parking lot, the touch cars goes to the touch parking lot, the movement cars goes to the movement parking lots. All is well and good. Sensory Integration and Motor output occurs correctly.


Now imagine that in a child, they may get a Rookie Traffic Cop, who has no clue what they are doing. This Rookie has no idea at all which way to direct the traffic or when to know when a parking lot is either to full or completely empty. Complete havoc is wrought in the brain highway and parking lots. So as an example, I will use the touch parking lot. Tactile input is coming into the body constantly throughout the day, and the Rookie keeps sending the "cars" to the touch parking lots. However, imagine that the parking lot gets full, and instead of putting up a sign that says "LOT IS FULL", he keeps directing traffic there. Eventually, the parking lot is in complete chaos and can't fit even one more sensation in there. Then you as a parent, try to brush your child's teeth or put on a shirt with an itchy tag, and they go WILD with a full "flight or fight" reaction. As the "parking lot" can't handle even one more sensation, the brain sends a signal to react by crying, screaming, biting, hitting or running from the input. This un-scientific explanation would be called tactile defensiveness. The same idea would hold true for kids who are postural insecurity or can't handle movement at all. The parking lot is so full from the normal daily movements, it can't handle any more, so it sends out the message to react in flight or fight when the child is on a swing or slide.



On the opposite end of the spectrum, are the parking lots that the Rookie Cop forgets to drive cars too. So the input cars come in to the brain but are sent around to different areas and never park in the right place. This leads to the "non-registration" of sensory input. The brain is expecting a certain amount of input should be taking place for normal daily activities, but it isn't finding it in the parking lots. So the brain sends a signal out to get as much sensory input as humanly possible. This may look like: a child who can't sit sit, fidgets all the time, rocks or spins self frequently, hangs upside, one who puts non-food objects in mouth or chews on things, a child who has to touch everything and everyone in their space. This child may appear not to be paying attention to anything going on in the environment around them. However, the child may actually be paying attention but can only do so with the "EXTREME" amount of input going in the body.

To further visualize a child craving to fill these empty parking lot, try to remember the last time you were at a really long boring meeting or class. Do you move around in your seat, switch the legs that are crossed, twirl your hair, chew your nails or on a pencil? These are all natural un-conscious strategies that we use to help us maintain our attention and focus. Children with "empty sensory parking lots" need to do what we do naturally and then 10 times more.

Obviously, I have used extreme examples here and again I say: UN-SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION!!! Please don't quote me to the medical profession :)

So the far reaching effects of a sensory processing disorder can interfere with academic learning, social skills, even self esteem. Research clearly identifies sensory integrative problems in children with developmental or learning difficulties. Independent studies show that a sensory integrative dysfunction can be found in up to 70% of children who are considered learning disabled by schools.

Early intervention can improve sensory integration in these children, minimizing the possibility of failure before it occurs. By interrupting the vicious cycle of failure, intervention to help children with sensory integration and learning problems may also prevent serious social problems later in life.

I am certainly NOT saying that all schools will be able to assist a parent in identifying an underlying sensory processing issue. The only benefit I could say would be that most schools staff an OT, PT or special education teachers who would pick up on some of the sensory signals demonstrated in a classroom. However, for the home school family, they may never be exposed to a professional who may recognize a child's "behavior" as being a sensory integration issue. The child may be falsely thought of as having ADD, ADHD or a learning disability. A home school mom may become extremely frustrated because her child will not sit for even brief lessons, has to move themselves and touch everything while doing lessons. Thus, is the reason for this blog. Sensory integration is a pretty key phrase out in the world today and most people may have heard of it. However, if there is one home school mom out there that reads this and sees her child in the description, and can be directed down a path for more information, my purpose is achieved.

There are many awesome support groups on line now covering sensory integration and a wide array of special needs. I will be recommending several excellent books that are parent friendly, that will help a parent to better identify sensory issues in their own child. I hope this post helped someone out there in "blog world:)!!!" Tune in next blog for "What you can do for your child if you suspect a sensory processing issue". Until then!!

To Halloween or Not Halloween?

It is the day after Halloween and I take a sigh of relief.  We made it through another October 31st.  We may get the occasional standard question for the next few days of "What were you for Halloween?"  However, it is nothing compared to the constant barrage that hit us through out the month of October.   Every October I struggle with the questions and doubts in my own mind if we are somehow ruining my daughters childhood memories.  Are we depriving them of endless fun and candy by making a deliberate decision not to celebrate Halloween with the rest of the world? 


I personally have very fond memories of Halloween from my childhood.  I recall my mom spending days working on handmade costumes for my sister and I.  She created amazing costumes out of random things around the house.  I had a range of costumes from a grandfather clock, a US mailbox, Ace from KISS, Robin Hood and so many more.  I loved Halloween.  I loved running around the neighborhood with our pillow cases gathering our treats.  I loved pouring them all out on the floor at the end of the night to find discovered treasures!  My only bad memory of Halloween is one of running up to a house to get my sugary fix, only to have the woman at the door yell at me to go away because they did not celebrate Halloween.  My little 6 year old brain could not wrap around such an atrocity.  Who does not celebrate Halloween? What?  The concept of not giving candy to cute thing munchkins in costumes seemed cruel and absurd to me for most of my life.  Then I became an Evangelical Christian and married my conservative husband.


We never really discussed Halloween until we had our first daughter.  As October 31st approached, I started to look at the adorable baby costumes to don on my child.  I dreamt of the day that I would plan and craft her homemade costumes that would create lifelong memories for her, just as my Mother had done for me.   Much to my dismay, my darling hubby was not on the same Halloween page.  He had witnessed firsthand the ugly side of Halloween while living in other parts of the country, where the evil side of Halloween were still demonstrated.  He saw churches burn to the ground, satanic worship and the evil side of this holiday.  His belief was firm, we would not be a family that would celebrate Halloween.  I tried for several years to convince him, it didn't work.  Then I searched for alternative ways around celebrating it as an Evangelic Christian. There were a few years that we would travel over an hour to attend "Christian Fall Festivals" on Halloween night, as an alternative to the traditional celebrations.   However, a member of our church pointed out that if something looks like a duck, quacks likes a duck and waddles like a duck.......it must be a duck.  So our Fall Festivals on Halloween night came to a screeching halt.   I love and respect my husband.  He felt strongly that our family should not celebrate Halloween, and I chose to respect that decision.   It actually took a missionary from Kenya, who was visiting our church during the month of October, to convince me that we should not in fact celebrate Halloween in the way our country does.  As he was making a plea for money to be able to feed over 400 children only one meal a day, he broke down in tears.  After his tears, he became visibly angry.  He spoke of his heart break as he drove around our New England towns witnessing the obscene amount of money Americans spend on Halloween.  Between the costumes, candy and decorations spent on Halloween, Americans spend millions of dollars each year.  As we are pouring our money into a "holiday", children in his country are literally starving to death.  He has in fact wrapped children in real death cloth, as we may do to our children who want to dress up like a mummy.   They consider themselves blessed IF they get one meal a day.  After listening to him speak, I never looked at Halloween the same way. 




Several years have past and now we have two children who constantly have to field the never ending questions.    Every October the sense of guilt returns to my heart.  Every time I hear my sweet girls respond with "we don't celebrate Halloween", my heart aches for my perceived memories that they are missing out on.   They often have the sad look on their faces as they see even their Christian friends preparing for Halloween celebrations and trick or treating.  Every October I count down the days until it is over, when it is November 1st, when we can start planning Thanksgiving and Christmas. 


Don't get me wrong, we still have a  great deal of fun through October.    We strive to provide an environment that  makes room for ton of fun, while using the actual day as a teachable moment to celebrate God’s plan and purpose for our lives.We enjoy every other moment of Fall from apple picking, pumpkin painting, leaf piles and mulled apple cider.   They play dress up through out the year and attend dress up events at their church club program.  The club program has a special night in Fall for the students to dress like their hero.  My girls love this special evening. They have donned costumes of Bruce Lee, Queen Ester, Bethany Hamilton and more. We usually choose a special family activity to do together on Halloween Night to create other special memories for them.    We've had family game nights, movie nights, special dinners and this year we took them out to a Japanese hibachi restaurant for the first time.  We had a wonderful night.  The girls faces were so precious as they watched the chef prepare the food right at our table.   However,  from the hostess to the chef, the girls were grilled with why they weren't out trick or treating.  My oldest has  gotten very talented at answering the questions with confidence.  Last night, she purposely chose to wear a shirt with a cross and large letters that says "Born Again".   My youngest, still struggles with the concept.  She is the same age as I was when that "crazy, absurd woman" (remember her?) turned me away at the door because she didn't celebrate Halloween.  Oh my, am I that woman?  Are we THAT family?  Not exactly.    If we happen to be home on October 31st, I always have a big bowl of candy just in case we get some little costumed munchkins at the door.  


I will probably struggle with this inner battle for the remaining years of my daughters childhood.  I am curious of how they will choose to celebrate or not celebrate October 31st when they become adults living outside our umbrella.  Will they think we ruined their childhood by not allowing them to go trick or treating? Will they harbor some deep seeded anger toward us over this? Do people think we are brain washing them or trying to force our beliefs on them.  Do I care what people think or should I care more about what God thinks?   These questions haunt me (pun intended) every year as the date approaches.  I do know that every year on the morning of November 1st, I feel relieved and relaxed.  In an effort to clarify my feelings, if only to myself, I chose to write about it this year.  


So here I am on November 1st, thankful that we made it through another year.  I think next year, we should make more of an effort to impress the missionary story on to the hearts of my children.    I think instead of taking them out for a fancy dinner and buying the extra bag of candy, we should make a  family donation to that missionary's school in Kenya.  


Happy November y'all...
Lumpy Out