Our new Occupational Therapist Tara left a little while ago and I am filled with so much more info! She is very sweet and I think will work very well with Brady. We sat and talked a lot about sensory issues and it made me realize so much about Brady that makes sense.

William's kids can have sensory issues, as do other non-William's kids, and she gave me a ton of tips on how to help Brady. I always joke about how hard we pat his back, it seems like we're really whacking him, and he settles by it. Apparantly, this is normal. Patting lightly or lightly touching is annoying to sensory kids, and I realized as she spoke I am the same way. Unless I'm getting a massage, I don't like being lightly touched or patted on my arm. Who'd know that??

Tara said tickling is actually a huge no-no with low tone, sensory-sensitive babies. Grabbing them deep is okay. She said when we're just hanging out we can be rubbing his arms and legs, as it desensitizes him. You figure the more they are worked, the more it desensitizes them.

Tara explained that scenario with a great example. She went to a conference where the speaker had a baby who did not crawl or walk. (I forget the age - maybe a year?) The speaker took two vibrating machines and attached one to each hip. It "woke up" his body. The brain now realized his legs were there. He crawled and walked around.

There is also a therapy for sensory kids where you brush them with a steel brush (not painful!). I had heard of this from another friend who had used it on her non-WS daughter. Tara said she has used it many times where you brush the child for two minutes every two hours. More than one time, over the course of a weekend, the child will walk and crawl and sleep through the night. She's going to bring the tapes at our next meeting in two weeks and hopefully we can start learning about it and maybe seeing if it is something that will work for Brady.

I never thought too much about the sensory stuff, but as she spoke I began to see where it affects Brady. He loves sleeping on the rug or the rough couch or the hard bed in my room. It comforts him to be whacked on the back, so to speak. He is also comforted by rolling him back and forth. Now that I am aware, I can use this knowledge to my advantage and start working on him.