The OT eval and other shenannigans

The OT was fabulous.  She explained a lot the reasons why Ella acts the way she acts.  It made me feel empowered and yet sympathetic at the same time.

Basically, she said Ella operates at a high level of awareness all the time making her feel like she is constantly in fight or flight mode.  This made me kid of sad.  The way she explained it was as follows...

You know when you have one thing go wrong...like you loose your keys.  This doesn't bother you too much.  Then you misplace your favorite coffee cup...this also is irritating, but doesn't send you into insanity mode.  Well imagine like 15 things going wrong...you then start to snap...that is basically what Ella feels like all the time.  She feels like she has no control in her world and needs to feel control.  She is much more aware of verbal sneses and visual senses than the rest of us  (eeriely so, she has a photographic memory).....I don't think I am doing a very good job explaining this.  However, I feel like I understand her so much better at this point.

I actually asked how much of her behavior is her just "being difficult" and how much of it is her actually having some sort of sensory processing issue.  The OT said probably about 90% of her behavior is because of her sensory problems.  HALLELUIA...no one wants to hear that their child draws all over the couch with mascara because she is just being evil  (this happened yesterday). 

I am going to read the book she recommended...  The Sensational Child....in hopes that I can understand more.

I worry that she won't be able to behave in school because the OT said she has a problem filtering out sensory information.  I am typing right now and am tuning out the TV...apparently that would be really hard for Ella.  I think we can get a handle on this, though!


On another note, I had a great book club with some wonderful ladies.  It was nice to be with adults and not have to wipe a but, or feed someone a bottle...(although, we all regress back to this when you think about it). 

NO MORE prunes for Evelyn...seriously, that must really be a natural laxitive...all the way up the back and over the shirt...

Sorry my thoughts are so scattered...I am tired and I think I am going to retire to bed...BEACH tomorrow!