BIT, brain integration therapy, first came to my attention when Kendra was 18 months old. At that time we were trying to help her with her sensory processing disorder. She made so much progress with OT that I thought we had fixed her brain. Basically her brain wasn't connecting right and that's why she couldn't handle sensory input. Her OT told me that we would see SPD come up around age 5, or when she began Kindergarten. I had anticipated to see SPD in the form we had when she was younger. Much to my surprise we didn't. I thought we had made it, she's okay, we're good. Knowing how the brain needs to connect when reading I thought that she might struggle academically and show signs of dyslexia, but again she was so high in her reading. We're okay, she's okay. We did notice a huge spike in anxiety which caused her to have diarrhea all the time. Then she couldn't keep up with her peers when it came to balance and coordination. As I read with her at home I saw dyslexic traits but dismissed it because those things are common in kids her age, besides her reading was so high.
Her reading continues to remind me of a girl I taught. It was my first year teaching, she was in sixth grade and begged me to allow her to be in my writing group. What kid wants to be in special ed? I mean, really? She didn't qualify, but eventually, by mid-year, her writing was slipping (which I thought she did on purpose) so she was tested and qualified for services. Her parents asked me if I could tutor her on reading. According to my testing she had average reading and the teacher wasn't concerned, but I couldn't say no so I stayed after school twice a week to work with her. As I worked with her I noticed some funky stuff. She added sounds that didn't belong and missed sounds that did belong. She could sound out each letter, but couldn't put it together right. After awhile I talked to her parents and we decided that she might have dyslexia. I was not certified to work with dyslexia and so they found a charter school and a teacher that was and put her with that teacher the following year.
My last year of teaching I taught a 2nd grader that did some of the same funky stuff with her reading. It turned out that she had dyslexia as well. I read a book called, 'The Gift of Dyslexia' and began doing the exercises outlined. It was amazing to see how she had absolutely no balance or coordination, and that is what the book focused on.
Now Kendra. Her reading is high, but she does the exact same things with her reading as those two did. I don't want to wait until she's in sixth grade to realize that her brain is not crossing over. She has terrible balance and coordination and is behind her peers in everyway. I have done some exercises with her, regarding her balance, but she still struggles. It is hard to watch her in swim lessons and gymnastics as she tries so hard and is proud of herself for small accomplishments, yet still yards behind the younger kids.
She struggles with anxiety and often has meltdowns because she just can't handle things. I think meds would help ease the anxiety but I don't want to medicate my kid at such a young age. There is one more thing we're going to try, and then we'll probably do therapy for anxiety. First we are taking her to someone who is certfied in brain integration therapy - who just happens to be my neighbor! Before she became certified the closest place to us that did this was Denver. So we are going to try to reteach her brain through various exercises, I suppose similar to the ones I did with my 2nd grader.
My kids have issues, and they are expensive. But on the bright side we are so lucky to live in Albuquerque where every single thing we do is here in town.
After a short stay in St. George we headed to Provo to see my sister in her show. We met up with my family and had a picnic then played in the park. I know, I don't look happy but I had spiders crawling on me!
+of+IMG_1810.JPG)
.jpg)
.JPG)
