Not Necessarily A Lefty

I've been convincing myself that Raquel is going to be left handed. She is consistently throwing with her left, her grasp is stronger with her left, and during the ABA sessions, when they do the put in trials and have the ball on her right side, she'll pick it up and put it in her left hand before putting the ball in the cup.

I mentioned this to Karin during our OT session and she said that Raquel still wasn't making a preference, which Karin prefers. It's something about both sides of the brain communicating. That's why Dr. David liked her crawling for so long - the brain thing. Karin said that it has to do with crossing midline, that if she had a left handed preference, she wouldn't pick the ball up with her right and transfer it to her left, she'd pick it up with her left hand at first. Again, the OT thing - very technical.

We had a good OT session this morning. Raquel has been difficult for the past few weeks during her OT sessions so I made sure we had a normal routine today. She was all smiles for Karin, and the happiest I've ever seen her throughout the session. Karin said that Raquel has had such a growth spurt, that she's not only much heavier but also taller. I've noticed the chub on her legs, too, and have had to get out bigger clothes. She thinks it is also related to her gfcf diet and said that she has seen a lot of changes in her since I put her on this. Very nice to hear. I see her 24/7 so I'm not always able to notice subtle changes.

During the wheelbarrel walking, Raquel is still walking with a closed hand. I asked Karin if I should be making her palms flat and she told me no, that it was all about just strengthening her arms. A little bit later, after observing Raquel taking a break, she picked her up and took her in our kitchen to try the wheelbarrel walking again. Raquel immediately put her hands flat on the kitchen floor. Turns out, it's a sensory thing with the carpet - she doesn't like the feel of it on her hands!

The sensory stuff is still fascinating but way complicated for me to completely understand, even though I have books about it. Karin said that there are three responses to sensory stimulation:

1. Tactile (sense of touch): The sensory system that receives sensations of pressure, vibration, movement, temperature, and pain - primarily through receptors in the skin and hair. Protective receptors respond to light or unexpected touch and help a person avoid bodily harm; discriminitive receptors provide information about the tactile qualities of the object or person being touched.


2. Vestibular (balance & movement): The sensory system that responds to the pull of gravity, providing information about the head's position in relation to the surface of the earth, and coordinating movements of the eyes, head, and body that affect equilibrium, muscle tone, vision, hearing, and emotional security. Receptors are in the inner ear.


3. Proprioceptive (position sense): The unconscious awareness on sensations coming from one's muscles and joints that provides information about when and how muscles contract or stretch; when and how joints bend, extend, or are pulled; and where each part of the body is and how it is moving.

Raquel has issues with all 3 sensory senses, which is why we do bouncing on the fitness ball, deep joint compressions & squashes, and the jumping. I don't know which one helps with what sense, but it seems to be working.

We had a much more cooperative session with Jennifer today. Meet our latest reinforcer:

A $3 Hannah Montana phone from Big Lots. It was actually too reinforcing - Raquel wanted to play with it constantly and was very distracted by it. That's what I get for trying to help! Jennifer said that the novelty will wear off over the next couple days. Raquel was, again, very vocal throughout the session and also doing some very functional playing on her own, which Jennifer really liked to see.

And we had big excitement during our session:

Gabby lost her first tooth! She says the Tooth Fairy will bring her $100. I told her I thought it was 100 pennies - but she keeps insisting it's $100...