The Game Place

When we go for Dima's therapy appointments in Lancaster I call it "the game place" mostly to make it feel fun for him. He's usually not thrilled about going and neither am I. After we leave I'm exhausted - I guess from being so focused on him and what we're doing. Part of my stress could also be due to the one hour drive to get there.

When we get there I set Josh up with cars and stuff to do in the waiting room then we wait til "Mr. David" comes out to get Dima and me. When we get into his room Dima's supposed to hand me a pillow from a pile of them that they have in the corner of the small room we're in and pick one out for himself. There are times that this whole thing goes smoothly and then there was this past week where once David opened the door it was like a switch had been thrown and Dima started acting out almost immediately - like in throwing a toy tire in the waiting room, like in squealing at me once we sat down, like in tossing the little pillow at me. It's hard in that setting to do anything to stop him since we're physically so close. Last time David suggested a few deep breaths and he did recover once he decided to comply. During the neurotherapy part he is supposed to calm down, and concentrate on the video game. I just kind of sit there and am supposed to be quiet and let him feel what it's like to settle down and get "rewarded" by the game. We do the video games before and after the regular therapy part of the visit. During the therapy part we work on helping him identify feelings and play games that are supposed to help Dima with his attachment and anxiety issues. When we're there I'm usually playing the games with him and I guess I'm always trying to figure out why we're doing what we're doing and what his responses mean. Lots of times we've gone into Laura's office and Dima literally covers his head with a pillow from the sofa and he usually starts getting so wound up that he earns himself a time out then immediately wants me to hug him. So we end up sitting there with him going "I need a hug" and me going "okay, AFTER your time out". There have been times that he's gotten chatty with Laura but mostly he tries to play with the stuff in her room, like a snowglobe, lamp that looks like a puppet and a lava lamp and then he has to be coerced into doing the real activity for the day.

At this point he has gotten better - or we've gotten good advise on how to handle him in different situations - such as doing the monorail at Hersheypark when the more active rides apparently become too much. We've also learned to give him a radio with a headset when we go to games and other big public events to give him something to do and the headset also helps filter out some of the noise that seems to get him wound up. I discovered last winter while going to a therapy appointment that he was better off with no radio on in the car. Now we're investigating "Sensory Integration" issues as a possible problem area for him. I've contacted the guidance department in his school to see if they offer services to help diagnose him to see if that's it. It really is like putting a puzzle together and trying to figure out which parts matter and which ones don't belong. Some of th stuff he does is just typical boy stuff and some is related to his past, but we're just now trying to figure out which piece fits where.