Sensory Squish

Teddy needs a lot of sensory input, which is common for kids with PIGN. Whether it's their lower tone, their need for proprioception or something else in their wiring, these kids need to feel things in big ways. Think weighted blankets, big hugs, tight squeezes, as well as laying on the floor with feet up, rolling up in a yoga mat or other ways to ground the body. 

We learned about grounding techniques through music therapy and have put them into practice. When Teddy is particularly aggressive, sitting on AJ or pushing him, we try to redirect to these techniques to get him to settle down. We've seen some success with it, but we're in a rough stretch lately where Teddy just wants to boss AJ around, sit right on AJ, and be generally a little jerk to him. AJ ends up storming off in tears, and Teddy doesn't quite get why AJ doesn't want to "play" with him. I think honestly the two of them have had too much time together since they spend so much more time together without the normal structure of school or after-school care due to COVID. 

We also incorporate sensory into Teddy's other therapies, primarily as a reward. For example, at PT all he wanted to do with the mats was crawl underneath them, so now he has to "earn" squishes by doing sit ups. His PT will have him do a set of sit ups, and then we'll squish him a few times in between the mats. Then we repeat until he moves onto the next thing that catches his attention.

Knowing his love of all things sensory and squishing, we purchased a sensory body sock for him for Christmas. I actually had it before his birthday last year but figured it would be way too warm and didn't want him to cram me into it in July. Well, I was smart enough to wait until Christmas to give it to him, but I wasn't smart enough to buy a big enough sock to fit in there comfortably with him ...

See, we clearly both fit. It's not so bad ...

It took him a few weeks to warm up to it, but now he will routinely climb into his body sock. Or he'll make you climb into it. (So far, he's gotten his grandma, brother, both babysitters and mom in the sock ... not all at once.) And then he'll climb in, too. Let's just say I should have gotten a larger size. Both he and AJ fit in there with my mom, although I'm not sure how. My favorite was when I was in the body sock with him, and then he looked out at Dave and pointed to exactly where he wanted Dave to be inside the sock with his vocal demand, "Eh!" Dave politely declined, for some odd reason.

If you ever happen to visit and are socked by Teddy, the best advice I can give you is willingly climb inside first. Stay standing, and then help him climb in. That allows him to drop to the bottom by your feet, so the rest of your body isn't pummeled by his gracefulness quite as much. 

I suppose the best advice I could give you is to run away if you see Teddy coming toward you with something blue in his hand ...

... or is it? Definitely should have bought a bigger size.