Any on you who know Brenden, knows that he can have difficulty with sensory overload, new and scary places. Brenden has been to the dentist twice before so this isn't new for him but the environment can be very overstimulating. Many sounds going on and a big room with other kids and all this equipment can be too much. I will admit that Pediatric Dental in State College has redone their facility to make it more friendly for kids but there is still so much going on for little kids. A kid on the Autism Spectrum or even a child who gets over stimulated and has sensory issues this can be a disastrous experience.
For Brenden, today at the dentist was a big success! When the tech came out and called his name, he went right over to her. As we walked into the parents waiting area, he took her hand and happily walked back with her. Last two times there were tears, many tears. As dad and I waited, mom being anxious as usual, we hear the click of an x-ray and other random noises from the rooms around us. We both thought, oh maybe that is an x-ray for Brenden since they said they may do that this time.
About 20-30 minutes go by and there is Brenden at the door to the parents waiting area, happy, no tears and ready to go. He came out just as happy as he went in. I am asking myself "What just happened"? "Did they really clean his teeth"? After the tech went through everything and said how great he did she said he even stayed in the big room where all the other kids are getting their teeth cleaned.
I should mention that they reserve a quiet room for Brenden because the first two times, he couldn't handle the whole process. Basically the quiet room is a room where it is just him, the tech and another person, if they need one, to help keep the child calm while they are cleaning his teeth. It's a great setup for any child that has difficulties with the dentist.
I am amazed at how well he did. To see the changes he makes each time we venture out to do something is just beauty to my eyes. As any parent with a child that struggles with any kid of issue, delay, disability...etc, the smallest accomplishments are big in our eyes and require some kind of reward. This brings me to the next big accomplishment for the day. SNOW!
Today we all woke to snow in our area. Not much, 2 inches about. Brenden has never really liked the snow. It's too cold, wet and just unpleasant for him. Today was another story. He woke, I opened the door and showed him the snow. Happily he said "snow" (music to my ears to hear my boy speak) then "cold" so I shut the door.
Since we ventured out to the dentist this morning I thought it would be fun to take him out and play in the snow while I cleaned off my car before we left. He was so excited to go out. As soon as he went out he laid in the snow and made two snow angels. I'm thinking, WHAT? You don't even like snow.? I thought this, but didn't say it to him. (A little tidbit, if a child magically starts enjoying something he didn't like before, you just go with it)
To my surprise this year he does apparently like snow. This is really cool. I remember spending my days off school sled riding in the winter. It's fun, burns off energy which equals very tired kids. What parent doesn't like that?
Since he enjoyed the snow before we went to the dentist, his reward for being a big trooper at the dentist, was to play more in the snow when we got back. (Sounds like a silly reward right, he got a few toys at that dentist office so he really did get a reward). I was already late for work so I spent a few minutest with him and dad throwing snowballs at each other. It didn't take long though for him to say that he wanted to go inside. He gets cold very quickly and he is super sensitive to the cold it seems. Another sensory issue but that is okay. We can work with that.
I think this morning (since all this happened before 9am) was a big success!
Way to go Brenden!
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