Girl Scout Camp Postmortem

It is with considerable relief that I can finally sit down to type again of this week. Thanks to the beauty of scheduled posts, I could assure that my devoted readers (ha!) never missed me during my long and hard-fought days of work and scout camp. I was working with older girls, entering 5th-8th grades, on the theory that they would be more self-directed and require less help throughout everything. HA! There was a lot that I had forgotten about teenage girls, and between the age range and the sheer number of girls (15) we had some considerable struggles. But we persevered, earned our badges, and made it through the week. During the times when I wasn't leading a rowdy band of scouts, I also saw a bunch of kids and inpatients, as is par for the work course. Had to plan out the new school year schedule... it has 3 afternoon/evenings of kids, 2 eval spots, and 17 30-minute slots. Party. Also, I will be starting work a little later to avoid the dreaded 10-12 hour days that I was working. Hopefully I can work this so that I will also be able to be a scout leader (for most of my camp kids) on Tuesday nights, but it is too far to tell if that will work out.

Arm pain is back... I am now fairly certain that it is referred pain from my neck that is controlled by how I am sleeping at night. I am now trying a memory foam traveler's neck pillow to see if it will force me to sleep on my back w/o flexing my neck.

Had some interesting kids this week. Little Mr. Q is 4 y.o. but not in preschool, b/c mom can't afford it. I Peabody'd him, showing 10-month delays in object manipulation (ball use) and Visual Motor Integration. He jumps at a ball when you throw it to him, and thus, usually does not catch it. He also cuts with extreme forearm supination, which is the skill that tipped off the MD. I will be interested to see what the PT comes up with on Monday, and also need to tell Mom that Ollie's Bargain Outlet (one of my haunts) is carrying Pre-K instruction packs for $20.

Another child, Lil Mr. P, is an interesting story indeed. He was referred w/ a CP diagnosis, w/o his caregivers knowing it, and really does not match CP at all. I actually called the MD to make sure that he had written the dx correctly. What he does certainly have is dyspraxia, though the caregiver regarded me with extreme suspicion when I mentioned this and recommended Sensational Kids for further reading. (I like to refer to this book as I find it very informational and know that it is both at the local library and relatively inexpensive online.) Caregiver stated that he had an appt w/ a developmental pediatrician and that she would not make any more OT/PT appts until she had talked to him, b/c she doesn't think he needs therapy. Hopefully he will reiterate that Mr. P is not developing along the typical timeline and that he will need continued therapy, b/c he really can benefit.

That's about it for now... my parents are visiting later this week. I picked up the 2 headed crayons, but the RoseArt version, as they were only $2. I will also be making a list of projects to work on during the 3 weeks that my husband heads overseas for work. This really should include writing up some SPD stuff so that I can synthesize more of it in my brain, but also needs to have some tangible work for me to do. I'm thinking working out more, puzzles, artsy things. If I don't force myself to have a list, then I will just sit on the couch and do nothing.