To The Fab Duo, Jennifer and Stephanie

Jennifer and Stephanie are the Clinical Supervisors for the ABA and habilitation portion of Tony’s therapy programs, and are responsible for recommending and designing therapy tasks to teach a wide variety of things, plus providing feedback on ways Whitney and I can improve therapeutic techniques and interactions with my son. They come into our home once a month always as a team, and in my mind there was no way I could separate gratitude notes to these lovely ladies into different months. They know their stuff, they give great feedback, and they manage to work towards addressing the deficits while recognizing and focusing on the positives.

Jennifer and Stephanie both radiate pure love. They have always believed in Tony- always— and have worked diligently with me to find ways to help him gain skills on his journey. And, the patience with which they have listened to my long winded explanations and concerns on a wide variety of issues related to our family’s circumstances has elevated them to sainthood in this house.

When our little man began using more physical forms of protest to flee or try and get what he wanted in the community this past fall, they found ways to twister-style squeeze into their schedules additional community outings with us. So much of the time I have been helping Tony work through some of the hardest challenges by myself, and it was a supernova of awesomeness to have that additional support.

While this is a note for the both of them, there are distinct things each of them have done that has meant the world to me.

Stephanie, when she took over as Tony’s BCBA Clinical Supervisor, designated time at the end of each monthly meeting to list things that Tony has done well. So much of the therapy process is about what is not going so good and therefore needs attention. While that is necessary, I have seen the hurt in my son’s eyes that has come from it…and I can never repay the memory of the look in his eyes as he clapped along the first time Stephanie did this with him.

And Jennifer, who finished some grad schooling in the time she has been working with our family, chose to continue working with Tony as the assistant Clinical Supervisor when she did not have to. This meant a great deal to our family for the benefits it brings to Tony. And for me, as the mom of a kiddo that can be challenging to work with, I am drenched with gratitude for therapists like Jennifer who have a chance to move on, but have come to see what I see- that Tony is beautiful and worth the work- and decide to stay on as long as they can.

Thank you- both of you. We love you and are so very grateful for everything you have done for our family.

Some Reading To Consider

I’m not Weird, I have SPD by Chynna Laird

Many of you work with small children in either church or school settings, and I think this is a useful one to be aware of. The author is the parent of a beautiful girl who has a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and this book is written from the point of view of a kiddo with SPD. As such, it could be a very useful way to help nourish a kernel of understanding in fellow classmates for younger elementary age school children who have this condition.

I purchased this book from Google Play because it was cheapest there, but you could get it from other sources. However, I do have to agree with what one of the reviewers on Google said. This book is written from the perspective of a kiddo whose nervous system is mostly hypersensitive. There are SPD kiddos whose nervous systems are under responsive that can be serious sensory seekers, with their hands all over the place touching like crazy and crashing roughly into things because they can’t feel the impact as much. And some kiddos can have a mixture of both, like Tony- who has Sensory Modulation Disorder. However, I think this book is still a great place to start a conversation about SPDs with younger kiddos.