About a week ago, around 7.15AM , while doing "the balance beam" (about half-a-foot above the ground), DS had fallen from it and scraped the skin of his elbow. He was quite distressed with it and hence DW took him back home - while waiting for the lift in the foyer, DS fainted and fell down. He was then lifted up to the house by a neighbour. Fortunately, the apartment opposite houses a family of doctors and one of them was able to quickly check him up and except for the bump in his head as the result of the fall, he said the pulse, BP and pupils were all fine; and its good to take him to his usual doctor after he had time to recover. This was second occurence - when DS was less than two year old, he was playing all over his mom; DW had caught his wrist and that had twisted it to an unnatural position, after which he had lost consciousness briefly.
After about couple of hours, DS was back to normal self, but did have seemed quite fatigued in those two hours. We were quite apprehensive and worried - because he is in the age, where we are told, the onset of seizures could happen as a co-occuring condition. We do know that there are drugs to control those, but we were worried since the seizures apparently set the development back. DS's pediatrician checked him out in the afternoon and said he looked quite normal and all his vitals are ok and DS's enthusiasm seemed back on. He said it could be just Vasovagal (syncope) attack or Akinetic seizures.
He did ask us to consult a neurologist and perhaps do some tests. Then came the neurologist consult. The neurologist tested him out, his reflexes and his reactions and said DS is fine; Given the other incident when the DS was 2 year old, the neurologist said that the fainting spell could be a result of extreme and unbearable pain. But if we had the money, we could do tests. So we did the EEG and CAT Scan. Both the report came out normal.
We are relieved to an extent. Hopefully its just vasovagal syncope and nothing else.
Using the motivation !
Looking for some suggestions here...
At our apartment, we have this annual day coming up on the 1st of July. Usually, this is a social gathering - where there are sports and cultural event. This sort of "party" or get-together happens twice in a year - one during the new year's eve and another the annual day.
During the last new year eve, DS sang MS's "Kurai Ondrum illai" with great gusto ! He was so excited about it. Infact, when he paused a bit going from the first to second stanza, the crowd thought the song was over and gave him an ovation. He had the presence of mind to get off the stage (dynamic thinking ?!) and then come to us and tell us that he could only sing half the song...
Now, this year, he wants to do all - sing, participate in sporting event (cycling and swimming). He has even picked the song he wants to do - MS's "Oli padaitha Kanninai". This time DS's grandmom, who is a classical singer herself is at home and trying to train DS to sing.
Now the question we are grappling with is this - Although his intelligence level and skill levels aren't bad, the biggest inhibitor for DS, at most times, seem to be the absence of motivation; however, the participation in this party/event seems very exciting for him; he is willing to perform on stage and even put himself in a position where he knows he is not good enough and compete with other kids. Is there something that we can do with it? How do we take this and build it up from here, as a foundation for motivation for other things ? Any ideas?
At our apartment, we have this annual day coming up on the 1st of July. Usually, this is a social gathering - where there are sports and cultural event. This sort of "party" or get-together happens twice in a year - one during the new year's eve and another the annual day.
During the last new year eve, DS sang MS's "Kurai Ondrum illai" with great gusto ! He was so excited about it. Infact, when he paused a bit going from the first to second stanza, the crowd thought the song was over and gave him an ovation. He had the presence of mind to get off the stage (dynamic thinking ?!) and then come to us and tell us that he could only sing half the song...
Now, this year, he wants to do all - sing, participate in sporting event (cycling and swimming). He has even picked the song he wants to do - MS's "Oli padaitha Kanninai". This time DS's grandmom, who is a classical singer herself is at home and trying to train DS to sing.
Now the question we are grappling with is this - Although his intelligence level and skill levels aren't bad, the biggest inhibitor for DS, at most times, seem to be the absence of motivation; however, the participation in this party/event seems very exciting for him; he is willing to perform on stage and even put himself in a position where he knows he is not good enough and compete with other kids. Is there something that we can do with it? How do we take this and build it up from here, as a foundation for motivation for other things ? Any ideas?
Securing the future.
Like any other "special" parents DW & I always worry about securing the future for the DS. The other challenge we have is the absence of sibling. So we are not very clear or even sure how his future would look. As we prepare him for the future challenges and hopefully "train" his mind for him to be able to think dynamically and in a dynamic eco-system, we also worry about his financial future. Hopefully, RDI, Enki, SI etc etc gives him some higher chances of independent living (or "quality of life" as it is called in RDI ;) ).
On the financial side, to be very blunt, we are concerned - we cant leave him a corpus - how would he manage it ? Would he be "cheated" of his inheritance, like its shown in the movies and the ones that we get to hear in real-life too. Leaving property has the same challenge. The other one we are exploring is creating a trust, selecting trustees who could be trusted (etymology ? ;) ). Atleast, that would introduce the checks and balances and also reduce the risk of foul-play.
The other one we are looking at is couple of insurance policies - Jeevan Tarang from LIC and Mahalife Gold from Tata-AIG. Although, I'm constantly advised by my "CFO" friends, that insurance is not an investment, I'm drawn to these two schemes. You pay premium for around 10 years for a sum assured. You can take the policy on the child's name. After the completion of premium period, the policy pays a certain percent of the sum assured to the policy holder, every year (read every year), until the age of 100 ! At the completion of 100th year, the policy holder gets back the sum assured...
I'm drawn to this from one angle only - although its not a sound financial instrument - the pay-out is periodic and that I think is a good inhibitor to complete swindling ! I could be afflicted with paranoia perhaps, but its about securing the child's future... a special one at that !
On the financial side, to be very blunt, we are concerned - we cant leave him a corpus - how would he manage it ? Would he be "cheated" of his inheritance, like its shown in the movies and the ones that we get to hear in real-life too. Leaving property has the same challenge. The other one we are exploring is creating a trust, selecting trustees who could be trusted (etymology ? ;) ). Atleast, that would introduce the checks and balances and also reduce the risk of foul-play.
The other one we are looking at is couple of insurance policies - Jeevan Tarang from LIC and Mahalife Gold from Tata-AIG. Although, I'm constantly advised by my "CFO" friends, that insurance is not an investment, I'm drawn to these two schemes. You pay premium for around 10 years for a sum assured. You can take the policy on the child's name. After the completion of premium period, the policy pays a certain percent of the sum assured to the policy holder, every year (read every year), until the age of 100 ! At the completion of 100th year, the policy holder gets back the sum assured...
I'm drawn to this from one angle only - although its not a sound financial instrument - the pay-out is periodic and that I think is a good inhibitor to complete swindling ! I could be afflicted with paranoia perhaps, but its about securing the child's future... a special one at that !
Hair-rising Experience...
For a long time, I’ve been playing the hair-dresser for the DS. I’ve even prided myself to have evolved in that line, being a target for butt of jokes on alternate career from the immediate family. A long time ago, I had taken him out to a “barber” shop (as they are called here). He could not take the poking and having to sit still. So, that experiment was quickly dropped and I restarted on honing my skills.
One-day, we realized his fear has shifted from the poking-and-sitting-still to being subjected to completely-shaved-pate and present a Yul Brynner look. He started worrying more about clean-shaven look, particularly after seeing his uncle sport one once. So, a few months ago, I had actually taken him along with me to the shop, when I had needed a haircut. He sat next to me on another swivel-chair and watched us the whole time with great interest. At the end of it, he seems to have realized that
- Having an haircut at the “barber shop” is okay and it is voluntary and they do not force anyone who comes there to have an haircut
- Secondly, all the haircuts do not end up in a clean-shaven look.
So, last week, I took him out to the shop. It was good to see him get there with a great anticipation and with only a bit of anxiety. Not only he waited for his turn for about 45 minutes, but when his moment came to be on the chair, he sat still, was ok to have the cloth around him and only once did he cry out loudly – when his nose itched and he couldn’t scratch it !!!
Crossing the Chasm...
DS has been "swimming" (in quotes and in italics, since its been mostly splashing around in the pool). He kind of got to float and move a bit forward with leg strokes. Last week, he got his arms moving; funny thing was the left arm will come around out of the water, forward, and down in the water - thus completing the stroke. The right hand never came out of the water, and instead it would be doing a dog-peddle. As a result the forward movement was not very great and the right arm paddling inside the water, acted as a rudder and turned him to one side
Today, we decided to put into practice (well, actually remembered) what the SI specialist asked us to. Do some gym-based exercise before going into the pool, to get him to proprioceptive input. Well, we did not take him to the gym, but we had him stretch his shoulders on the Thera-band (we bought a bunch of those, last week from Reebok stores - costly, I'd say). Lo behold, today, both the arms were going around and legs splashing all over, DS crossed the breadth of the pool. This was a few times until the Coach who appreciated it loudly - and promptly DS lost it post-that ! ;)
I believe we just need to continue on PP, Vestibular & Posture SI activities. We did come up with a sensory-diet for him. Lets see how it goes.
Today, we decided to put into practice (well, actually remembered) what the SI specialist asked us to. Do some gym-based exercise before going into the pool, to get him to proprioceptive input. Well, we did not take him to the gym, but we had him stretch his shoulders on the Thera-band (we bought a bunch of those, last week from Reebok stores - costly, I'd say). Lo behold, today, both the arms were going around and legs splashing all over, DS crossed the breadth of the pool. This was a few times until the Coach who appreciated it loudly - and promptly DS lost it post-that ! ;)
I believe we just need to continue on PP, Vestibular & Posture SI activities. We did come up with a sensory-diet for him. Lets see how it goes.
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