I read some things about doing occupational therapy at home. Before my kids were school age, I got some ideas do help them with the sensory integration disorder needs. My oldest two, they were only sixteen months apart. They both would roll around in blankets. They really liked certain materials. I read about the benefits of burrito wrapping them in these blankets and putting pressure on them. Their heads were sticking out on one end, so they could breathe. I belonged to a support group at that time with mothers facing similar challenges and a few of them had done similar things with success. The research came from studying the Indian culture and how the mothers would wrap up snugly their papooses and put them on their backs while they did their chores. I always wondered how women anciently dealt with infant and toddlers when they didn't have babysitters but head a full days ahead of them, so I found this article interesting. I also had been to a museum where this was displayed, so I further researched it. Ultimately, I began wrapping them up once a day and holding them tightly but gently. First time, I remember they screamed for twenty minutes straight and cried and kicked, they didn't like being confined. I was thinking how on earth did these mothers bear that and accomplish that? You would think I was torturing them. I would do this when they were overstimulated and "out of control" and that was how it was an indication for me that it was "time" to do the therapy. The idea was that this helped them decompress a bit. I can tell you I didn't like holding them down as they wrestled. However, after that 15-20 minute window, something amazing happened, it was like their physical body just suddenly stopped wiggling and would relax. I know relaxed when I see it! All of a sudden, they were happy and relaxed. They were back in control of their little bodies. I think I cried with them in those minutes they wrestled because it was hard. Once they relaxed, I would change positions and just hold them normally and sing to them softly. They were really connecting with me at that point more than they usually do. At one point, I considered abandoning this idea because I wondered if they hated it. I mean after all they screamed and kicked so much, but then after I had done it often enough....they actually indicated they wanted the therapy. They would grab the blanket and bring it to me and try to wrap themselves. I took the prompt and it could not have come at a better time because I was really starting to doubt the idea. Oh... They still wrestled and whined, but they must have liked that relaxed feeling they got from it all.
