Chace’s testimonial

Chace, a third-grader, has difficulties maintaining seated while doing his homework. He gets distracted easily and often leaves his seat. What should only take 30 minutes would take him more than 2 hours to finish. In addition to this, he has a hard time making friends at school because he often gets into conflicts due to poor impulse control. To make things worse, his impulsiveness often triggers his temper when things don’t go his way and he gets frustrated. All of the above has been concerning his mother for a long time.

After the consultation, KickStart developed a therapy plan tailor-made for Chace. Chace enjoyed the therapy sessions so much that he was willing to complete the Home Program activities with his mother every day without throwing a temper tantrum. After a week, Chace’s homeroom teacher noticed that he was getting along better with his classmates. His mother also noticed that Chace was able to do his homework much faster if he completed the sensory activities prior to beginning his homework.

Chace’s therapy plan includes using appropriate sensory activities at different time points to improve his hypotonia, impulse control and emotional stability. Aside from sensory activities, he also practices Bal-A-Vis-X daily to help with his concentration. Through adjusting the difficulty level of the Bal-A-Vis-X activities according to his progress, Chace gained confidence in his abilities and his concentration span continually improved.

Most parents will ask their child to calm down first whenever they begin to act up. When their child isn’t able to do what’s required, most parents feel frustrated and wonder why their child isn’t behaving well. However, when we face a child with ADHD, the most important thing to do is to meet their needs. When they desire to move about, let them do so. Once the need is met, they will calm down. Such is the same for Chace. Nowadays, Chace is able to remember his sensory activity schedule and takes initiative in doing them because he feels the benefits they bring.

Seeing his confident smile makes me feel that it’s marvelous and worthwhile being a therapist.

• picture credit: shutterstock.com