Snoezelen

      Today we had an appointment at the Snoezelen Room in Tillsonburg.  It is a therapy room which works on Jacob's sensory system.  They work with sounds, lights, vibrations and touch.  We've been several times now, all with varying effects.

      One time he responded to the moving lights on the ceiling, but that was it.  We couldn't add music or any vibrations.  Another time, he was just plain fussy.  We didn't accomplish a whole lot that time! 
     Today was very different.   He responded positively to everything the physiotherapist and occupational therapist tried.

We placed Jacob in the 'leaf chair.'  It is a lounger type chair, that sways with any little motion.  He LOVED it today.  It really stimulated him to move.   He was smiling, cooing and kicking a lot.  When Jacob smiles, it is so contagious.  We were all thrilled.  He was so alert to his surroundings today.

In the snoezelen room there are many different themes for lighting up the ceiling. We picked 'space' today, simply because there are more bright colours, which Jacob seems to respond more to. The shapes and colours change continually, which makes it very interesting to see if there are certain colours, movements he sees more than others. Today we noticed he kept gravitating to the reds, yellows and oranges. Earth colours weren't his thing, but that's ok. We are excited with any little development.

Mary Ellen, the PT comes up with amazing ideas every time she works with Jacob.  She wanted to experiment with the tube lighting.  The room is quite dark (good thing for the flash on the camera,) so the tubing lit up very well.  He kept looking at it, but could never fix his eyes on it for long.  His brain doesn't send the right signals.  Mary Ellen put half of the tubes on his stomach and he instantly moved his arms and hands.  He wanted to grab it!  We've never seen that kind of response yet.  As soon as she removed them, he put his arms down by his side.  It was so exciting to see!  I was overwhelmed.  A month ago, I was shopping for funeral clothes, and now Jacob is showing us new developments.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  

After 45 minutes of constant stimulation, he fell fast asleep!  What a perfect ending.  That meant that his brain was not over stimulated - which can have negative effects for many hours. It's very easy to be overstimulated with Jacob's disorder and very difficult to find the balance when to stop in a therapy session, when he seems to be responding so well.   

The road we travel continues to be a roller coaster ride.   It has many ups and downs.  With so much thankfulness we are able to experience a day like today.  Jacob being content, seeming to respond to his surroundings and over all very observant. 

God has blessed us so much more than we deserve!  We are humbled!  We feel that we have been anxious so many times in which we were looking at ourselves too much.