B is going to preschool next month. Preschool! I'm a little excited, a little nervous and, well, a little sad. With preschool comes physicals (ugh) and dental appointments (double ugh). We have been avoiding the dentist for four years now. Little man lets me floss his teeth and he's a regular brusher. I've not been too worried about his dental health. I made the appointment today with a pediatric dentist and my conversation went a little something like this:
Receptionist: Is there anything we should know about Bryson?
Me: Umm, he has sensory processing disorder. He may be a little difficult.
Receptionist: Does he have any allergies we should be aware of?
Me: (how do I answer this?) Yes and the fluoride treatment is out for him.
Receptionist: Why? Is he allergic to fluoride?
Me: (Why didn't I just say yes?) No, he has aluminum in his brain.
The receptionist must have thought I am completely off my rocker. I'm sure she expects us to come waltzing in with tin foil hats. But the truth is fluoride and aluminum are a bad bad bad bad combination. I am not looking forward to this. B panics when we cut his hair. What will he do with the electric tooth polisher buzzing around inside his mouth? Seriously, the health department should cut parents of children with SPD a little slack.
B also has to have his ears checked to attend preschool. We tried that already. We could not get the headphones over his ears. B panicked, went into fight and flight, and the nurse gave up. How do I get past that on his health form?
This is all a frustrating process. It should be no big deal, but to B things like this are huge stressors. I really hope these medical professionals have a little knowledge and experience with SPD or we could be in for a wild time.
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We had to deal with a lot of these when we tried PPCD with our older son (3 1/2 at the time). There's a sentence that will save you a lot of heartache when you go. "Patient unable to perform test due to...(fill in the issue: SPD/whatever)". That should get you off under the ADA issues of a child just not being able to do it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, on the dentist, ours allows us to come many times to just wean into this whole thing. Let's put it this way, our now 5 year old (cry, cry, he turned 5 yesterday), hasn't had this teeth cleaned yet. But we are advancing in that direction. The first visit consisted of him getting on the chair, looking at a big fat brush they had to brush fake teeth with, looking at the mirror they wanted to use to look at his teeth, and getting his sticker and new toothbrush. We called it success. The next, he did a bit more, then a bit more. You might call and speak to the dental hygenist or office manager about such an arrangement.
Thanks for the advice! You are much appreciated :)
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