The Backstory
Thatcher’s story started back in April of 2016. The picture of this two minute exchange is burned into my mind even three years later. I remember sitting on the floor of our playroom while my husband changed Thatcher’s diaper while he screamed and trashed until he vomited. It was not the first time and it would not be last time, but it was the first time that my husband and I looked at each other and spoke the words “something is wrong with our boy.” Although, at the time, we had no idea what that something was. Our pediatrician assured us that this was a phase and that with time and some assertive parenting that he would grow out of it. Patience is not the prescription that any of us hope for when times are hard, amiright?! I couldn’t accept this answer. I knew in my head and my heart that there was more to this story and I am so grateful I listened to those promptings. Thatcher’s progress, or rather, lack thereof, developmentally would become more obvious as he aged. We watched as so many doors closed for him as a result. After he was excused from his second preschool and turned down by twice as many for entry we knew it was time for action on our part. Defeated does not even begin to describe the feelings we as parents felt for our son.
We began our search and quickly found Triple P (Positive Parenting Program), thinking this was all a result of poor parenting – we know now it wasn’t, but I think mom-guilt is so real and it’s the first place we all go in our minds. We do still use some of the skills we learned form their workshops when it comes to parenting both our neuro-typical and neuro-atypical kiddos. When we realized it had nothing to do with our abilities and everything to do with how Thatcher developed, we reached out again. This time we landed on the steps of Project Enlightenment. They were not even able to complete an evaluation to recommend services so they suggested starting OT (Occupational Therapy), and returning to try again in 4 – 6 months. In that time I stared seeing a parent adviser for tips and suggestions to muddle through until we could get back in. We started OT in August of 2017 our specific therapist was amazing. It was the first glimmer of hope we felt like we had since the day we started searching for answers. She lead us to the Child Find office (Preschool Special Education Services) in our county and they, through a series of meetings and evaluations, determined that Thatcher was in absolute need of an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and that the next step would be to place Thatcher in an appropriate program to help. At this point, Thatcher could not self-regulate, handle a room full of people (let alone a crowd in public), loud noises, or sudden movements – even touches – and certain textures were enough to set him off. All of these things would lead to major meltdowns. At this point in time, these meltdowns would last for 15 – 45 minutes and often ended when he shocked himself back to reality by vomiting. It was a rough stage for everyone. Thatcher’s verbal and fine motor skills were not on par with his peers which lead to more frustration. Thatcher, our once sweet baby was now aggressive, impulsive, rigid and completely dysregulated. He would alternate between hyper focusing and not being able to focus at all which in turn made transitions extremely difficult and it something we still struggle with to this day.
We came to find through our Occupational Therapist, Behavioral Psychologist and Pediatrician that Thatcher had a few things going on. He suffered from Anxiety, Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorder – Hyperfocused, and Sensory Processing Disorder. These three things combined make everyday a struggle for Thatcher and in turn for our entire family. Now knowing what we do know, we have tried and continue to use interventions and services to help Thatcher thrive with the body and mind that he has been given. We know now that early intervention is key and that teaching him coping, chill and social skills are imperative at this point in his development. What he has already managed to learn has enabled him to enter a Title 1 preschool classroom for this current school year. This program provides Thatcher with a safe environment to learn how to be a student. We are not so much focused on academics as we are skills to help him figure out how to be in a Kindergarten classroom successfully.
We turn now to the point of this page. Our amazing little guy has been presented with the opportunity to attend an immersion therapy camp for social skills that was created and is specifically geared for kids exactly like Thatcher. We feel like this is just another opportunity to help Thatcher psychologically and physically prepare himself to enter school. It was recently determined that Thatcher would not enter school in a traditional classroom setting, but instead he would start school in CCK (Cross Categorical Kindergarten). This particular classroom is a smaller setting with 12 kids, all with IEPs and he, along with his classmates, will work with teachers and staff to mainstream as much as possible throughout the school year. We, as his parents, want to do everything we can to help facilitate that goal. As you can imagine, this camp is not cheap, and our family has exhausted personal funds to provide interventions for Thatcher up to this point. We are launching this page in hopes to raise enough money to send Thatcher to camp this summer and we hope you will help us reach our goal of $2,000. Thank you for reading Thatcher’s story and please consider ordering a sign to support our family and our AMAZING little boy. You can also reach out to us with any questions about our journey up to this point or if you would just like to donate.
