So, I had signed Alex up for a music therapy/enrichment program through POAC. We did this program 2 years ago, but Alex was in the "younger" session because well - he was younger. Now, they have the kids broken out ages 3 to 12 where they do music activities and then ages 12 to 21 where the program is focused on getting the kids up and moving and learning the wedding dances (like the chicken dance, etc). Even though Alex isn't 12, for a variety of reasons he is in that session. It seemed like a more appropriate fit, or so I thought. I'm now not so sure. There are a few kids in there that are his age and some of his peers, I think probably moreso than the younger session. But, I digress.
On the way there Alex asked if he could get a slurpee. Since it is disgustingly hot out, I decided that sounded good so we stopped and got one. What happened next I could have never planned. I hit a speed bump and the straw went up his nose. The bloody nose was outrageous and a big mess. He was in the back seat crying about being a "bloodboy". It was that bad. I asked if he'd rather just go home but he said he wanted to "go to POAC". I'm glad he looks forward to these activities. This is a free program that is being possible from funding through the Graeme Preston Foundation for Life.
Alex recognized the music teacher right away, he is awesome. He liked that there was music playing and he started dancing and announced "We need a Disco Ball
". This gave us all a chuckle as we told him the ceiling fan would have to suffice. They started out with the hokey pokey and Alex knew this one and got right into it. After that it went down from there. He got particularly upset with the Macarena because it seemed that all the other kids knew how to do it but he didn't. I told him to watch the girl next to him and do what she was doing but he struggled. With the Cha-Cha slide, he followed along a bit but he started to get enraged. Occasionally he had an outburst and would yell that people needed to be quiet. The meltdown wound up and then up some more. He cried. I felt lousy. I hate seeing him this way. I know it was out of his frustration and trying to cope with the sensory stuff, and the nosebleed beforehand didn't help any. So next week we try again.
In the meantime, I actually am going to encourage YouTube this week and find a few videos that are appropriate that have these dances in them so he can watch and become a bit more familiar.
I also think maybe on our week off, we'll be spending some time as a family doing the Danceland: Fun Songs & Activities to Improve Sensory Skills
and 28 Instant Songames: Fun Filled Activities for Kids 3-8
CDs a few times with both kids and trying to get Alex back on track. This is supposed to be fun for him. And I saw at one point he was having fun but then it went all downhill from there... Any other ideas?
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