Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Mustard and Lemonade

One of the things about Fragile X Syndrome that has always been an issue for my kids (and many others with FXS) is their hypo-sensitivity.

For my 3 FX-ers this affects only their mouth.

Everywhere else they are hyper-sensitive—clipping their toenails would make you think it was a sheer form of torture, clothing they wear has to be just right or it affects their entire day, loud places or situations send them through the roof, and the breeze can feel like a hurricane to their skin. You have to try to make their physical environment as pleasing as possible.

So when you get to the other end of the spectrum with their under-sensitivity in their mouths you have to think opposite.

When brother was in pre-school and kindergarten the teachers would use techniques like letting him taste lemon juice or mustard before a speech session or lunch/snack to "wake-up" his mouth. Once he had tasted one of these strong tastes the senses in his mouth were more alert and he was more aware of his tongue and how it was moving around in his mouth.

Quite ingenious if you ask me.

At early intervention for all three of my kids they would "wake-up" their mouths before snack by singing, making faces, puckering their lips and touch their face and mouth with their fingers. This makes children with low tone or an unawareness of their mouth muscles to "realize" where they are.

So you can understand why Brother loves sour green apples, sweet tarts, sour gummies, pretzels, salt and vinegar chips, and ...

mustard salad...
mmm, mm...

He like mustard with his salad and to dip chips in along with all the other regular mustard stuff like hot dogs and hamburgers.

We store a lot of mustard around here.

We also keep a lot of lemon juice on hand for Brother's homemade lemonade.

Side note: Brother won't drink milk (I've tried all kinds of flavors and varieties) but I did find that he loves this Propel with calcium drink mix... they have it in lemonade flavor. (smile) Oh, and thanks to Uncle Joel for taking the picture. (2 smiles)

1 remarks:

theotherlion said...

My son eats mustard on everything, too! And salsa con queso is a must every day, sometimes in the morning. :)