It’s Spring Break in Atlanta. At least, we had one day of Spring! With a 30% chance of flurries on Tuesday, it certainly won’t feel like April for very long! But yesterday was absolutely glorious, and I spent a cherished day with my family at my uncle’s ranch near Dacula, Georgia.
We all enjoy our time there, but I especially wanted to plan a day for my son, Stephen. I have not shared much here on the blog about him, though many of you who know me personally know of our challenges this year. Stephen is 5 years old. He has always been an energetic and emotional child. At some point, these slight quirks became more prominent, and his teachers started talking to us about his distraction, his extreme emotional responses, and his overwhelming energy. At first, we jumped to the conclusion of ADHD. But through a series of friends, doctors, psychologists, and tests, we found a more exact answer. Last Fall, Stephen was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. For those who have never heard of this, SPD is a neurological disorder in which the brain fails to interpret information from the body’s senses correctly. What sounds like a normal car engine to you and me can sound like a jet plain to him. What feels like a gentle caress on your shoulder or mine can feel like steel wool to him. Finally, it all made sense.
Stephen primarily has problems in the area of vestibular processing, the body’s awareness of its own movement in space, which explains why he likes to slam into walls for fun, to fall down for no reason, to climb and jump on anything and everything he can, with no regard to danger or social parameters. All these years, he has been seeking additional sensory input, to help his brain sort out the confused and stressful messages that constantly bombard it. He also has difficulty with auditory processing. He easily cannot filter one sound from another. Sitting in a classroom, a child will usually be able to focus her attention on the teacher’s words and hear the lesson. Stephen not only hears the teachers words, but he also hears the flourescent lights buzzing, the bird outside the window, the car idoling in the parking long, the fly buzzing on the wall, and even the child next to him breathing. All of these sounds come in at once, and his brain is unable to distinuguish which sound should carry greater importance than the other.
With the peace that came from this new understanding of my child, I also found myself feeling so sorry for him. I realized that it is truly difficult to be Stephen. If our day is like a walk in the park, his day tires him out like a marathon. This website has a great description of life with SPD, like trying to drive a car on the highway and the car responds erratically, threatening to crash at any moment while other cars whiz past under the complete control of their drivers. Imagine the stress and exhaustion of just trying to get from point A to point B.
Recently, Stephen has started having migraine headaches. His Occupational Therapist, his teacher, and I all believe they are the result of stress. As I said, it’s quite exhausting to be Stephen. Yet, I feel incredibly blessed that we learned all this about Stephen when we did, while he’s still very young and we have such good odds of helping him learn to adapt and cope, and thankful that God has led us to some incredible people to help him. I am full of hope that Stephen is going to be just fine in the long run. God will be with us on this journey.
So what does this have to do with our day at the ranch? Stephen, you see, is one of those children who just has an instinctual connection to horses, and they to him. They are so at ease with each other. And to see the smiles, the nurturing, the confidence he gets from them warms my heart. Not to mention that horseback riding is excellent therapy for Stephen’s vestibular system. It’s been a very tough few weeks, especially with his headaches and multiple doctor’s visits. So a day at the ranch on a beautiful spring day was just what the doctor ordered.
This photograph tells the story of Stephen’s bond with horses better than my 1000 words every could. Leia is my uncle’s 9 year old Arabian, a gentle and wise creature, and one who obviously senses something very special in Stephen. In spite of a stormy year, Stephen still has a heart full of love, a joyful exuberance for life, and peaceful spirit just like his friend. This moment says it all.
(Ok, I’ve been round and round with which image to post. Personally, as the artist, I prefer the black and white. I like the dramatic mood of it. The stormy feeling of the clouds juxtaposed with the peace between Stephen and Leia. I feel it truly conveys the message I felt in my heart when I created it. But the majority of my photographer friends seem to prefer the color version. So I asked Stephen which he thought I should put on my website. He said, “Why not both?” So, there you go! Which version speaks to you?)
