OT and it IS a small world

FYI: OT can stand for Occupational Therapy or Occupational Therapist.

I took T to a local large rehabilitation/therapy clinic in our new city today for an OT evaluation. This is the first step in getting him set up with weekly OT sessions. OT is an important part of the whole equation of therapies for him; his OT will help him with his auditory processing challenges (eventually getting back on track with Theraputic Listening – see earlier blog post), sensory issues, motor skills (like writing ) and with basic/everyday skills like buttoning, snapping, brushing his teeth, etc.

I was really pleased with the OT we met today. The SLP (Speech & Language Pathologist) from his new elementary school recommended this particular therapist because they had worked together at this large clinic before she took the elementary school job. Anyway, the OT and I seemed to click, mostly because she demonstrated to me that she was an old pro with autistic kiddos. She wanted to know more about his diet and the other biomedical interventions we were doing, and knew enough to ask “Is he alternating between Nystatin & Diflucan?” Wow. She knew about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. She’s worked with kids who have done the SonRise program, Floortime, and the PLAY project, as well as Verbal Behavior. She likes them all, and uses different techniques from each in her approach. What a relief, truly. I felt like she knew at least as much about autism specifically as I did and we were already speaking the same language. Can you hear me exhaling? Whew.

So then we started talking about the town that we moved from, and she said her sister had lived there – and worked at the university. “Oh?” I said. “What department?” “Higher Ed”, she said, and I about flipped. “My husband is ABD in Higher Ed there. Who is your sister???” Well, when I heard the response, I dropped my jaw and said “Um, yeah – I know her. Rob knows her, and she was one of my Pampered Chef customers when I was a consultant a few years ago!!!”

What are the chances of that? All together now: “It’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small world after all, it’s a small, small world.”