Super Muscles had a dentist appointment at school today. He goes to Head Start in our town and they have a program called Healthy Smiles where they send dentists to the school to check out the kiddos teeth and they get them cleaned. It is a cool program.
Anyhu, Super Muscles got up on the chair and let the hygienist count and floss his teeth. He played with the mirror and he wore super cool shades while the light was in his face. Then... the hygienist turned on the portable machine. That.was.it. He was done. Too loud, too scared, too upset. I did finally get him calm enough to let the dentist peak into his mouth. But the part that annoyed me... she was not nice to my sweet boy. She kept telling him how he wasn't a big boy and how he wouldn't get a tooth brush if he didn't get his teeth cleaned. It made me so sad. Seriously... he is FOUR... not fourteen. He has pretty epic auditory sensory problems which I told them about and that is why his teachers asked that I come for the appointment. But she was not sensitive to my sweet boys' needs.
And thankfully for Super Muscles this generally does not set him aside from his peers. It is infrequently even an issue because how often are there noises so loud that he is scared or that his ears hurt or that he gets stressed out? It isn't terribly often. He is making friends and learning well. But today I saw child after child after child able to handle it. Able to get into the chair and have their teeth cleaned. It just frustrated me that he struggles so much with something most people just intuitively can figure out. But I get him. I am still the same way. I wear earplugs to football games and avoid loud places. I just... I don't like seeing him struggle. I don't like seeing him afraid. And I definitely don't like that, at 4, people are already not very understanding of him.
I spoke to his teacher about it and plan to follow up on it so the dentist can be talked to about it. I think she is a super kind person for volunteering her time to work with some of our communities most disadvantaged children. I really respect that. But I think maybe she needs some new strategies to deal with children.
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2 comments:
Oh H*** no!!! I would have told Super Muscles that it is okay, he will still get a toothbrush, and that I know the sound is loud. GRRRR!!! I would have completely invalidated her negative comments. Completely inappropriate of her in my opinion. I fear for people already that wrong my future children. I have to be careful, I know, not to be too much of a helicopter parent.
Oh I made sure my little buddy got a new tooth brush! I think he tried very hard to be brave. What can you do about loud noises hurting your ears or scaring you? He did better this time than last time even :) I am proud of him. And really I was too busy calming and soothing him that I didn't get super mad until I got home.
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