Izzy had OT yesterday. OT has been difficult lately. She was frequently shutting down and being aggressive prior to Covid19, during stay-at-home she wouldn’t really participate in our virtual check-ins, and last visit being our first, she did participate, but the mask was a huge distraction.

Yesterday, Jackson drove her down to my office and then she and I went down to Beech Grove for her session. It’s about a 30 minute drive from here. She didn’t play on her phone, we chatted and laughed and listened to music. It was delightful. We got there, we sat down on a mattress, Vicki and Tatia said “today we’re going to do a reset and make some goals and see where we are and where we want to be in therapy” and she disengaged. She pulled her mask over her eyes, she laid down on the mattress and she sealed her lips….no talking from her. They asked her questions, she laid silent. So they asked me questions – and of course I answered. I gave goals I have for Izzy. They each gave goals that they have for Izzy. Izzy sat silent.

We moved away from the mattresses to a table where we could draw our goals and feelings, and we invited izzy to join us. She was silent and unmoving.

Rewind to our trip down to OT….she had a pen with her and she did a little drawing on her leg as a boredom or sensory “activity” and as we got out of the car at OT I absent-mindedly said “hope that ink can come off for our family pictures tonight.” And Izzy laughed and said “oh yeah! I forgot! I’ll get it off when we get home.” Fast forward back to my story…..she got up from the mattress, walked over to the bin where she had put her stuff, and grabbed that pen. She proceeded to walk back to the mattress and draw on nearly every inch of her legs. Lines, pictures, designs, big black boxes. I looked to Tatia and quietly said “she’s doing that to piss me off because we have family pictures tonight…..jokes on her – I’m not mad…..because I’m not the one who will look ridiculous in the pictures!” And I was proud of my own reaction to her attempt to “win” our silent argument.

When therapy was over, we silently walked to the car and got in. Izzy immediately said “I drew all over my legs to piss you off.” And I said “yep – I know.” And we drove away in silence. It takes about 5 minutes to get from their office to the interstate, and before we got to the interstate, Izzy had apologized for drawing on her legs, she promised to shower when we got home and scrub the ink off, she let me know why she was so upset during OT and she had a beautiful mood again. I didn’t have to preach or beg or ask any questions – she gave it all to me willingly and openly and it was great!

And guess what……she didn’t have ink on her legs for family pics!