The Ball Pit & Jenny

Dear Ball Pit:
Hi. It has been a while, I’m sorry. About 3 years, in fact. How are you? I have been super busy and doing really well. Remember how we met? I had just graduated Cal Lutheran with a Psych degree and just come to the realization and conclusion that I am too emotional already to be all that a psychologist should be. Perfect. Timing. Luckily, I was able to move from part time to full time at my job. As you know all too well, working with kids with Autism can be both frustrating and rewarding; aaaaaand can open many doors for opportunity, which is how I met you!
One of the children I was working with regularly (and completely in love with) suddenly had to change her schedule. I had been seeing her 3 times a week for almost a year and was now at the risk of seeing her maybe once a week...maybe even not at all. Well, what the heck? Why was this happening? Apparently, she was going to start seeing an Occupational Therapist for sensory integration. Oh. Yeah, of course. Obviously. Wait, what? What IS that?
I decided I wasn’t going to go down without a fight so I told Mom that I would just go to her OT sessions with her. Maybe I could help somehow? I had never seen anything like a Sensory Integration Clinic. It was a huge room filled with you, swings and slides, and zip-lines. There were children working with therapists and their parents, having a great time. It was only later that I learned these “toys” served a major purpose. I started looking into Occupational Therapy on the internet and asking about it around my job. I loved the idea that children could be helped by making them feel good AND give solutions to problems I didn’t even know they could have. Naïve.
So the reason I haven’t seen you in sooo long is because I have been going to school to become an OT. School has opened my eyes to all of the different avenues Occupational Therapy can cover. I hope you don’t get jealous, but there is a whole adolescent population in the mental health field just waiting to be helped, and I think I’ve found my calling there. But don’t be sad, please, because it was from within you that I realized I wanted to be an OT. Remember that day? I was sitting right in the middle of you, waiting for a child to come down the slide into my arms. So thank you. You don’t know what you have done for me. I love you!

Thank you, thank you always and forever,

Jenny N. <3