Important "Playtime"

Although I laugh about it now, I was ignorant about why I went to see her twice a week, every week, for three years. Her name was Irene, she was an Occupational therapist, and my mom told me I was going to her house to play. I loved going. We had a snack at the beginning of our play session and then did puzzles, played catch or engaged in some other physical activity for the remainder of the hour. I just assumed that all kids my age went to play with a thirty something year old woman after school, along with brownies and soccer practice. The truth of the matter was that Irene was teaching me the motor skills I was so behind in developmentally.

I was slow in most everything I did, making elementary school a nightmare. As if it were not bad enough getting tormented for being the fat girl with glasses, I also came home from first grade everyday crying because I felt slow and stupid. I was in the lowest reading group and had to stay in from recess regularly to catch up on the math problems that the rest of the kids did so easily. I had been diagnosed with Learning Disabilities at a very young age, but that did not magically make the kids like me better, or teach me how to get a fork to move from the plate to my mouth.

I clearly remember one afternoon during snack time, sitting on the left side of Irene's short wooden table eating my yogurt. My face was covered in the white sticky mush. She sat down next to me and told me that I did not need to eat so fast because we had an entire hour, which gives you plenty of time to eat. She took my spoon, carefully filling it only half full, making sure I understood never to let the yogurt spill over the top. Then, together we slowly guided the spoon into my mouth. We did this spoonful after spoonful and day after day until I mastered eating correctly.

In the three years I played with Irene, I learned how to eat, how to throw and catch, and so much more. The skills she so gently instilled upon me trained me to judge space and time, and although neither of us knew it then, these same skills later had much to do with my successful soccer career as a goalkeeper. Irene would be proud to know that I can now out-do others in our game of throwing food in the air and catching in our mouths.

The combination of Irene's patience and my naivetE regarding her purpose allowed me to master many imperative, every-day functions which were not automatic for me, like eating, running, catching, and balancing. I acquired the hand-eye coordination necessary for making spatial judgements, because Irene helped me to become aware of my body in relation to my surroundings. The fact that I viewed her as a grownup playmate rather than a threatening instructor allowed me to trust her motivation in working with me. As a result, I overcame my feelings of physical inadequacy.

-- Melanie