The Wiggles: Toddler Heroes

Toot toot chugga chugga big red car...We'll travel near and we'll travel far. Toot toot chugga chugga big red car...we're gonna ride the whole day long.

These lines are from the song 'Toot Toot Chugga Chugga' by the Wiggles, an Australian group aimed at preschoolers. Those of us with children under the age of five are all too familiar with this group, and likely know every word of the song. I've heard the Wiggles described as 'The Beatles for kids". Not an unfair comparison, if you've ever been to one of their concerts and have seen them in action. Their boyish charm and fun nature not only win over the children they entertain, but also the parents who buy Wiggles merchandise and tickets to their shows. This skill helps them win over even the most skeptical parents, including myself.

I am the mother of a very "spirited" little girl named Jaimie. "Spirited" is the word her pediatrician used to describe her extremely extroverted behaviour prior to her diagnosis of Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) when she was two and a half.

At three months, we noticed Jaimie started to develop a rather fussy and sensitive demeanor. As she got older, her "spirited" nature became more difficult to endure as she would head-butt, bite, scratch, punch and kick when she got angry or frustrated. It wouldn't take much to get her to the boiling point and I never knew exactly what triggered the outbursts. It became even more worrisome when she turned her anger inward: she'd repeatedly bang her head on the floor or wall, bite and scratch herself and pull out her hair. To make things even worse, she was non-verbal and not able to communicate effectively. I tried everything I could think of to reach her but nothing ever seemed to calm her down.