Zachariah and Blood Tests

Zachariah has to make regular visits to the hospital to have blood tests. This is something he has found really difficult and he had become really scared of needles. The last visit had been very stressful and they weren’t able to draw any blood. 

We worked closely with the play therapy team at the hospital and joined Zachariah and family for a few visits to practice. These sessions were brilliant for familiarising and getting practice in the hospital setting, expertly led by his play therapist. He really enjoyed having the time to explore some of the kit, especially interested in the vein finder! 

We introduced visuals to clearly explain to Zachariah what would be happening and with his play therapist introduced the Buzzy too, which has been found to make some procedures less painful.  

Kate visited to practice these things at home and to develop regulation and distraction activities to help Zachariah on the day.  He loves trains so we made him gradually reveal the picture to guess the train boards to give him something to focus on, and we explored different squeezy toys to find ones Zachariah found calming.

On the day Zachariah did an amazing job and managed to have all the blood drawn required for his tests. He did feel a bit worried at first but he managed to use his tools and overcome his fears. Well done Zach.