Sensory Processing Disorder

My daughter is 4 and was diagnosed about 2 years ago. Finding a good OT is the key to making strides with your little guy. I learned so much from my daughter's OT. Also, a good book is The Sensory Sensitive Child by Karen A Smith. Most libraries have it. It helped me understand a lot about Madeline's issues. She is very much a moving target, with things changing from day to day on what bothers her. Your son's OT should be able to help you, though, come up with things to do at home to help him feel more balanced. Where do you live? I'm in Warrenville and don't really know of anyone in the area struggling with this (I know a few people whose kids are older and it's much easier when they can verbalize things. Having a toddler/preschooler with this is so hard!) It's nice to "meet" someone else.

J.

our little emma has sensory issues (it accumpanies her spina bifida). But not as bad as your little one. But she hates touching things and having things touch her arms and hands. Especially anything but cloth. When she goes into her "meltdowns" we wrap her real tight in a blanket. This puts pressure on her chest and somehow the pressure helps relieve the anxiety that the little ones get. We also do a technigue called brushing. You might want to ask your OT if that will help. We just take this special brush and apply a little bit of pressure and go up and down her arms and legs. This really seems to help too. For some reason alot of these children really respond to deep pressure. But like i said emma's sensory issues are slighly different. Also music. Emma hates loud sounds and smells. So we carry baby einstein cds everywhere we go and we play them and within a few minutes she starts calming down, it seems to get her to focus on that and ignore everything else. I hope any of this helped, but i do understand how frustrating it can be when they start to freak over tiny things and there is nothing you can do. Emma is two and we have been dealing with this since she was about 6 months. Its getting better now that we know what to do.

I am very familiar with what your son is going through. I have a patient with the same disorder as your child that I see and help tremendously. I am a chiropractor that specializes in children. The little girl I curently see now gets adjusted once a month and is doing great. Before seeing me mom couldnt brush her childs hair or teeth. Her sisters hated her because of the tantrums, attention, and said she was so mean. After a few treatments the older siser walked up to me, gave me ahug and said thank you for giving me my sister back- she isnt mean anymore. I almost cried. If you are interested in trying chiropractic adjustments to help your son or just want to know more about it please let me know.

My son also has SPD, and you're right. It's kind of a roller coaster. He is on the more severe side of the sensory seeking. We eventually installed a cuddle swing in his bedroom so that he can spin and swing until he gets enough stimulation to function. He started Prairie Children Preschool in Feb, and we've noticed a huge improvement in his ability to focus. He gets OT and speech therapy at school, and we make sure he is constantly stimulated at home, but it is exhausting having a child that needs so much movement, so much sensory overload on a daily basis. And once we get used to a routine, he'll switch it up, and the Christmas lights in his bedroom go from the most necessary thing in the world to the most painful. Good luck with the testing; I know it's a difficult disorder to wrap your head around, but it does get better with therapy.

Hi-

My son is now almost 5 and was diagnosed with SPD around 15 months. He is MUCH MUCH better now, after 3 1/2 years of speech, OT and feeding therapy, as well as us following the sensory diet at home, and getting to know him and what he needs and when. We went through the intolerance to the shoes, the shirts, the pajamas, the mittens, the boots, the socks, etc. We just kept trying until we found something that worked. Most kids are more than one "type" of SPD. My son is MOSTLY a sensory seeker, but also has defensiveness. He is extremely active, and needs a lot of physical activity, which is challenging b/c I work, have MS, and a workaholic husband as well as a 6 yo daughter.

There are some yahoo support groups for SPD; one is "local" to Illinois, and the other is international. I think the local one is SPDshare Illinois, or something similar.

Gluten-free is recommended for autism spectrum, not necessarily SPD. Most autistic kids have SPD as well, but not all SPD kids are autistic. I hope that your son does not have it. I have a colleague who quit work to stay home and do the gluten-free diet with her autistic son and work with him, and she says it's done wonders. I haven't heard of any purely SPD kids benefiting, and neither had the nutritionist my son saw for 2 years.

Please be careful of blaming SPD on vaccines; there are many other factors that have been linked, but no direct causes found yet. In our case, my husband and I both have neurological disorders, and my son shows many characteristics and behaviors that are similar to my husband.

Anyway, I wish you luck. You will be able to best help your son by learning as much as you can about this disorder and your son, and by continuing with a good, sensory trained OT.

there is a wonderful yahoo group out there called enzymes and autism i believe that delves into a lot about diet and supplements related to behavior, the autism spectrum, and sensory processing issues. i think it would be a great place to ask questions and do some research -- many many people have discovered their child's symptoms disappear or greatly improve with some very careful dietary changes. here's the link -- http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EnzymesandAutism/