SENSORY VS BEHAVIOR PROBLEM

I have a grandchild that has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Dysfunction with sensitivities to tactile (clothing issues) and some auditory.

I have never had a problem with this child but her parents do.  She also does not manifest at school (she is 5 yrs old).  I have observed this behavior with her parents while visiting and suspect that there is a behavior issue at play along with the SPD.

How can we tell the difference???

[EEJMAB6]

My son Jacob who is now 15 is Asperger's syndrome and also has the diagnosis of Sensory Processing Dysfunction. It is not at all uncommon for kids like your grandchild to act perfectly normal in a school setting or even around you.  

Just for a moment try to imagine..... the feeling of pins being pricked all over your body all day long every single day, and there is NOT much you can do to get it to go away.  This is what an SPD child deals with every single day.  All day, your granddaughter is dealing with kids touching her, sitting too close to her, she is spending her time thinking who is going to sit next to me, who is going to touch me next, how am I going to be touched?

My son when he was in kindergarten, came home from school complaining that he is being pushed every single day and how much he was getting hurt.  So I asked the teacher to monitor him and watch to see who was pushing him.  Come to find out, that when they stood in line to go to recess, or to go to lunch children would sometimes lightly brush up against him getting in line.  There was NO pushing, but to Jacob he felt sincere pain and felt like he was being pushed hard.  When I explained to him and demonstrated to him what the children were doing he said well I don't like it and it hurts me badly.  We resolved the issue with Jacob waiting for all the kids to line up first and then he would get in the back of the line so he would be less likely to be accidently brushed up against.  

Shirts, socks, shoes, pants have all been issues over the years.  It took Jacob till the 7th grade to finally be able to wear a pair of jeans.  I have to wash brand new jeans at least three times before he will wear them.  For him, he says the washing softens them up a little bit.  Shirts have to have NO tags in them, and NO bulky seems around the shoulders.  Socks have to be seemless in the toe area.

Jacob now goes to a huge high school, and has to deal with crowds of kids walking to their next class.  Jacob deals with this by walking along the edge of the wall, so that if he is bumped, he only gets hit on one side not both sides.  Children with SPD learn to adapt to their environment, they find unique ways of dealing with their sensory issues.

Your granddaughter is acting out in her own home and her own safe environment because she knows and feels that this is the only place that she can feel safe to let her frustrations go.  She has to have at least one place where she can vent, yell, act out to relieve the pain that she deals with every single day.

I hope I have helped you understand why she acts out around her parents only.

Elizabeth