SPD

[rebbecca]

hi, i was wondering if anyone has heard of SPD in childern?, it has to do with behavioral problems.

[lisabell74]

Thanks for your post. Going to talk to my son schools OT about this. Do you have a blog? I would love to hear more of your ideas on how to handle things.

[specialmom]

Oh, this is an OLD post.

[specialmom]

My son has sensory integration or processing disorder and was diagnosed by an occupational therapist at 4 years old.  He is now 5. Sensory is a nervous system delay that involves the brain's messaging system.  An occupational therapist is the one who diagosises this and it is treated with occupational therapy that looks like play.  We do ot once a week and lots and lots of things at home.  It has helped more than I can tell you.  

Things that are common with sensory  kids----  there are the seekers.  These kid's brains tell them to get that heavy input.  They crash, are rough and tumble, jump off things, play intensly.  There are sensory avoiders----  they are afraid of many things.  They avoid high energy activities and do lots of sitting on the side lines.  Kids can have tactile (touch) sensativity and also seek it out and kids can actually do both.  An example is my son at 4 with washing his hands.  He cried like it hurt him if he had to wash his hands (especially at school!) and heaven forbid if his shirt got a little wet. . . meltdown to end all meltdowns.  But he would play at a water table for hours.  So it can be a mixed bag.  Motor planning can be affected.  This is when a child has trouble with some fine motor things, some gross motor things or articulation in speech.  You'll usually see a child AVOID the activity he/she has trouble with.  There is auditory and light sensory too.  Kids can have all or some and it can change.  It is easier to diagnose than you may think because certain things are just flat out sensory.  The only tricky thing is that most people have some sensory issues----  it is only a disorder if it impedes life in some way.  Some kids can't learn because they can't stay focased unless they move (my son).  Peer interaction can be greatly affected by it as flexibility in play is usually a problem with sensory kids as they try to control their enviroment to funciton in it better.  Behavior is a big part of sensory because a child is pretty uncomfortable if the nervous system is out of whack.  And my son has a component of sensory affected called modulation or regulation.  This is the emotional area.  He has trouble keeping things in perspective and getting over things once upset.  We work hard hard hard on this.  

I will tell you that my son is doing really well and is a different kid today vs before his diagnosis.  He is so much happier and hardly anyone can notice that he has sensory.  I've yet to get a complaint from his teacher in kindergarten this year regarding behavior or work.  If you'd like to  know what kind of activities help, let me know.  Good luck.

[ashebs]

SPD sensory possessing distorted is not easily diagnosed as there is an array of things from disliking of lights to needing to be touched hating loud noises or needing them. spd is a sensory over or under put some love to be constantly touched or touch things and if they don't get this input they have a tantrum called an overload. same happens when a spd person doesn't like touch and they are touched. i hope this helps you a bit.