Sensory Integration Problems

[Rosilina]

Hi

I just joined the medhelp community after reading some of the comment posted on children with sensory integration dysfunction.  I noticed that all the threads are dating back to 2007.  I have a 5 year old daughter who struggles with melt downs (or actually we struggle to deal with it) Where we live the medical profession does not really "believe" in the condition and will always look for something else where.  Our child was diagnosed by a Occupational Therapist.  We have tried the exercises prescribed by her with very little success.  It seems like the worrying about my daugher will never stop.  Is there some active members who still struggle with this?

[tiredbuthappy]

i have worked with some children ages 3-5 with sensory integration problems. i am happy to hear you have an OT who is helping you with this struggle. What exactly are her sensory problems? http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processing-disorder-checklist.html may help you name it. From there I may be able to share some things that we found to work.

[g8r grl]

Hey!

My 2-year-old son also has Sensory Integration Dysfunction...he is also Apraxia (motor speech disorder). What state do you live in? What kinds of things is your daughter sensitive to? What kinds of strategies have you put into place?

It can be really frustrating...I understand your daily struggle! I'm an SLP in the public school system and work closely with the OT at my school. I am also friends with my son's OT...her daughter is speech delayed and sensory impaired as well! Go figure!

You can message me if you would like to talk more. I am hear to listen! I know what you're going through!

[Rosilina]

Thank you very much for the reply...  It was very difficult to pin it down to one sense specifically, it is more that in general she is extremely sensitive to all senses which causes overload.  Specific senses is hearing, taste, feeling and then the internal feeling of her stomach.  She will start the morning mostly crying, saying that her head is sore (I have know learned that she can not really cope with the drowsy feeling). We deal with that by dressing her as soon as she wakes up and giving her some tea to drink. Then she goes to a pre-school which is very routine driven; where she does great.  Routine is extremely important to her.  The problem starts when she comes back from school. She is all nagging and crying and sometimes have violent outbursts.  If her younger sister is for example doing something wrong she will scream on the top of her lungs.  I ghink by 12:00 she is so overloaded. It is really a struggle ... then my poor younger daughter (know almost turning three) will come running crying to me, the eldest will come running screaming to me telling me that sister is building the puzzle all wrong.  Dad is all worked up saying that she is naughty, whilest I really believe that she can not control her feelings.  The afternoon will always end (before she is off for her midday sleep - she still needs to sleep other wise by night she is uncontrollable) with her saying that she is just tired.  If I can describe her... she is like a sponge taking in all the information all at once and she remembers everything so clearly.  She is now 5 and the other day she described a toy to me which we gave away when she was 9 months old. We gave it away because she was not "taking" to the toy.  Because of this "spongy" ability she was a very early speaker, could speak fluently on only 1 and 1/2 years.  I am so scared that we cause damage to her if we do not deal with the tantrums correctly.  Again... she mimics our actions and copies our ways.  Eg if she screams about something and I tell her to stop and take her to the bathroom, next time her sister screams about something she will try to force her to stop and will tell her to go to the bathroom.  Her mind can not deal with the fact if something is wrong and out of order.  There was a time which I thought that it might be linked to autism but I tested her behavour against it and there was very few similarities. Thanks again for the post!

[Natta1980]

Although it may not be autism - it may be pervasive developmental disorder. Many children with extreme sensory problems are diagnosed as PDD-NOS, and you are correct - most professionals do not beleive in Sensory Integration disorder as a separate problem, it is a pervasive problem which makes it PDD which falls under ASD umbrella. PDD-NOS, more precisely. Or even AS. Where while some symptoms are present, some are not. How is she with imaginative play, conversations, etc...Does she get extremely fixated on things?

Try more routine and maybe even schedules - sounds that she responds wonderfully to structure. That is a BIG plus.
Talk to your husband about her not being able to control her feelings. My husband is the same way and gets angry, yells, and storms out, which does not exactly teach my son how to handle  - right, anger. Key is in developing tools to help her to control her feelings. Feelings are ok, and sensory disturbances are not likely to go away on their own, especially it is not one specific thing, but rather wide range of things. There are some good child anger management techniques you can use. Do not force her to experience anything she has aversion to - it takes time, introduce slowly.

Sound very much like my son on sensory side, except he also has some behavioral problems at school. He has amazing memory as well. My son also started to speak early, but he has trouble with reciprocal speech (conversations), and at times does not answer questions appropriately