general

[Henryjon12]

Thanks for your response re SID. Just curious to know how an occ therapist distinguishes between a child who has typical childhood fears as opposed to one who may have SID. I was reading a bit about this topic over the last day or so and I noted that amongst the most common childhood fears in children between 2 and 31/2 are loud noises such as police sirens and fairgrounds. Obviously many more besides. Interestingly yesterday the boy’s nursery school was visited by a policeman and his van. Some of the other boys and girls were already in the van setting the siren off and DS2 clung a little to his childminders hand. However when it came to his turn a minute later, he had no qualms about getting in and setting it off. He wanted to go off up the road for a drive.  I live in the UK and there does not seem to be the same focus on SID condition apart from when it is present in autistic children. Most of the articles I read about children who are sensitive to sensory experiences didn’t suggest that there was a need to see someone, merely gave advice on managing the issues. Given that my sons reactions have largely only happened since he was around 2, would lots of other symptoms need to be present eg clumsiness, lack of ability to follow directions, lack of sense of self etc in order to make a diagnosis?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

No, the additonal symptoms needn't be present for the clinician to reach a decision re: diagnosis. It is not unusual for children who display SID to also display other neurointegrative (e.g., ADHD, learning disability) or emotional (e.g., anxiety disorder), so the diagnostic process must be undertaken thoroughly and cautiously.