Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) Anyone's child have this?

[maybebaby29]

I'm starting to wonder if our 2 year old has SPD or if he's just being a 2 year old. He was always on the ....different side so to speak and it hasn't been easy.

Newborn/infant
Extreme GERD
Extreme colic
Very sensitive to group noises like a crowded room (he freaked out/crying for an hour/on the way home after being at a wedding where more and more people were talking)
Always something in his mouth--toy/hand

Now as a 2 year old
Every diaper change with me is a fight (turning over, tantrum)
Doesn't want his shirt changed when going from PJ to day clothes
HATES water dumped over his head for baths unless he gets to "splash" it first (in a bowl)
Only wants very lukewarm baths. Anything above or below luke warm he goes to extremes with "hot" or "cold" when clearly it is not the case
Didn't want to go from his winter parka to his spring coat--threw a fit
Easily into tantrums when he doesn't get his way
Going to bed talkes over an hour
Very attached to me vs my husband. He can leave the house and the child goes "bye" calmly. I have to sneak out otherwise it's crying non stop
Always something in his mouth--toy/hand
At home refuses to use utensils. Only wants to use his hand. In front of strangers, he's a little better with them
Hypersensitive to the cats/dogs/anyone else upset, crying. Or say we go to the vet, he gets upset and repeats "kitty doctor" over and over.

But school says he's pretty much very attentive for books/music and he is on the more active side. Talks up a storm and always has to do something.


Could he have a form of SPD? School loves him and gives him high praise on his focus, consideration, loving ways. He can be defiant but not normally or unusual. Responds well to time outs.

[specialmom]

Ya know, this is just a personal thought from me to you-----------  before you go down the adhd highway, you are smart to look into sensory itegration disorder.  They can look very similar.  However, treatment is different.  Medication doesn't work for sensory-------- you do occupational therapy (which we LOVE!).  And many sensory strategies are also helpful in adhd--------  so keep that in mind if your worries persist.

I will say that my boy was/is super active as well.  Giving him outlets for this is really helpful.  We incorporate into our day---------- every day----------- physical play.  Things that work the muscles are really helpful as well as any deep pressure things.  Hanging from a monkey bar (start with just hanging still for as long as he can and that might be a second and work for more) is really calming to the nervous system.  Those walls on playsets that you climb on , also great.  Find a slide that isn't crowded and let him run up it (I know, against playground rules . . . but we break them occasionally if no one is around for our sensory work out).  Have him roll across the floor.  Do funny animal walks and teach him the crab walk, bear walk, and leap frog.  Sign him up for swim lessons.  Some of these things he is little for (climbing and running up slides) but he'll be there soon enough.  Jumping is also great.  You can google sensory processing disorder and "heavy work" for ideas.  And all of these things have LASTING calming effects.  It helps my son stay calm and focused at school even a day or two after lots of activity like this.  

So, keep in touch and as things come up, feel free to contact me.  Even if he doesn't have sensory--------  active kids seem to be my specialty these days!!  

If he has a true challenge of some sort, it will reveal itself soon enough.  But he may just be a quirky kid . . . just the kind I love!  Peace.

[maybebaby29]

He's highly active and very stubborn. We are suspecting my DH has ADHD and even our marriage therapist was beating around the bush more or less asking if we think our son has it too. Who is to tell at 2? If he was 5+ then maybe I would wonder. But you're right, I have to wait and see. The way I feel, you get a certain specialist they'll find something wrong in all children and I don't want to do that to him.

I'm a first time mom who has never been around kids so all of this behavior is new to me. He is lively though. :)

[specialmom]

Hi.  Well, I have a son with sensory integration or processing disoder.  He's now 7 but I remember those early years well.  Some of what you mention are things that remind me of my son as a baby and toddler.  Some of it is just the little idiosyncracies that every child has.  My second child that does not have sensory would cry bloody murder when getting his head rinsed.  The difference was that the list of complaints was fairly short for my second son verses my older one.  And then things started increasing as he got older.  By three, he couldn't stand washing his hands and at preschool--------  he'd go into hysterics over it.  And if his shirt got wet . . . it was a total meltdown.  

One thing that does throw me off a bit is that he does fine in school.  That is atypical for sensory.  If you think about the brain having lots of little gates holding back things so that a child can focus (the bright light over head, the sound of a mower outside, all of the cool looking stuff ALL over the room, Mary coughing, etc.)-------  the gates hold everything back but what the child is doing . . . well, with a sensory child, in a classroom they are usually overwhelmed a bit.  So all of their gates lift and they can't focus, have issues complying, wander the room, forget rules, appear to not be listening, etc.  

Things could surface and a smart mom keeps her eyes out for things-------  but right now, I'd just chalk it up to your child's quirks.  It is important to remember that everyone has sensory things that make them uncomfortable (I hate condensation on a pop can . . . will NOT drink out of pop cans and I also do not like turtle necks much as they are scratchy on my neck)---------  it only becomes a disorder if a child can't cope.  And that your child copes at home where he is in more control of his enviroment verses at school tells me he may just have some sensory things that bugs him and has found a method of communicating with you (crying) that works.  

but watch for any increase in things.  Oh, and activity can really help.  Get him to parks or outside as much as possible to run, swing, jump and roll.  Play active games.  This will help keep his nervous system nice and calm.  goodluck

[margypops]

Dr Ted on the expert behavior forum also has some expert words you may want to check out, A lot of the items you list could be things a lot of children would not like, ..water dumped over his head,its normal for a child of this age to be attached to his parents, lukewarm baths are normal , in fact there's not much point in me listing them all, a lot are in my humble opinion reasonable .

[AnnieBrooke]

Check in with Specialmom, or possibly read some of her posts on this issue.  She's the go-to person on the site for this topic.