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Special Needs
Another Intro
Can I join you guys?
My daughter Eloise was just diagnosed with SPD about a month ago and she also has epileptic seizures. Prior to her diagnosis I wasn't really familiar with sensory issues, so I was hoping to find other moms who can share their experiences.
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Re: Another Intro
Welcome. My 2 yr old son has SPD. There are lots of great ladies here that can relate. I was only mildly familiar with sensory issues but have become somewhat of an "expert" now (I use that term loosely) I have learned so much and am still learning. If I could recommend anything to you I would say get her into OT/PT/ST asap. If she is under 3 years old you can start thru early intervention in your state. Get started on sensory diet as soon as you can. Here is my story.....I adopted my son from foster care at 1 yr. He was exposed to cocaine at birth and so he had some sleep problems from that, this is the first I had ever heard of sensory issues. By 18 months he still was not talking and I pushed and pushed to get eval thru early intervention and OT/ST/PT.OT eval showed he had SPD. I found a wonderful ST who is also trained for kids with SPD and she and my OT have taught me so much. He just turned 2 years old. I started on a sensory diet with my son and he has been in ST for 3 weeks and OT for about 6 weeks. I have already seen a marked difference in him. As a matter of fact, he is starting to say a few words in the last few days. You have to be diligent in therapies and home stuff (your therapists will instruct you). I can't tell you how frustrating SPD is though and it's not at all easy on parents. We all have sensory things that we deal with but SPD kids can't organize themselves to deal with them. I just recently read that 1 in 20 kids have sensory problems and parents don't know it. We think it's tantrums, terrible twos, etc and really they might have a real sensory problem. If you have questions about SPD, pls post or PM and ladies on here can help answer questions or help direct you. Good luck and welcome.
Sensory diet actually isn't food related at all. It means that every 2 hours or so you do some sort of sensory "play". For example some of the sensory things I have done for my son that work really well are a ball pit(inexpensive inflatable pool with plastic balls in it) Pound box, it's a pound toy that they pound the balls from top and they go thru a maze, this gives them proprioception and deep joint compression, you can get this a target. Sensory boxes which I have 2. Cheap plastic tub with lid that you place beans, lentils, rice, and put in like a spoon, sieve, little cups and they just run their hands thru it and explore the feeling. The other box has thos soft little pompoms in it for him to be able to feel the softness. We also have come up with things on our own, with help and direction from OT such as stringing big beads on a strand that they can move back and forth. Also we got cheap sponges that are soft on one side with one side a little rough, as he likes the sensation on his skin. We also do crashing, bouncing on trampoline or a therapy ball. The idea behind a sensory diet is that they do something every 2 hours or so. You can work with your OT as to what sensory stuff your child needs and you can get creative about how to make some of these things inexpensively at home. Feel free to PM some of us once you see OT if you need help in making or coming up with things. I am a big believer in the sensory diet as I am seeing a change and it's only been about a month. A lot of kids with SPD have prob with textures of foods as mine did at around a year. What we started was an inexpensive electric toothbrush for a few seconds before eating and wow what a difference.