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Special Needs
Roxpup
member
TTM about sensory processing issues
Roxpup
member
Hi guys, I've lurked a bit here and there and I know my son has always been quirky, I never thought too much about it. I'm also 'quirky' and difficult and have a hard time with textures while eating, tags, anything bothering me in any way, with how my sheets are in bed, etc.
Are sensory processing disorders genetic? or is it likely a learned behavior? Or is it a coincidence that my son and I are both similar in so many ways?
DS hates anything done to his hair (ever). Washing it, brushing it, touching it, etc. Hair cuts are a special kind of hell, too. He hated baths for the past 8 months or so, but thankfully the last bath he had, he was actually almost willing to get in it (and it was OKAY, until I started having to pour water on him, and wash his hair).
He also *needs* to have clothes on all the time, if I take his pants off cause they are messy or something, he'll scream for his pants even though he has a diaper on and a t-shirt still. Because we know this about him, we almost always have extras on hand. Last week, I didn't have extras and we were out, so I put him in his car seat and gave him a blanket to cover his legs with if he wanted (but omg was so hot!), but he just kept screaming.
When we started to transition from long pants to shorts a few weeks ago, he started to pull his shorts down, trying to pull them to be pants kind of (if that makes sense). He got over the pants to shorts thing pretty easily, but I did notice that he was put off by it at first.
Are there other signs that I should be looking out for that this is a SPD? Are there other things that this could be that may need intervention?
ETA: does anyone have any advice about potty training a kid who doesn't like to take his pants of anywhere except the changing table? He also doesn't like bathrooms (public or private) particularly.
Are sensory processing disorders genetic? or is it likely a learned behavior? Or is it a coincidence that my son and I are both similar in so many ways?
DS hates anything done to his hair (ever). Washing it, brushing it, touching it, etc. Hair cuts are a special kind of hell, too. He hated baths for the past 8 months or so, but thankfully the last bath he had, he was actually almost willing to get in it (and it was OKAY, until I started having to pour water on him, and wash his hair).
He also *needs* to have clothes on all the time, if I take his pants off cause they are messy or something, he'll scream for his pants even though he has a diaper on and a t-shirt still. Because we know this about him, we almost always have extras on hand. Last week, I didn't have extras and we were out, so I put him in his car seat and gave him a blanket to cover his legs with if he wanted (but omg was so hot!), but he just kept screaming.
When we started to transition from long pants to shorts a few weeks ago, he started to pull his shorts down, trying to pull them to be pants kind of (if that makes sense). He got over the pants to shorts thing pretty easily, but I did notice that he was put off by it at first.
Are there other signs that I should be looking out for that this is a SPD? Are there other things that this could be that may need intervention?
ETA: does anyone have any advice about potty training a kid who doesn't like to take his pants of anywhere except the changing table? He also doesn't like bathrooms (public or private) particularly.
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Re: TTM about sensory processing issues
Thank you for your response, auntie. I really appreciate you taking your time to write to me. What does the OT do for an evaluation? Would it be an EI service or would it be a school system thing? (Or neither, it could potentially be private if it wouldn't impact his learning, right?) We're having insurance issues with his provider and he's actually uninsured right now but we're hoping to have it fixed sometime soon.
The reason he's on a changing table still is more me than anything, we've never changed him anywhere else while at home because it's hard for me to bend (I have pretty bad back issues). He hasn't always been compliant about it, but, it's laughable to see him up there (he's a big 3 yr old at 40 pounds and 40+ inches, he's been longer than the table for a long time lol). We haven't even tried potty training him because I'm letting him lead the way with that and he hasn't expressed interest at all.
I don't think he's showing signs of neurological readiness, IMO, anyway. Physically he wakes up wet from nap and bedtime and if he doesn't have a diaper on for a brief moment, he pees w/o flinching or missing a beat with whatever he's talking about/reading/doing. You know how you see some kids who stop and pause and suddenly start peeing everywhere, and they look down and see what's going on? He doesn't do that yet. He only looks down to see whats going on if his stream of pee is hitting his leg or splashing on his foot.
You have a good point about your son needing to be pushed, though... I may be singing a different tune in a few months about letting him lead the way with this. How old was your DS when he was potty trained? I need to start looking in to potties because I bet he'll prefer one in a room other than the bathroom at first at least (but he's so big, it may be hard to find one!).
When we get our insurance stuff figured out, I will be talking to his pedi. I need to touch base with her and will add this stuff to my list. Do you know of any online resources with a decent list of behaviors in toddlers/preschool age kids that could be SPD? He's a generally really easy going kid and has a calm temperament... I can't think of anything else that may be SPD-esque but don't want to miss anything (or get frustrated with him about something that I don't realize is a sensory issue for him! I feel bad because at first, when the bath thing started, I got so mad, we both ended up in tears on bath nights, it's not his fault, but I couldn't understand why!).
My son with SPD was evaluated through EI ... it took a while to get things going, I contacted them when he was 2y6m but he was 2y9m before he got speech and PT evals and 2y10m for the OT eval so he didn't get a lot of services through EI before he turned 3, and the school system evals were right after the EI evals.
He did qualify for OT along with PT and an itinerant teacher through the school system. Like auntie said though, the school system didn't really seem to care about his sensory issues at all or include those in his OT goals. After his birthday, we also continued the feeding therapy, PT and OT he had started through EI but privately. (Our insurance covered 20 sessions total per year and we were able to get him on Medicaid to cover the rest.) They were really helpful with the sensory issues. He went from moderate SPD to mild SPD after a year of therapy. He also saw a developmental pediatrician this fall. With the OT, she spent about an hour evaluating him. He's been through so many evals that I don't even remember anymore if she did any formal assessments at that meeting but I do remember her asking us a ton of questions about his behaviors, preferences, etc., and also doing some things like joint compressions and touching him with certain objects to see how he'd react.
When the devel pedi assessed him for it as part of her full eval a year later, she had me fill out a Sensory Profile which showed a "definite difference." He was 3y10m when we did that.
Auntie answered a lot of your questions already so I'll just relate what we have done.
C had no interest in potty training until March of this year and he turned 3 in November. He is only recently completely day time trained but will wear an overnight pull up to sleep. We really had to go at his speed despite thinking he should have been doing this already. We went through different potties, potty seats, prizes, etc. The only thing that ended up working for us was putting the little potty he decided he liked in the living room so he had his things near him and it was easily accessible. Over time we started moving it closer and closer to the bathroom transitioning to using only in the bathroom.
When it came to his eval for OT, it was billed as an Autism eval because we didn't necessarily know what we were looking for. Through talking with the OT and ST they geared the eval more toward sensory, direction, and behavior. Thus, we figured out SPD with some minor OCD. We got a referral from his Dr to the children's therapy through the hospital his Dr works for so it is not through EI or the school. We had him evaluated by the school for developmental preschool and it was laughable for our situation. They just thought he was adorable and since he was able to do the things they asked, did not qualify for anything through the district. It was really frustrating because private preschools don't want him, the district doesn't want him, and centers are out of the question after our last experience yet C is dying to go to school. It's really sad.