Making Sense Of The Senses

I still remember the day it was first brought to my attention that Christian may have a sensory problem. To myself I thought, "sensory problem, what the....." I had never heard of something like this before but, I thought this is just the same old thing, were they THINK he has something but, after weeks or months they rule it out. Well....not this time. This time his sensory issues would eventually turn into sensory problems. The journey to understanding Sensory Processing Disorder and how to deal with it has been the most difficult challenge I have faced with my son, other than almost losing him at birth. This is one subject I didn't talk about much with other special needs mom's or people in general. This was something that took a while for me to understand and to accept...much like his hearing loss. But now, I am ready to talk about it....and I want to share our struggles with other mom's battling this disorder with their child, and to spread awareness about this disorder. Here is our story......

For those of you who don't know what Sensory Processing Disorder is, I will briefly explain. It is a neurological disorder that misinterprets everyday sensory information. They're seven senses in your body touch, taste, smell, hearing, vision, vestibular and proprioception. Vestibular is input from the inner ear that controls balance. Proprioception controls the muscles and joints in the body. These senses send information to the brain and should automatically make us respond appropriately. For children/adults who have SPD this information is unorganized and is misinterpret in the brain, causing a person's behaviors to be much different than ones without the disorder.




Christian 19 months, "clapping"



I started noticing Christian acted a little different then most kids in the Summer of 2009 when Christian was about 18 months old. He feared grass something awful, he hated to be out in the yard during the day when the sun was shining at its brightest, and the thing he did most differently. He would hold his right hand up to his face, clinched it up and pat it with his left hand. When most people saw him do it, they thought it was just his way of clapping. Which is what it did look like, but when he does it repeatedly throughout the day, everyday, 10 to 15 times an hour (literally)and gazes so hard that he runs into things, gets right back up and goes right back into "the clapping" (what we called it) clearly he is not really clapping, at least not in a functional way. I thought this was just a phase he was going through and thought in a couple weeks or so it would no longer be a problem. But, after bringing attention to it to "his team", they all thought he was best for him to get Occupational Therapy. In convinced he had a problem, I did go ahead and allow a sensory evaluation to be done anyway and talk with a Occupational Therapist about this subject and see what her thoughts were. The evaluation was done, he was in need of therapy for sensory issues. But, I still had no clue about all this sensory stuff.


The clapping only got worse as the holidays approached, not to mention he was starting a new sensory seeking habit. Getting in the floor, backing up to people and kicking/humping them, while gazing deep at the floor and humming. I was a complete mess by this time, felt like a horrible mother and my son was out of control. Our OT was not much help at all, she could not explain to me what was causing him to act like this and she defiantly wasn't giving me any good techniques to help with his "behaviors." The first of the year, 2010, I asked for another OT, praying we would find one that could help me understand him and how to help him. My prayers were answered!!!!! :-)

Once SPD was explained to me in a way I could understand, it all started to make complete sense! I was so relieved to understand it, now I felt like I could truly help him!

A list of Christian's under and over sensory seeking behaviors;

-Vision
*Crossing his eyes
*Gazing deep at objects and everyday things, such as; small toys, pencils/markers, crayons, straws, tables, floor, string, cups, television, lids, forks/spoons, and the list goes on.

-Hearing
*Taking the lid off of his bottle and banging it next to his hearing ear.
*Fearful of having things in his ears, or on his ears.
 *He LOVES to be read to and sung to in his hearing ear. It can calm him instantly!

-Touch
* HATES wearing clothes.
*Refuses to have teeth brushed.
*Refuses to have hair brushed and cut.
*Refuses to have toe nails and fingernails cut. (all these to the point of kicking and screaming on a regular routine basis!)
*Frequently gets in floor or on people and rubs against carpet and people to get that input.

-Taste
*Stuffs mouth with food, as if someone were going to take it from him.
*Excessively chews on objects

-Smell
*Not to much of an issue, but does smell things more then most kids his age.

-Vestibular (balance) **Remember he has complete hearing loss in one ear and perfect hearing in the other...which can effect balance as well!**
*Terrified of heights.
*Doesn't like to be thrown in the air.
*Fears being tipped upside down.

*Will only ride or swing in things he feels secure in.

*Fears being on small riding toys.

-Proprioception (movement)

*Always on the move. Running, jumping, galloping, pacing back and forth through house. Has remarkable energy!!!

*Tends to walk hard on harder surfaces.

Although everyone has some type of sensory issue or another, when you have so many that it constantly effects your everyday living, it is then necessary to have a Occupational Therapist for therapy. To help make your body become more organized, were your brain can process the information better, causing you to have better behavior toward it.

After a few weeks with the new OT "the clapping" stopped with the joint compressions that I did once every 2 hours or more to stop it. But, him being in the floor increased (because it replaced "the clapping") we then came up with a sensory activity chart that was implemented to help. Which it did...if we stay in constant routine, this behavior decreases dramatically. He now has somewhat control over it, as were he didn't before. It has now been a year since "the humping" started, I think now it is more of a habit then a sensory seeking behavior...at least most of the time. There are two ways he does it now. One, he will look up and have a little evil grin on his face, like haha, I want to annoy you. Two, he will gaze at the floor or couch as he kicks/humps and hums (as if he were in another state of mind). If he is doing it to just because he wants to, we stop him. If he does it for sensory purposes, we find other appropriate methods to handle it.

I think this is enough information to share for now...for more sensory information or to view a SPD checklist, go to http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/ This website can give you way more info then I ever could.