30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #24

Early diagnosis provides correct labeling for unusual behaviors. Because of their atypical behaviors, children with SPD often attract negative labels such as "aggressive," "withdrawn," "weird," "hyper," "out of it," and others from peers and adults. With early diagnosis, these behaviors get labeled early for what they really are–symptoms of an underlying neurological disorder. Undeserved and undesirable stereotyping, punishment, and other consequences are minimized or avoided.

(from Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) by Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR)

We were fortunate to have gotten a particularly early diagnosis (as early as 16 months), and while it has certainly helped some, it certainly doesn't avoid these issues.  That would require more awareness and understanding on the part of the other adults and peers in his life, and that has garnered only mixed success.  With many other neurological disorders, there are physical signs and symptoms or at least an understandable trigger (like with post-traumatic stress disorder, for example).  One of the great challenges with SPD (and Autism-spectrum disorders) is that the kids look, and in the case of SPD even sound, really normal, even advanced intellectually.  So even when you identify them as having SPD, the skeptics in the crowd will still believe it's just bad parenting.  Until SPD is more well-understood and widely recognized, the mislabeling will continue and so will the struggles that go with them, for the kids and their loved ones.
 
Don't forget to stop by Lucas's Journey with SPD to enter the 30 Giveaways in 30 Days and also check out  Hartley's Life with 3 Boys to read 30 Stories in 30 Days, guest blogs from 30 different families about their experiences with an SPD child.