30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #30

For today's fact, I asked a few fellow SPD-mom bloggers to submit their ideas for what they wish the world knew about Sensory Processing Disorder.  If you're another loved one of a child with SPD, please feel free to add your own ideas to the comments section -- I'd love to hear your thoughts have your input added to the conversation as we try to raise awareness for this disorder that affects our lives.  Enjoy!

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I wish the world could understand that it is not "just a behavior problem".  My son's actions and reactions often come from something real and it's called SPD! 
       ~Martianne     http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/   http://sensationalhomeschooling.com/

The first thing that popped into my head for something that parents of SPD wish the world knew is I wish that people knew that my kids are really good kids and they try their hardest.  I also wish the world knew that kids do not come out of cookie cutters, they are each unique! 
        ~ Joyce Herrmann  http://texjoyce.blogspot.com/

I think it's so interesting that SPD is more prevalent in the gifted population. Every SPD mom I've talked to mentions that her child is really smart in one way or another. I often wondered what the connection is...I guess being more "sensitive" might go hand-in-hand with being more perceptive or intuitive. Here's more info from the SPD Foundation on this subject:http://vendovi.ctc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.sinetwork.org/gifted.html     To me, this is a little ray of light....it's sort of like an "upside" to SPD.  
        ~Rebecca Whitlock,  http://www.raccoonschool.com/  http://www.healthygreenandfrugal.com/

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Thanks for joining me as I've presented some information on Sensory Processing Disorder.  November will bring me back to my regular blogging, so please stick around :)

30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #29

In addition to Occupational Therapy (OT) and a home sensory diet, many other interventions exist to treat those with Sensory Processing Disorder, including auditory stimulation therapys, hippotherapy (using horses), nutritional therapy (involving elimination of certain foods and/or supplementation of enzymes, etc.), osteopathic manipulation (cranio sacral chiropractic adjustments) and integrated therapy approaches using a variety of techiniques simultaneous or in parallel.  For more details on these intervention options, check out the Sensory Nation website at http://www.sensorynation.com/interventions.html.
Our OT is amazing and using a variety of these interventions in Josiah's therapy. 
(1) Auditory Stimulation -- she maintains a library of modulated music CDs to play during therapy sessions and to check out for a home-based listening therapy program.  We invested in expensive specialized headphones for Josiah's listening therapy and have used a few different CDs to provide added auditory stimulation to Josiah's home sensory diet.  We'd probably have more success with this if we were more consistent in using it :(  This is a good reminder to get back into the swing of his "special music" on a regular basis (15+ minutes, twice a day as recommended). 
(2) Hippotherapy -- her OT office is actually on her home property where she keeps her small herd of horses, some of whom are working therapy horses.  On dozens of occasions, Josiah has gotten to ride a horse as part of his therapy.  Not only does it provide good vestibular and proprioceptive input, it also provides lessons in social skills (gentle touches on the horse, greeting them, etc.)  Many times, we've even combined auditory stimulation and hippotherapy by putting headphones on Josiah while he rides (our OT has a modified helmet that has space cut out for the specialized headphones for just this purpose!).
(3) Nutritional Therapy -- Josiah has been allergic to dairy and soy since birth (I even had to cut all traces of dairy from my own diet while I was nursing him), so it wasn't a huge stretch to go on the GFCF (gluten-free caesine-free) diet that is often recommended for autism-spectrum and sensory processing disorders.  So about a year and a half ago, I transitioned Josiah off of gluten.  After a couple months, I wasn't sure whether it was making much of a difference, so I challenged it by offering him gluten again for a few days.  On the first day of the challenge I didn't notice much change, so I thought we'd just go back to giving him gluten, but by the third day of the challenge, he was driving us all CRAZY!  Even without the caesine, the gluten-protein acts as a neurotoxin in Josiah's system, making his sensory issues even more extreme -- the improvement was so gradual when we first eliminated gluten that we weren't sure it was helping, but the challenge proved that it really was making a difference, so nearly two years later, Josiah is still GFCFSF (gluten, caesine, and soy free) and feeding him can be a challenge, especially outside the house (more on that in a future post).
(4) Osteopathic manipulations -- We've tried this through our family chiropractor, and sometimes it seems to have good results.  Come to think of it, we haven't taken Josiah to get adjusted since we had Malachi; perhaps a few adjustments would help reduce some of the "regression" we've seen since Malachi joined the family.  Note to self: call the chiropractor :)

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.

30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #28

Sensory Diets:   Children with SPD need strategic activities sprinkled throughout the day to help maintain the optimum arousal level for good behavior and successful development.   Many sensory children will experience both extremes of energy (overstimulated or listless) throughout the day and have trouble maintaining the suitable arousal levels necessary to perform age-appropriate tasks.(1)  One of the most effective treatments for Sensory Processing Disorders is a sensory diet.(2)   A sensory diet is an activity plan designed for an individual child with SPD to help modulate his “engine” level.(1) 

For example, to calm an overstimulated child, you could wrap him in a heavy blanket, feed him crunchy foods or suck yogurt through a straw, have him roll or knead play-dough, or push a heavy box around the room.  To energize, have the child jump on a trampoline, spin in circles, take a shower or eat chewy foods.  Many children needs frequent sensory breaks during school for these kinds of sensory activities that help organize their bodies and let them succeed.

It is important to consult with your child's OT before introducing a new activity or developing a sensory diet for your child!

Read more at (1) Suite101: How to Support Kids with SPD: Sensory Diet Ideas to Keep Energy Levels Just Right http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-support-kids-with-spd-a76995#ixzz13Cx2pE6D   and (2) http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-diet.html

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.

30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #27

The goal of Occupational Therapy [to treat Sensory Processing Disorder] is to foster appropriate responses to sensation in an active, meaningful, and fun way so the child is able to behave in a more functional manner. Over time, the appropriate responses generalize to the environment beyond the clinic including home, school, and the larger community. Effective occupational therapy thus enables children with SPD to take part in the normal activities of childhood, such as playing with friends, enjoying school, eating, dressing, and sleeping.  (From SPD Foundation's website)

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.

30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #26

Once children with Sensory Processing Disorder have been accurately diagnosed, they benefit from a treatment program of occupational therapy (OT) with a sensory integration (SI) approach.   Occupational therapy with a sensory integration approach typically takes place in a sensory-rich environment sometimes called the "OT gym." During OT sessions, the therapist guides the child through fun activities that are subtly structured so the child is constantly challenged but always successful. (From SPD Foundation's website)
 
Don't forget to stop by 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.

30 SPD Facts in 30 Days -- Fact #25

Early diagnosis improves family life. The stress on the families living with sensational children can be devastating. The understanding that comes with diagnosis helps parents avoid such common traps as assigning blame to each other for their child's behavior or disagreeing over discipline. A diagnosis also gives parents an explanation they can use to address the criticism and disapproval that is often directed at them as well as their child.

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

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.

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.