Hello everyone and welcome back! I am here to tell everyone that now on Thursdays we are going to have something called Therapy Thursdays. All you have to do is email me or Michelle with any questions or comments that you want either heard or answered and we will put them in a post with the advice from one of our therapists on Thursdays.
We are bringing two therapists on board to help with questions, comments, new ideas and so on. They are Little Miss' Developmental Therapist, April (we will post her intro as soon as we can) and Little Miss' Speech Therapist, Shireen (who has already posted her intro). Please give them a warm welcome and have your questions and/or comments in by Tuesday of each week so they have time to answer all of them.
From time to time they may also post links to new places for you to check out, new ideas on different therapy ideas, at home recipes for you to try with your youngins and so on. I can't wait for our first Therapy Thursday which will start next week. So mark your calendars and submit your questions by Tuesday. See you all then!
Friday
Interview: Lori's Child
Ok everyone here is another new interview. Lori found us and asked to do an interview. She adopted her son from China and recently found out that he has SPD. Please give her a warm welcome and show her some support. Thanks!
My name is Lori and I am a 43 year old stay at home mom to one child, "M". Our family -- "M", and my husband and I -- live in the Ohio.
~ How old was your son when you adopted him?
"M" was 10 months old when we adopted him.
~ What was his life like before he was blessed with you?
"M" lived in an orphanage for the first 10 months of his life. We did not get to visit the orphanage, but we did see pictures of it and it appeared to be in good repair, well kept and clean. His primary caregiver had 7 children that she cared for at the orphanage. When we adopted him, his head was very flat on the backside indicating that he spent most of his time on his back in his crib. He also held his arms at an odd angle -- at 90 degree angles to his body, which is the only place he would be able to see his arms if he was lying down. The flat head has corrected itself and the odd arm holding disappeared after a couple of months with us.
~ How old is your son?
"M" is currently 28 months old.
~ When did you first notice that something just wasn't 100% with your son?
We always thought that something was different about "M". The adoption agencies always tell you that it takes about a year for these kids to catch up. At 10 months old, "M" could not sit up by himself or roll over. In the first few months he did catch on to lots of things pretty quickly. I remember the first night he rolled over he was about 11 months and he did it all night because it was so exciting to him. He did not sleep a wink that night.
After we had "M" home for a year, it just didn't seem like he was catching up anymore. In fact, in some respects it seemed like he was falling further behind. Also, he mastered things in very strange ways. For example, he would walk between my husband and I at about 13 months, but he completely stopped doing that after about a month. I attributed it to the fact that he had learned to crawl and that was good enough with him, but he did not attempt walking again until about 20 months. He mastered using a spoon at about 18 months. Over the last 10 months, he has regressed with respect to utensils. Sometimes he will use them like a champ for several weeks and then refuse to use them for several weeks. Right now, he is refusing to use any utensils or plates. He learns new words and then never uses them again. Occasionally, he will revert to crawling.
The biggest thing that clued me in to a potential problem was the fact that "M" did not "play" with toys. He just mouthed them and put them places -- even at 2 years old. When in a group play setting, "M" did not participate -- just fluttered around the edges doing his own thing. "M" does not like to crawl up on things, go down sliding boards, ride on riding toys or play with balls (he just hugs them and carries them around -- very sweet but concerning).
~ When was your son diagnosed? And how old was he?
"M" was just officially diagnosed this week, though I did my own diagnosis weeks ago. The way it all came about was very strange. We had been seeing an occupational therapist since October for help with "M's" fine motor skills. At one appointment in January, "M" was acting up, throwing tantrums, not wanting to participate. The OT suggested that "M" may benefit from a brushng protocol. She explained it to me and I thought it sounded very strange. I went home and did some on line research and discovered Sensory Processing Disorder. At this point, no one had told me anything about this disorder. I got several books and read them and knew that this is what afflicts "M". It was kind of like being told you need to have chemo for a liver problem, going home and looking on line to find out what chemo treats and finding out you had cancer -- strange! I knew I had to find a local "expert" to help us and I was able to do so. We met with her this week for an evaluation and she confirmed what I have known.
~ What kind of therapy (if any) does your child receive?
"M" currently receives Occupational Therapy once a week and Speech Therapy once a week. We are seeing the Physical Therapist who is the Sensory Processing Disorder expert twice a month and an Early Intervention Specialist twice a month.
~ Do you feel like the therapy is helping?
I have not had an overhelming feeling that any of our therapies are helping tremendously and I feel like it is because of a lack of focus on SPD thus far. Now that all therapists involved know about "M's" sensory issues, I feel like we are going to be getting more focused therapy and that we should see improvements.
~ What is your biggest challenge that you face with SPD?
I think "M" is so inhibited physically that it is affecting everything he does. That is "M's" biggest challenge. My biggest challenge is finding enough time in the day to get all of his therapies completed, get play time in, feed my family, get "M" to his multitudes of therapy appointments and still find time to clean my house! AND I'M A STAY AT HOME MOM! I really don't know how anyone who is working can keep up with it all.
~ What are some of the things you do with your son to help them during a meltdown or tantrum?
"M" responds well to giant bear hugs. Also, if I can get him to laugh, we are done with the tantrum. Tickling sometimes does it for him and I know that sounds strange as many children with SPD do not resond well to tickling. It seems to work for him. His latest thing is hitting and head butting -- that is a challenging one as I sometimes cannot get close enough to give him a hug without getting a head butt to the lip. In fact, I had a bloody lip just this morning.
~ What are some of your son's symptoms?
"M" has a very interesting way of eating. As I described above, he refuses utensils and plates but that isn't the only eating issue. He will put food in his mouth, chew it and then spit it out. He has done this since he started eating table food and we, of course, had hoped he would "outgrow" this lovely trait by now, but he hasn't. It makes for some very messy meals.
"M" has very distinct "good" days and "bad" days. On bad days, he just wants me to hold him and listen to music. He walks around crying alot. Thankfully, we have not had a full blown bad day since early January. Can that be because of brushing as that is when we started? I'm not sure. Good days are peppered with lots of giggling, lots of energy and lots of energetic head shaking and ear covering. We have tantrums on both kinds of days.
~ How do you deal with your stress?
I have discovered the awesome benefits of strenuous exercise. I get up at 5:20 to get to the gym by 6 and home before "M's" dad leaves for work. I know I'm going to be exhausted by "M's" naptime anyway, so since I'm going to nap at that time, I figured I might as well get up early. It is also of huge benefit in handling my stress to interact with other parents who have children with these same issues.
~ What is something you want all parents of children with SPD to know?
I don't really have enough knowledge to answer that question yet but there is something I want all parents of ALL children to consider. It seems to me like MOST learning disabilities are based in some way to sensory issues, and our local "expert" agrees. If parents don't address them properly then they may just end up on the ADHD/ADD drug bandwagon needlessly. Also, if you THINK that something isn't 100% about your child, you are probably right. Find out what it is because the younger your child is when these issues are brought to light, the easier they will be to remedy. It could mean the difference between 6 months of therapy vs. years of therapy. These aren't issues that children just "outgrow", they grow around them making it more difficult to get to the source.
Thank you for interviewing me! I hope I've been of some help to someone.
"M" was just officially diagnosed this week, though I did my own diagnosis weeks ago. The way it all came about was very strange. We had been seeing an occupational therapist since October for help with "M's" fine motor skills. At one appointment in January, "M" was acting up, throwing tantrums, not wanting to participate. The OT suggested that "M" may benefit from a brushng protocol. She explained it to me and I thought it sounded very strange. I went home and did some on line research and discovered Sensory Processing Disorder. At this point, no one had told me anything about this disorder. I got several books and read them and knew that this is what afflicts "M". It was kind of like being told you need to have chemo for a liver problem, going home and looking on line to find out what chemo treats and finding out you had cancer -- strange! I knew I had to find a local "expert" to help us and I was able to do so. We met with her this week for an evaluation and she confirmed what I have known.
~ What kind of therapy (if any) does your child receive?
"M" currently receives Occupational Therapy once a week and Speech Therapy once a week. We are seeing the Physical Therapist who is the Sensory Processing Disorder expert twice a month and an Early Intervention Specialist twice a month.
~ Do you feel like the therapy is helping?
I have not had an overhelming feeling that any of our therapies are helping tremendously and I feel like it is because of a lack of focus on SPD thus far. Now that all therapists involved know about "M's" sensory issues, I feel like we are going to be getting more focused therapy and that we should see improvements.
~ What is your biggest challenge that you face with SPD?
I think "M" is so inhibited physically that it is affecting everything he does. That is "M's" biggest challenge. My biggest challenge is finding enough time in the day to get all of his therapies completed, get play time in, feed my family, get "M" to his multitudes of therapy appointments and still find time to clean my house! AND I'M A STAY AT HOME MOM! I really don't know how anyone who is working can keep up with it all.
~ What are some of the things you do with your son to help them during a meltdown or tantrum?
"M" responds well to giant bear hugs. Also, if I can get him to laugh, we are done with the tantrum. Tickling sometimes does it for him and I know that sounds strange as many children with SPD do not resond well to tickling. It seems to work for him. His latest thing is hitting and head butting -- that is a challenging one as I sometimes cannot get close enough to give him a hug without getting a head butt to the lip. In fact, I had a bloody lip just this morning.
~ What are some of your son's symptoms?
"M" has a very interesting way of eating. As I described above, he refuses utensils and plates but that isn't the only eating issue. He will put food in his mouth, chew it and then spit it out. He has done this since he started eating table food and we, of course, had hoped he would "outgrow" this lovely trait by now, but he hasn't. It makes for some very messy meals.
"M" has very distinct "good" days and "bad" days. On bad days, he just wants me to hold him and listen to music. He walks around crying alot. Thankfully, we have not had a full blown bad day since early January. Can that be because of brushing as that is when we started? I'm not sure. Good days are peppered with lots of giggling, lots of energy and lots of energetic head shaking and ear covering. We have tantrums on both kinds of days.
~ How do you deal with your stress?
I have discovered the awesome benefits of strenuous exercise. I get up at 5:20 to get to the gym by 6 and home before "M's" dad leaves for work. I know I'm going to be exhausted by "M's" naptime anyway, so since I'm going to nap at that time, I figured I might as well get up early. It is also of huge benefit in handling my stress to interact with other parents who have children with these same issues.
~ What is something you want all parents of children with SPD to know?
I don't really have enough knowledge to answer that question yet but there is something I want all parents of ALL children to consider. It seems to me like MOST learning disabilities are based in some way to sensory issues, and our local "expert" agrees. If parents don't address them properly then they may just end up on the ADHD/ADD drug bandwagon needlessly. Also, if you THINK that something isn't 100% about your child, you are probably right. Find out what it is because the younger your child is when these issues are brought to light, the easier they will be to remedy. It could mean the difference between 6 months of therapy vs. years of therapy. These aren't issues that children just "outgrow", they grow around them making it more difficult to get to the source.
Thank you for interviewing me! I hope I've been of some help to someone.
If you have any advice or kind words for Lori and her family please leave a comment. Let's all give her a big thank you for joining us and telling us about her and her family.
Thanks Lori!
Water therapy works!
Well my friends this week has been a tough one! Little Miss seems to think that since she's the youngest that she is the boss and that any and every tantrum will get her her way! Umm....NO!
So this week has been F.U.L.L of tantrums and meltdowns. (sigh) Thank goodness she is cute! One night this week my hubs was at work and I had to:
~ make dinner
~ do dishes
~ help Sassy Pants with her homework
~ pay a little extra attention to Mr. Trouble since he was feeling left out.
~ wrap up Sassy's box for her V-Day party at school the next day.
~ TRY to remember how to do 2nd grade homework the way I was taught to help teach her
how to do it the 'right' way!
~ and of course calm the never-ending meltdowns from Little Miss.
So then I remembered what Little Miss' S.T. told me to do. Pour some water in a bowl and lay it on a towel. Give Little Miss some kitchen items to play in the water with and let her go. Sooo...I did! And guess what? The meltdown was over! TA DA!!! Like magic! She sat there and played for 10-15 minutes while I got everything I could done.
After that it was back to normal routine...which she loves and craves, so she was fine. Dinner, bath, jammies, snuggles and my favorite part...bed! Ahhh....(sigh of relief!)
So this week has been F.U.L.L of tantrums and meltdowns. (sigh) Thank goodness she is cute! One night this week my hubs was at work and I had to:
~ make dinner
~ do dishes
~ help Sassy Pants with her homework
~ pay a little extra attention to Mr. Trouble since he was feeling left out.
~ wrap up Sassy's box for her V-Day party at school the next day.
~ TRY to remember how to do 2nd grade homework the way I was taught to help teach her
how to do it the 'right' way!
~ and of course calm the never-ending meltdowns from Little Miss.
So then I remembered what Little Miss' S.T. told me to do. Pour some water in a bowl and lay it on a towel. Give Little Miss some kitchen items to play in the water with and let her go. Sooo...I did! And guess what? The meltdown was over! TA DA!!! Like magic! She sat there and played for 10-15 minutes while I got everything I could done.
After that it was back to normal routine...which she loves and craves, so she was fine. Dinner, bath, jammies, snuggles and my favorite part...bed! Ahhh....(sigh of relief!)
Saturday
Husband exeperienced a meltdown today..
I should preface this post by saying that my husband and I are separated, we've been so, on and off, for almost a year. He's pretty much missed out on all Little Man's diagnosing, his therapy appointments, etc. It's been hard going through everything myself, but I make do. I make sure to tell him whenever Little Man has an off day, a tantrum out in public, etc. I think he always just thinks I'm over exaggerating, or trying to make him feel 'bad' that he's not there to help me the way he should.
Well, this is 'his' weekend to have Little Man and Princess Pea (my daughter), and he decided to take them to Chuck E Cheeses today. He's taken them there before, but usually on a Sunday morning, when it was less crowded. Well, Little Man did NOT like the noise and crowds at all. He kept throwing himself on the ground, flipping out, kicking, screaming, trying to hit my husband, etc. He kept trying to run away and hide somewhere, and kept putting his hands over his ears. My husband said his back hurt from trying to run after him so much.
I asked him what he wanted me to tell him?? Obviously I'm sorry his back hurts, but hello!! This is the stuff I've been telling him for a long time now! In a way, I don't know why he took them to such an awful place, when he knows that Little Man has SPD and his biggest triggers are noise and crowds. BUT, on the other hand, I'm kind of glad that for once he got to see what a melt down was like so he knows that I'm not making it up or 'exaggerating' to get extra attention'. Is that wrong of me, to be happy that he had a meltdown so my husband could see it?
In any event, he was super happy in just a matter of a few minutes as soon as he was in the car, on the way back to his Daddy's house.
Well, this is 'his' weekend to have Little Man and Princess Pea (my daughter), and he decided to take them to Chuck E Cheeses today. He's taken them there before, but usually on a Sunday morning, when it was less crowded. Well, Little Man did NOT like the noise and crowds at all. He kept throwing himself on the ground, flipping out, kicking, screaming, trying to hit my husband, etc. He kept trying to run away and hide somewhere, and kept putting his hands over his ears. My husband said his back hurt from trying to run after him so much.
I asked him what he wanted me to tell him?? Obviously I'm sorry his back hurts, but hello!! This is the stuff I've been telling him for a long time now! In a way, I don't know why he took them to such an awful place, when he knows that Little Man has SPD and his biggest triggers are noise and crowds. BUT, on the other hand, I'm kind of glad that for once he got to see what a melt down was like so he knows that I'm not making it up or 'exaggerating' to get extra attention'. Is that wrong of me, to be happy that he had a meltdown so my husband could see it?
In any event, he was super happy in just a matter of a few minutes as soon as he was in the car, on the way back to his Daddy's house.
Friday
Evaluation Update
This week we had my older kids' evaluations done for SPD. Finally! I took my oldest daughter (Sassy Pants) in on Tuesday and we went through and answered all the questions and they observed her for a while. They haven't said for sure that they think she has SPD but do think that she has sensory issues that need to be dealt with. They referred us to go see a Visual Therapist to get her eyesight checked out and to see if her eyes move correctly to read, understand and comprehend what she's looking at/reading. So we go in for that on Monday. (I'll update on that later after we get back.) So now she is going in to have Occupational Therapy once a week. And Sassy's teacher at school has offered to stay one day a week to help her out more in school on a one on one basis; she already stays after two days a week for extra help with a reading intervention teacher. So I am hoping that after a while she will start to improve in school. She was always so advanced in everything when she was younger so all this really took us by surprise. But we will do any and everything to help her and make sure her future is a bright one.
Today I took my son in for his evaluation and they said that he definitely has sensory processing issues that also need to be dealt with. I really didn't expect for them to say that; I really just thought that he had been through so much in his life that he just had weird quirks. But they said that SPD issues would explain his: never wanting to wear pants, shoes and socks, sensitivity to light, wind and touch, his constant loudness (he always talks really loud), his aggressiveness and frustrations, his constant need to touch objects and people and so on. So now he is going to go in once a week with my oldest daughter to get Occupational Therapy as well.
We will have to take all three in to get positive diagnosis's from a Neurologist but that takes a while to get in. So in the meantime they all three will all three be getting therapy. I'll keep you updated on what's going on and how they are doing.
Do any of you have multiple children with sensory issues? Do you have any advice or tips that you can give me?
Today I took my son in for his evaluation and they said that he definitely has sensory processing issues that also need to be dealt with. I really didn't expect for them to say that; I really just thought that he had been through so much in his life that he just had weird quirks. But they said that SPD issues would explain his: never wanting to wear pants, shoes and socks, sensitivity to light, wind and touch, his constant loudness (he always talks really loud), his aggressiveness and frustrations, his constant need to touch objects and people and so on. So now he is going to go in once a week with my oldest daughter to get Occupational Therapy as well.
We will have to take all three in to get positive diagnosis's from a Neurologist but that takes a while to get in. So in the meantime they all three will all three be getting therapy. I'll keep you updated on what's going on and how they are doing.
Do any of you have multiple children with sensory issues? Do you have any advice or tips that you can give me?
Picture Schedules!
Sundays are always the worst at my house! When Little Miss is off her schedule/routine she looses it. So her Speech Therapist (I'll call her 'B') gave me a great idea!
I told you all about how we took pics of all of her things that she plays with, eats and does throughout her day, right?! Well now we're going to get some Velcro and put them on the fridge so that each morning when we get up we can go over to it and take off the breakfast one and say, 'Ok Little Miss, breakfast is over. Let's take off the breakfast picture and see what's next.' Then she will see that it's playtime with her favorite toys. After that's over and it's time to go somewhere to run errands or eat lunch then she'll get to go to the fridge and see what comes next. And when that's done then she can take that one off and see what the next one is going to be; nap time, errands, etc. This is going to help her understand what happens next, feel like she is more in control or in the loop with what's going on and help prepare her for the next event.
So now not only are the pictures I took good for giving her options and words but they're also now going to help her with Sundays and feel like she is on a schedule/routine even though it's different from the rest of the week. I highly recommend doing this with your kid(s)! I can't wait to get started. I'll keep you all posted on how it's going! Thanks 'B' for all your help and advice so far!
I told you all about how we took pics of all of her things that she plays with, eats and does throughout her day, right?! Well now we're going to get some Velcro and put them on the fridge so that each morning when we get up we can go over to it and take off the breakfast one and say, 'Ok Little Miss, breakfast is over. Let's take off the breakfast picture and see what's next.' Then she will see that it's playtime with her favorite toys. After that's over and it's time to go somewhere to run errands or eat lunch then she'll get to go to the fridge and see what comes next. And when that's done then she can take that one off and see what the next one is going to be; nap time, errands, etc. This is going to help her understand what happens next, feel like she is more in control or in the loop with what's going on and help prepare her for the next event.
So now not only are the pictures I took good for giving her options and words but they're also now going to help her with Sundays and feel like she is on a schedule/routine even though it's different from the rest of the week. I highly recommend doing this with your kid(s)! I can't wait to get started. I'll keep you all posted on how it's going! Thanks 'B' for all your help and advice so far!
Thursday
Let's get organized!
On Monday my DT (I'll call her 'A') told me that we had too many toys out in our living room. We watched Little Miss sit and empty out the toy box. She grabbed one toy, looked at it for a minute and then was onto the next, not really playing with anything for a long time. 'A' told me that this is teaching her to have a short attention span and that we needed to clear out most of the toys and only give her a certain amount. Soooo I did! With the help of my older two children we went through each and every toy and book and decided what should stay and what should go.
So 'A' gave me a list of certain developmental activities that we should have out. So I got some small crates and divided the toys into groups. I have one that is pretend which has a baby doll, diaper, baby bottle and rattle in it. Another crate for imaginative that has cooking toys in it. One for manipulative that has blocks and a purse that she can zip and unzip. Some books, a puzzle and a shape sorter toy. And then I have her favorite stuffed animals in a separate toy box. I will change the toys out with new different ones when she gets tired of the ones that are out. This will keep her entertained each week with new toys and help her use her imagination on the toys that are out because she won't have the opportunity to sit and just empty out the crazy amount of toys that we did have in there.
I didn't realize how having too many toys out was not good for her and how being organized will help her feel better. Now she is not overwhelmed by all the toys, she has more room and it's going to be fun to see new toys out each week.
So 'A' gave me a list of certain developmental activities that we should have out. So I got some small crates and divided the toys into groups. I have one that is pretend which has a baby doll, diaper, baby bottle and rattle in it. Another crate for imaginative that has cooking toys in it. One for manipulative that has blocks and a purse that she can zip and unzip. Some books, a puzzle and a shape sorter toy. And then I have her favorite stuffed animals in a separate toy box. I will change the toys out with new different ones when she gets tired of the ones that are out. This will keep her entertained each week with new toys and help her use her imagination on the toys that are out because she won't have the opportunity to sit and just empty out the crazy amount of toys that we did have in there.
I didn't realize how having too many toys out was not good for her and how being organized will help her feel better. Now she is not overwhelmed by all the toys, she has more room and it's going to be fun to see new toys out each week.
Wednesday
CEREAL THERAPY!
My Developemental Therapist gave me a wonderful idea for my daughter and I wanted to share it with everyone. On her first visit to our house she brought in a storage container filled with Cheerios, little plastic toys and two small cups. When she opened it up Little Miss started to play in it and had the best time. She sat there for a long while and dug her hands into the cereal, poured them from one cup to the other, dumped them out and so on. The texture of the cereal feels good and helps her to sit, relax and have fun. So I went out on Tuesday and bought the stuff to make one for our house. SHE.LOVES.IT! I have it filled with Cheerios, blocks and two plastic cups and she plays with it non-stop. When she gets tired of it I empty the cereal into a bag and then dump in marshmallows for her to play with. It does get a tad messy and she does try every now and then to eat what's in the box but after we say, 'not in your mouth....it's only for your hands' she stops and spits them out. Good girl! lol
Try this with your child(ren) and see if it is something they enjoy. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow and ask my therapist to do a small post on what exactly this does to help them. So check back soon!
Try this with your child(ren) and see if it is something they enjoy. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow and ask my therapist to do a small post on what exactly this does to help them. So check back soon!
Monday
Giving your SPD child more options
So far to help her throughout the day we have been doing yoga ball exercises (explained here). This is something she really enjoys and seems to really help her.
We are also getting her "control book" ready. I took pictures of all her things: things she eats, things she plays with, things that are in our schedule and so on. So starting, hopefully tomorrow, we will be able to let her have more control over what she wants. So tomorrow I will sit her at the table and give her two choices. I'll show her a picture of cereal and a picture of a bagel and let her pick which one she wants. Now this will be a little tricky because Little Miss doesn't point to things that she wants. She does, however, sometimes point to things that she wants us to look at but just not at whatever it is that she is trying to get.
Then at playtime I'll show her a picture of her little toy phone and a picture of her stuffed animal and let her choose which one she wants to play with. This lets her have more control over things throughout her day, which in turn will make her feel happy because she got to choose what *she* wants.
We will also show her pictures and explain what is going to happen next. Like a picture of the bathtub, "Ok Little Miss, now Mama is going to put you in the bathtub and (showing her a picture of her ducky) you get to play with your duck." Then at bedtime, "Little Miss now it's time for bed. Let's say goodnight." This lets her know what's coming, helps her put words with actions and routines *and* prepare herself for the next step.
Letting your child have more options is great. And after they get the idea that you show them the picture, they pick and you give it to them then you can move onto step two of the 'control book' process. If your child is like mine then helping them put words together and begin to form those words is a huge, very important step. So after she gets it I will then start to hold up two different pictures for her to choose from and ask her, "Little Miss, do you want the banana? Or do you want the apple?" but when I ask her I will hold the picture up close to my mouth and over-exaggerate the words. "...b-a-n-a-n-a?" or "...a-p-p-l-e?" and hopefully after a while she will start watching my mouth and start trying to say, instead of point, to which one she wants.
I am going to laminate my photos for her so that they will last a long time. You never know, maybe after she gets all this down we can figure out some new thing to do with them. But for right now this is enough. If you decide to do this with your child I highly recommend saving yourself some laminating sleeves and doing pics of foods on one side and pics of objects on the back. That way you can turn them over to do the next picture instead of having 100 pictures all one-sided.
What are some things you have made for your child that help in your everyday life?
We are also getting her "control book" ready. I took pictures of all her things: things she eats, things she plays with, things that are in our schedule and so on. So starting, hopefully tomorrow, we will be able to let her have more control over what she wants. So tomorrow I will sit her at the table and give her two choices. I'll show her a picture of cereal and a picture of a bagel and let her pick which one she wants. Now this will be a little tricky because Little Miss doesn't point to things that she wants. She does, however, sometimes point to things that she wants us to look at but just not at whatever it is that she is trying to get.
Then at playtime I'll show her a picture of her little toy phone and a picture of her stuffed animal and let her choose which one she wants to play with. This lets her have more control over things throughout her day, which in turn will make her feel happy because she got to choose what *she* wants.
We will also show her pictures and explain what is going to happen next. Like a picture of the bathtub, "Ok Little Miss, now Mama is going to put you in the bathtub and (showing her a picture of her ducky) you get to play with your duck." Then at bedtime, "Little Miss now it's time for bed. Let's say goodnight." This lets her know what's coming, helps her put words with actions and routines *and* prepare herself for the next step.
Letting your child have more options is great. And after they get the idea that you show them the picture, they pick and you give it to them then you can move onto step two of the 'control book' process. If your child is like mine then helping them put words together and begin to form those words is a huge, very important step. So after she gets it I will then start to hold up two different pictures for her to choose from and ask her, "Little Miss, do you want the banana? Or do you want the apple?" but when I ask her I will hold the picture up close to my mouth and over-exaggerate the words. "...b-a-n-a-n-a?" or "...a-p-p-l-e?" and hopefully after a while she will start watching my mouth and start trying to say, instead of point, to which one she wants.
I am going to laminate my photos for her so that they will last a long time. You never know, maybe after she gets all this down we can figure out some new thing to do with them. But for right now this is enough. If you decide to do this with your child I highly recommend saving yourself some laminating sleeves and doing pics of foods on one side and pics of objects on the back. That way you can turn them over to do the next picture instead of having 100 pictures all one-sided.
What are some things you have made for your child that help in your everyday life?
Sunday
Stefanie's Intro
Hello my name is Stefanie (aka Bloggymommy) and I am the founder and owner of the SPD Life. I am a 28 year old mother to three beautiful, special children. It is my youngest daughter (22 months) that has SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder). My oldest has ADHD and my son has numerous health issues. I am getting both my other children evaluated for SPD in the next month as well.
Michelle and I met through an online group of mom bloggers and found out early on that we had more in common than we originally thought. Both our youngest children have SPD. We are both from different states that became friends as we both learn and experience the ups and downs of SPD and what it does to our children everyday. We thought it would be a good idea to create a blog where we could vent on our frustrations, blog about new ideas, therapy appointments, strategies and help other parents that are going through the same things that we are.
It is hard at times dealing with people in public that have no idea why our children act the way that they do. From their standpoint, not knowing about their disorder, they think we have unruly, hyper, bratty children. When really what they are dealing with is an inability to express their frustrations appropriately so they lash out and throw fits, scream, hit themselves and so on. Children with SPD look completely normal so it is hard for others to understand unless they know about the disorder or are going through it themselves with either their child or themselves.
It can be so difficult to deal with our children and their disorder. We are still fairly new to this and are learning as we go. To see your child throwing fits, hitting themselves, screaming and crying, not being able to use words to communicate and being so frustrated that all they can do is melt down is so incredibly difficult. As mothers we feel like it is our responsibility and motherly instinct to know the difference between every cry and whimper and be able to understand the "words" that they use. When we can't we at times feel like failures because we don't know what they want or how to make them feel better.
So through this blog you will hear about our children's therapy appointments, melt downs, tantrums, doctors appointments, new found strategies and us just venting about a hard day. We will try to do our best to incorporate other online sites that offer tools and advice about this disorder as well. And hopefully at some point will be able to do giveaways for tools to help with children's SPD "diets".
I hope you will join us while we learn about this and learn how to help our children. If you have any advice or questions please feel free to email one of us. We hope that we can somehow make you feel better and be a place for you to vent and share as well.
*We have been working on this blog for some time now before opening and already have some posts on suggestions and stories here. So read through and drop us a comment or two and let us learn more about you and your situation.
We will have an interview post up in a few days on a new mother we found whose child also has SPD. We will from time to time do interviews on parents so they can share their thoughts, suggestions and stories. If you would like us to interview you or you have something you would like to share please email one of us @ bloggymommy3@yahoo.com or michwinter629@gmail.com with your story.
Michelle's Intro
My name is Michelle, and I am the 29 year old mother of 4 children, ages 13, 11, 4, and 2. For a little while, I had noticed that my 2 year old son had some issues that my other children never seemed to exhibit when they were that age. He always hated being dressed, and would take off his clothes or diapers, or complain about the tags in his clothes.. He didn't like to touch certain toys if they had a bumpy texture, and didn't like things like play dough, or anything with an overly soft texture. He just had a hard time with ANYTHING involving texture, senses, etc. He would get really overwhelmed in public places and just have a complete and total meltdown, and it would take him a few days until his body completely calmed down enough. I just knew something wasn't right.
At his 2 year old check up, his pediatrician suggested contacting Early Intervention in our state. I was so scared, because I had no idea what to expect. I had done some research on Sensory Processing Disorder, but just couldn't find a lot of information, and wasn't sure if my son had it or not.
The day of our evaluation came, and halfway through, the evaluator pulled me aside and said "He clearly has Sensory Processing Disorder. We'll do everything we can to help both of you work through this"
And that began our journey into Sensory Processing Disorder. It hasn't always been easy, and it hasn't always been pretty. It's been a journey of discovering new information, new resources, and new friends.
I was SO happy to meet Stefanie and to find out that we both have a child who has SPD. What are the chances?! We've helped each other through hard times with our children, and have listened to each other vent about the frustrations that SPD brings. We hope to be here to listen to you vent as well!
We hope you will find this to be a place where you can come for information, support, or place a place to come where you know you're not alone. I know sometimes when dealing with this, it feels like you're the ONLY one out there that has to go through this, but I promise -- there are others out there, and we're all in this together!
At his 2 year old check up, his pediatrician suggested contacting Early Intervention in our state. I was so scared, because I had no idea what to expect. I had done some research on Sensory Processing Disorder, but just couldn't find a lot of information, and wasn't sure if my son had it or not.
The day of our evaluation came, and halfway through, the evaluator pulled me aside and said "He clearly has Sensory Processing Disorder. We'll do everything we can to help both of you work through this"
And that began our journey into Sensory Processing Disorder. It hasn't always been easy, and it hasn't always been pretty. It's been a journey of discovering new information, new resources, and new friends.
I was SO happy to meet Stefanie and to find out that we both have a child who has SPD. What are the chances?! We've helped each other through hard times with our children, and have listened to each other vent about the frustrations that SPD brings. We hope to be here to listen to you vent as well!
We hope you will find this to be a place where you can come for information, support, or place a place to come where you know you're not alone. I know sometimes when dealing with this, it feels like you're the ONLY one out there that has to go through this, but I promise -- there are others out there, and we're all in this together!
Explaining SPD to others
Explaining SPD to people that know nothing about it and know nobody with it is a hard thing to do. I was faced with this when my oldest daughter (8) asked me what was wrong with her sister and what SPD was. 'How do I explain this to an eight year old?' I thought to myself. Hmm...well how else to explain it than simply and directly. So this is what I said and did.
I sat her down in front of me and said, "Honey, I'm going to do a bunch of different things and we're going to see how you react to them. Ok?" She agreed and so I touched her arm, talked really loud, blew in her face and moved around.
"Honey, see you can hear, see, feel and smell me and your body takes all that information and sends it up to your brain. When all that information gets to your brain it is divided into different files and processed. Your brain can handle it and you do fine with all those different kinds of information at the same time. In your sister's case her body sends all the information up to her brain and it doesn't have enough files for her to process what's going on so she freaks out and has a tantrum. She doesn't understand why and she gets frustrated and that's why she acts the way she does. Does that make sense?".
And much to my surprise she said she understood. She then said, "Mama, are her files just too full?" lol My response was, "Well yes, kind of. Her files just can't hold as much information as yours can. When her files get too full she doesn't know how to react."
Our first day having our Speech Therapist here I asked her why some days were worse than others. She said that she looks at it like a cup; each emotion, sound, touch and so on that she receives and takes in just keeps adding up until the cup is full and then it's meltdown time. So we need to learn how much she can take and when to say when. It is difficult some days because some days she seems to wake up with her "cup" already half full. It could be something small like a noise that woke her up or she rubbed up against something and it irritated her and that could fill her cup up a little. So we really have to watch and learn her warning signs before a tantrum so we know that we need to do something to help empty the cup. Make sense?
How did you explain SPD to your family, friends and especially children? Please share.
I sat her down in front of me and said, "Honey, I'm going to do a bunch of different things and we're going to see how you react to them. Ok?" She agreed and so I touched her arm, talked really loud, blew in her face and moved around.
"Honey, see you can hear, see, feel and smell me and your body takes all that information and sends it up to your brain. When all that information gets to your brain it is divided into different files and processed. Your brain can handle it and you do fine with all those different kinds of information at the same time. In your sister's case her body sends all the information up to her brain and it doesn't have enough files for her to process what's going on so she freaks out and has a tantrum. She doesn't understand why and she gets frustrated and that's why she acts the way she does. Does that make sense?".
And much to my surprise she said she understood. She then said, "Mama, are her files just too full?" lol My response was, "Well yes, kind of. Her files just can't hold as much information as yours can. When her files get too full she doesn't know how to react."
Our first day having our Speech Therapist here I asked her why some days were worse than others. She said that she looks at it like a cup; each emotion, sound, touch and so on that she receives and takes in just keeps adding up until the cup is full and then it's meltdown time. So we need to learn how much she can take and when to say when. It is difficult some days because some days she seems to wake up with her "cup" already half full. It could be something small like a noise that woke her up or she rubbed up against something and it irritated her and that could fill her cup up a little. So we really have to watch and learn her warning signs before a tantrum so we know that we need to do something to help empty the cup. Make sense?
How did you explain SPD to your family, friends and especially children? Please share.
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