Sensory Integration Disorder

I bet if you call SEDOL (special education district of lake county) they might be able to refer you to someone. ###-###-#### Or try the school district...Woodland is ###-###-#### or call the County Health Dept and Community Health center at ###-###-####. My son went through speech therapy and I had contact with all three of these organizations at one point or another. Somebody should be able to refer/help you.

M.,
Our son was diagnosed with SID at 1 year of age as he was being assessed for an early intervention program due to delays in his gross motor skill development. We found an amazing PT (but I know that OT's often work with this issue as well) and our son received weekly treatment for 2 years. For one full year, he received Hippotherapy- physical therapy on a horse. This was AMAZING for him- the progress was like a miracle. Also, I have read and reread "The Out of Sync Child"- this was a huge help to me in understanding my son's challenges.
Our son is now almost 6 and is thriving in Kindergarten. He is a sensitive and delightful boy who still has some "idiosyncracies"., but he is truly unique and special!

Hi M.. I am dealing with this right now with my middle chld. I think she does have it. And my son who is 4 and speical needs has it. I would love to talk to you and help in any way I can.

S. Bailey CLD
Aurora
www.tendermomentsdoula.com

Please do a lot of research before you invest any money in treatment. There are many, many people who convincingly argue that this disorder does not exist. There are also a lot of people who says it does and are selling therapies have not been proven. I am don't have an educated opinion about the disorder but just wanted to warn you to be careful. Good luck to you.

My son saw a pediatric OT for about 18 months for this and other physical (balance, coordination) issues. It was quite helpful to him. And yes, it obviously exists as you know if you have a child who has it! It is true that many of the therapies (music therapies, etc.) are new, but the basic therapies (brushing, sensory diet, exercises, etc.) are pretty well established, well understood by occupational therapists, and have been used to help many different disorders for many years (my son also has ADHD, and the therapy was very helpful in helping him to control his body, although the attention issues were still problematic for him.)

Our OT did a series of tests initially (it took one afternoon - a couple of hours and about $250) that measured his sensitivity (as reported by us) and several different types of physical tests - large and small motor, and eye-hand coordination type stuff - scaled against other children his age. I can't remember the name of any of the tests offhand, but I think they were standard tests that any OT would probably use. At the end of treatment the tests were repeated and we got all of the results. The sessions were covered as physical therapy by our insurance, up to 30 visits per year. Our OT was very flexible with regards to how often she saw him and for how long (it was her suggestion that he "graduate" - we didn't want to stop because he loved OT so much.)

I'm not sure what sort of information you were looking for, but that's the basics, I guess. We used brushing the first few months, about 20 minutes of nightly exercises, and every-other-week visits as his "sensory diet." We also tried some of the music therapy (our choice), Handwriting Without Tears for small motor (as well as other things during the visits), and something called Rocket Training for balance and vestibular issues (all at OT). The OT gym also has tons of large motor things they used during the visits, depending on the needs of the child.

It's been about 2.5 years since we first identified some of his oddities as sensory-related, and most of those things he now deals with pretty well. There's really no way to tell if he would have eventually "grown out of" some of that stuff, but OT made him feel happy and grounded and in control, and gave us all some concrete answers and strategies, as well as advice we could give to his teachers, so it was well worth it.

Good luck!

My son has it too. He's now 8, and was diagnosed around age 3. Has made HUGE progress. No one would know there was an issue anymore. When we lived in St. Charles we went to a wonderful OT, Deb Denniger at The Rainbow Center in Aurora for about a year. One of the therapies used was frequency modulation headphones and cd's which were borrowed or rented from them, along with active therapy sessions there. Also worked on his eating issues as well. My guess is that alot of kids with SID also have food issues -- sensory pallate. He still has hypersensitive hearing which bothers him at times, but even the one year of therapy was amazing for him. Also highly agree with the recommendation of those books -- "The Out of Sinc Child". Good resource.

HI M., I have two friends who's boys (4 yr old and 6 year old) have been diagnosed with it. They'd be glad to talk to you about what they've done. Email me for the contacts. ____@____.com
M. in Hampshire

My son (who will be 4 next week) as recently diagnosed with this, but we've been struggling with this disorder almost since birth. My son is hyposensitive to everything and requires constant sensory input to function. I highly recommend reading "The Out of Sync Child" and "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun." Both have been excellent resources for us. Here is a great website with additional resources that I have found to be very helpful.
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/index.html
Feel free to email me if you need any help or just want someone to talk to that is going through the same thing. It is rough, but with occupational therapy and the right kind of stimulation, it does get easier.

M.,
I am a 1st time mom of an 11 week old but also a pediatric speech-language pathologist. I think your best bet is to start by finding an occupational therapist (OT) who has pediatric and sensory integration experience. I didn't learn much about SI in school but have since learned a great deal in my clinical experience working with very gifted OTs. I have seen children make AMAZING progress given the right therapist/therapies. I think Evanston/Northwestern might be a first resource for you- they should have pediatric therapies.
C.

My daughter has it. Here is some things I found.

I joined 3 groups on yahoo:
____@____.com
____@____.com
____@____.com

the first one is the most active. It is really nice to see that we aren't alone in this--other people have been there done that and say it does get better.

Also, you might be interested in these links:
this site is the Kid Foundation and is the Infant checklist:
http://www.kidfoundation.org/spdchecklist/

Link to the spd network
http://www.spdnetwork.org/research/infant.html
http://www.coping.org/intervention/sensory/heavyactiviti.htm
www.sensory-processing-disorder.com

Have you seen the Today Show clip on SPD? Maybe showing it to them would make them realize that it’s since it has had ‘national’ exposure that SPD is ‘real’.
Just in case any of you missed it:
http://www.kidfoundation.org/