Sensory Processing Disorder Therapies

There are supplements out there can help. My daughter takes Gaba three times a day and it has helped. No more complaining about the tags in her clothes. She seems able to filter out the loud noises better. I also play classical music to help her.

My son is about to turn 7 and was diagnosed with Sensory Processing issues a few months ago when we had him assessed for Aspergers. We are seeing a wonderful OT who identified issues we were not even aware of. He has issues with his vestibular system and also his eyes. I have seen huge changes in him in just a few weeks and am looking forward to improvements in school this year.
I strongly recommend seeing an OT. We don't medicate, nor do I intend to.

I use to have to keep him away from his little sister (20 mths apart) to prevent him from hurting her. As for allergies I can tell you that my son appears to have a lot of intolerances. I found by balancing his diet and reducing the load on his digestive system has made a big difference for him. He is lactose intolerant (lactaid, cheddar cheese, soy ice-cream), have removed all High Fructose Corn Syrup, reduced wheat were possible and increased foods high in Zinc and low in Copper.

I hope this helps.

I started looking into SPD after reading about it in a book, and being curious if my friend's son was suffering because of it (he was born very premature and has many symptoms that coincide). Anyway, everything I read lines up with other answers you get here, but especially I think Kirsten's approach is very good. I'd just add that one of the things that I read *can cause* SPD is watching TV at too early an age, when babies are learning to integrate senses. Images on TV don't allow babies to integrate the image with smell, context, weight, temperature, real sounds, etc. Anyway that is probably also why Waldorf is a good approach, because Waldorf uses real things and nature and the complexity of them wires the brain differently than other experiences.
Best wishes!

SPD *can* be "outgrown" (eventually proper neural pathways develop, naturally or with assistance) ... or it can stick around. Various therapies do actually "cure" it, and OT can help with that if your Occupational Therapist is on the up-and-up about exercises that will help the child's brain wire (or re-wire) properly, and not simply trying to get the child to behave "normally" for the convenience of those around them. (I imagine most OTs are on the up and up. I've also watched some state regs in the school system try to pin their OTs to the school's priorities.)

All the different aspects of your child's particular SPD need to be examined, in addition to the overall picture.

One of my children had very clear SPD (although I had already stepped out of the allopathic medical world by then, so there is nowhere an official diagnosis, which has been a pain in my butt since then). I figured it out when he was about 14 months old; he couldn't process language under stress, he didn't seem to know where his body was precisely as he careened through the house, and he didn't have any understanding of cause and effect (this isn't SPD, itself, but was somehow wound up in the language and physical issues). I have a brother on the autism spectrum (often related to SPD issues) and some other adults I know who still have SPD issues with sound, so it was the sound levels/language thing that tipped me off. He also hadn't properly crawled until very late, using a commando crawl ... again, related to not having the body 'hooked up' correctly in the brain. (Another child of mine always tucked one foot under when he crawled, which is a sign that one half of the process isn't firing. I was very relieved that a few months after he learned to walk he spent a lot of time crawling again--but properly this time :). Yay!)

Luckily soon after I figured out my child had SPD (and was reading up on how to help him along/deal with this), I toured a Waldorf kindergarten, and instinctively knew that this was exactly the kind of environment my child needed in order to have mental "space" to process and get his brain wired up: low light, quiet, gentle stories, sing-song and singing (*really* helps with language acquisition for kids who aren't quick at it), lots of natural-fiber/wooden toys (so they get real weight and textures to program their senses with, instead of super-light plastic in over-stimulating colors). This environment is of course great for all kids before gradeschool, developmentally, but it was vital for this child (and there was no way my messy, noisy house was ever going to provide it!!). So we ponied up for that year and then leaped into a new public (read: free!) Waldorf-methods charter school.

I am not recommending Waldorf as the answer to all SPD problems--although we were particularly lucky that one of our teachers had an additional degree in sensory issues for young children, and all Waldorf teachers are trained to consider the right-brain-left-brain crosswiring and work from an assumption that we need to live into our physical bodies first before we have a foundation for healthy brain growth (learning), so it's not a bad answer to consider. What I liked about it was that it was so holistic ... the entire environment was designed specifically to support children rather than demand developmentally inappropriate things of them. That said, I have heard that Waldorf doesn't always cope well with a child they haven't reached when they are young. Some schools end up telling parents they need to send their child to this or that specific one-place-in-the-nation therapy (there's one involving lights and sounds, for instance, which I'm pretty sure probably does work to directly reprogram pieces of the brain but it is waaaayyyy out there on the "woo woo" scale for what Americans are generally willing to consider legitimate).

Even with all that, my child was still doing so much processing at this school that he regularly fell asleep or overloaded (and acted out, usually by simply refusing to move) before the half-day was out ... but these episodes grew fewer and farther between over the year. It's now a few years later and people who didn't know him before he was at the charter school are surprised to hear me say he was deeply SPD ... I know he was still working through SPD issues when he arrived, but by that time his behaviors were on the troublesome side of "normal" rather than clearly "SPD" ... and he's pretty much caught up to his classmates now :).

Find an OT you trust who will listen to your specific experiences and home needs; good OT can't hurt. Read up. Trust yourself. See how long it takes you to really feel like you understand the term "Proprioceptive" ;). (It's about understanding one's body in space. When you can use it comfortably in conversation, you'll know you've got a handle on what's happening ;)!)

Good luck and God's speed, Momma :).

There are SO many different facets of SPD that it is impossible to know what would be optimal for your son from an internet posting. However, a couple of things really jumped out at me from your post:

1) Auditory therapies are generally NOT recommended for children until they are older (i.e. age 6). I do not understand why your doctor would recommend such a course of action. I think you need to start with the basics and have his SPD further defined.

2) The body pressing sounds like your son is seeking sensory input. I strongly recommend you find an Occupational Therapist to evaluate your son and see if OT would help him. There is decades of anecdotal evidence that OT is an effective intervention for treating the symptoms of SPD.

3) Kids learn to manage their sensory needs over time -- so that SPD will not slow them down. The key is getting the most effective therapists to define your son's needs and give you (and him) solutions for managing those needs.

4) No, from all the research I have read from reputable sources, food allergies do not cause SPD nor are directly related. I don't know if children with SPD have a higher likelihood of having food allergies...but even this would not mean they are correlated.

5) I've never heard of medications for SPD, so this shouldn't be an issue. However, children with SPD and ADHD many end up using medications for the ADHD.

Your very next step is to find the right people to evaluate your son and define his needs. I would start with an Occupational Therapist with a background in SPD to evaluate your son. (Not all OTs have a background in SPD, so you will have to ask!) Additionally, you could also find a Developmental Therapist for an evaluation. But the OT will be the key.

Best of luck to you and your son!

Hi K.,

I was diagnosed with a processing disorder in my late 20's. I still deal with the issues, but over the years, I have learned how to work around them, but it was really hard. Since no one noticed my struggles, I thought I was stupid in school. It would have helped a lot if someone took time to evaluate me.

Today, I'm a parent coach and I help families with many issues, one being medication free treatments for ADD/ADHD. During my networking I met a woman who is a speech therapist, helping children with a lot of issues, including sensory issues.

Her name is Janell of Dynamic Learning Services ###-###-####. She's in Portland, but if you cannot come down here, she will havve other resources, she lived in Washington for a while.

I'm so happy that you're looking out of your child early.

Sincerely,

R. Magby

(Chuckle) There are whole books written to answer your questions. And there are too many variables to effectively answer any of them in this small space. My grandson, who is now 7, has sensory processing disorders as well as autism and speech apraxia.

I don't think of most his symptoms as needing cured or controlled but as being managed. He's been working with therapists for several years about his over the top hugging, pushing, squeezing. He's getting a bit more gentle but he has difficulty managing his movements. He only rushes at me hard enough to knock me over without my bracing myself first about half the time. He used to always do it. I think he needs more therapy and also that as he matures he'll have a better understanding of why he does it and why it's a problem.

His hearing is especially sensitive for some sounds some of the time but not always . He was at a speech therapy appointment last week when the therapist turned a page and he covered his ears and then shut the book. The therapist said that some would think that he didn't want to look at the book and would have put it away. However, when the therapist opened the book and very softly turned the pages, Chase was interested.

I think that sensory processing disorders have been around a long time. I suspect that most of us are sensitive to one thing or another. I know I frequently have to cut tags out of garments and we now have more and more manufacturers making garments without tags. Must be a common sensitivity. I suspect that we are more aware of it now and that perhaps more kids have enough sensitivities that interfere with life than we had before.

I could write an article on that subject alone. Live is more stressful which creates certain conditions. We have more chemicals in our environment which is also a factor. And there is something scientific about how hereditary genes increase as more generations are born or something like that. ETC!

They don't really know what causes SPD but heredity is considered a possibility. It can be related to food allergies, I've read. Although my grandson doesn't seem to have any food allergies, his older sister has several and does not seem to have a SPD.

My grandson, after several years of his mother refusing it, is now on Concerta for ADHD and he is much calmer and less likely to unintentionally hurt someone. Experts do not know if the combination of disorders means that they are related to each other. He has 3 diagnosed disorders. Does he have all 3 because of a common cause? We don't know.

My granddaughter was also on medication for ADHD last year and her mother quit giving it to her because of the side affects. My granddaughter has a great deal of difficulty focusing and organizing herself. This summer she told me that she hears people talking but doesn't always understand what they're saying. When this is happening she appears to be zoned out and describes herself as feeling zoned out. Your question suggests to me that her mother talk with her pediatrician about the possibility of auditory integration difficulties. I hadn't considered that possibility before.

Again, I don't think in terms of fixing. I think in terms of managing. But I don't know what the experts think about the possibility of fixing it if you mean eradicating the cause for the difficulty.

I watched a movie about a treatment program that claims that they cure autism. I can't remember the name of the organization but it had the word Sun or Son in it's name.

I suggest that you consider having your son evaluated by a developmental pediatrician so that you can have an idea of all the possibilities as to causes of behavior and their treatments. My grandson was diagnosed by the school district only and they've been providing the treatment up until this year. They diagnosed speech apraxia and then later when he didn't fit into a regular preschool classroom as having oppositional defiant disorder. That was 3 years ago. Early this school year they suggested ADHD. They were sure he was not autistic. One appointment with his pediatrician who then focused on that possibility said that he was definitely autistic and the developmental pediatrician agrees. He's having further neurological tests to help determine what he needs to help him with these difficulties. This should've happened sooner. The earlier you diagnose and begin treatment the better the chance that the child will overcome the difficulties that these disorders cause.

My daughter has similar issues, but we decided to not do therapy at this point and allow her to mature a bit more neurologically before taking that step, as I understand many kids generally do "grow out" of this.

My almost 3-year-old in currently working with an OT for SPD. The OT is fantastic and we've seen so many wonderful changes (behavioral) since we started about 4 months ago. My son was (and still is) sensory-seeking and would crash into the couch or the bed (or me or my husband). Deep pressure hugs (and "smushing" him with a pillow, and "parent/child log rolls" on our bed) are his favorites. We also have 10-12 pillows in the corner of his bedroom so that he can race in there and leap onto them when he needs that feedback.

He used to be too distracted by noises around him (i.e. the small set of windchimes down the street) to fully concentrate on the activity at hand. Working to keep him "engaged" using directives as he starts to "slip away auditorally" has helped immensely. Ever since he was a tiny baby he hated wearing hats or hoods (inconvenient at best when spending Thanksgiving in the midwest!!) and with practice going through tunnels and popping up under scarves and parachutes, he's happily wearing a baseball cap now. Last week he put on a bike helmet for the first time. (I almost cried).

We are not medicating in any way. I have not altered his otherwise healthy diet. Our OT told us that while his sensory issues might always be present, he will learn to manage them himself so that he isn't bothered and can concentrate in school/sports/etc. And that big milestones (like starting Kindergarten or middle school) might present new challanges that we/he can learn to handle with another round of OT appointments.

I recently read a book called "Raising a Sensory Smart Child" by Lindsey Biel and Nancy Peske that is a fantastic resource for me and my husband (and both set of grandparents are currently reading their own copies). The authors (an OT and a mother of a child with SPD) describe the many facets of SPD/SPI (sensory processing issues) and provide concrete examples of how to help your kiddo move through it.

You might start by calling the Kindering Center in Bellevue to get an evaluation scheduled for your little guy and then decide if you are going to stay there (they have an excellent reputation) or find an OT in Issaquah or somewhere else.

I was a little overwhelmed at the beginning of this process ("we need to smush him with pillows? we should pile pillows around so he can crash? should we buy a $100 trampoline with a handlebar so he can safely jump to gain his needed proprioceptive input? - best $100 I ever spent from OnestepAhead.com) but he's so much happier now and frankly, so are we!

A few days ago I told about having one of these disorders and working it out on my own. My father taught me how to paint at age 8 and that became a good outlet too. Try gymnastics or dance or Tai Kwan Do. Movement is a cure.
Yes it is hereditary. Yes homeopathy or ayuveda will help. Growing up will too. My grandson is now 8 and maturity and consistancy has cured him of whatever four lettered disorder the shrink said he had. Forget meds. No one in our family all of whom are in the gifted and beyond catagory ever took them.
You have a gifted child. Find his talent and help him develop it.