I think that a LOT of us started with "just" the adhd diagnosis, then found that we had a LOT of other things going on. The neuropsychologist who treats Jess says that sensory processing disorder (SPD) is at the very mildest end of the autistic spectrum, according to the latest thinking on it. Regardless, sensory issues are HUGE and REAL. thank you missed at least 1/4 of the school year with absences due to sensory overload. His 504 gives Occupational Therapist (OT) and says that absences due to sensory issues are excused regardless of how many there are. No child is supposed to miss more than 8% of the school year, but with it written into his 504 we didn't have to go to court over it (parents are sent to court for truancy if a child misses more than 8% in our town.). He couldn't sit through an entire church service until 2 years ago, and this is the first year that he made it through an entire grading period with zero absences!
When he went into overload it was almost like he went into shock. He gets really cold, shakes, turns pale, sometimes vomits, and if he doesn't get time to work it out alone it gets really bad. There were a couple of times we almost ended up in the ER, but with brushing and joint compressions and my dad reading Uncle Wiggily stories onto CD he worked through it. The stories are calming and my dad's voice is like the dad on Happy Days, if you remember it, deep and soothing. The tapes are so soothing we canot play them in the car because it puts us adults to sleep. W.o it we would have had to get some anti-anxiety medications by shot for thank you because he was literally unable to respond to much due to sensory overload.
thank you has gotten vastly better at handling his sensory problems, though he will always have them to some degree. We don't push him to try too many new foods, or to eat certain foods at all. He HATES rice and noodles, though if there is gravy he will eat rice. I think my husband would have pushed him a LOT more, but I have sensory issues with foods so I was able to "educate" husband so he stopped pushing the kids.
I think many kids have undiagnosed sensory issues. Often the only Occupational Therapist (OT) a child sees is a school Occupational Therapist (OT) who doesn't really have the time to do an in-depth evaluation to see how sensory issues affect a child's entire life, so the deeper issues are not addressed. Our school would only have diagnosis'd thank you's handwriting issues because the other problems are not seen as "directly" affecting his education even though they meant he missed more than 1/4 of the year in years past. Advice here led us to having him evaluated privately and we were all totally shocked at how the problems affected his entire life.
Brushing therapy made the biggest difference for us, and according to the neuropsychologist we see it is effective for most people with sensory processing disorder (SPD), esp when it includes the gentle joint compressions. If you don't already have a copy of The Out of Sync Child Has Fun, I encourage you to get one. it is PACKED with activities for all types of sensory issues and ways to make those activities very cheaply.
I think that EVERY child who has been suspected of having ANY type of mental illness/learning disorder/autistic spectrum disorder/adhd should be thoroughly evaluated for sensory issues. Heck, it should be part of every child's early childhood screenings, and be required for school attendence, just like shots and eye exams and dental checkups and hearing tests. in my opinion our kids would be far more successful if this happened.
