Sensitivity??

[JLady]

What is the deal with sensitivity? My difficult child isn't irritated by tags but I have noticed the following with him:

He can't stand lound noises (never has been able to).
He gets very upset if his sock isn't on just right (like sliding into his shoe).
He doesn't like collard shirts and refuses to wear them.
He has to have "his" pillow to go to sleep.

Does all of this mean something too?

He isn't sensitive to light (which I have had some of you ask me)

 

[eekysign]

BFF has ADHD and she gets that something awful if she's not medicated. Socks, loose hair fallen on her neck/in her shirt, tags, etc----drives her absolutely crazy. Sister isn't ADHD (we're still working on a diagnosis) but she has it, too.

Sis has the shoes/sock thing, the loud noise thing (she won't come to concerts), etc. Claims "it bothers me" to both. However, she's got a "pillow" thing, in that she refuses to eat on the lefthand counter-top bar stool, she'll only eat on the right stool. When we finally pushed her to say why, she said she got sick as a kid after eating on the left side, and won't eat there any more. So the pillow *could* be a controlling the environment/paranoia thing, too.

 

[smallworld]

It's called Sensory Integregation Disorder and can accompany a variety of other disorders. Anxiety seems to go hand-in-hand with Sensory Integration Disorder (SID), and many kids on the autistic spectrum have it. Both my son and younger daughter have mood disorders with their sensory issues.

The book The Out-of-Sync Child might be helpful in explaining Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) to you.

 

[susiestar]

This very much sounds like sensory integration problems. Each of my kids has sensory integration disorder (Sensory Integration Disorder (SID)) to some degree.

PLEASE take your son to a PRIVATE occupational therapist for a complete evaluation including sensory issues. There are a LOT of things you can do for this - and most of them do NOT involve medications!!! (One of the few areas that we can treat effectively with-o medicine, so it is quite a big deal to me.)

You need to read/own 2 books: "The Out Of Sync Child" by Carol Kranowitz and "The Out Of Sync Child Has Fun" by same author.

The first book explains Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) and what it can do and how it works in the brain. The 2nd book is packed with activities that feed the various sensory needs the child has. And the activities truly ARE fun, and most are inexpensive or can be modified to be inexpensive.

Brushing therapy is totally incredible. It involved using a very soft brush, like a surgical scrub brush with-o soap, and brushign the body in a certain order. You MUST be trained in how to do it because if you brush some areas you can create worse problems. So DO NOT do this until you have been taught how and you have the right brush.

At first you do the brushing (on bare skin OR over clothes - whichever your child likes) every 2 hours (or as close to that as you can). Then you gradually space it out as your child progresses.

Brushing is followed by very gentle joint compression. This all works to help your child's brain understand where his body is and what it is doing at the time. With thank you the change was just incredible. I really thought we were headed for an ADHD diagnosis at the least, and more likely and Aspergers diagnosis.

We have avoided those with brushing and other Occupational Therapist (OT) interventions/accommodations.

I stress having a PRIVATE evaluation because the school only evaluates for the impact on academics - not on the impact on the entire child.

and if you are only able to get 1 of the books, get the Has Fun one. Your child will tell you if he doesn't like an activity - and that means that something about it isn't right for him and his body/brain. I was amazed at how many things the Occupational Therapist (OT) suggested that we already did with thank you because he liked to do them. thank you led US, and that is the way the Occupational Therapist (OT) suggested it should be. Things he liked he would do, and they would help.

I hope this helps.

 

[BusynMember]

Sounds like sensory integration disorder. An Occupational Therapist (OT) is a good idea, although it is unlikely that Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) is the entire issue.
Does he have other problems? Did he speak on time? Does he know how to play appropriately (the key here is appropriately) with his same-age peers? Any inflexibility, trouble with transitions, obsessions? Uneven work in school, such as he's a math whiz, but he can't figure out how to write an essay?
We need to hear more about him to get a feel for him. Has he ever been evaluated intensively to see what could be causing him problems? Ever hear of or see a neuropsychologist? Im sure I've probably mentioned one before...

 

[JLady]

Does he have other problems? Did he speak on time? Does he know how to play appropriately (the key here is appropriately) with his same-age peers? Any inflexibility, trouble with transitions, obsessions? Uneven work in school, such as he's a math whiz, but he can't figure out how to write an essay?
We need to hear more about him to get a feel for him. Has he ever been evaluated intensively to see what could be causing him problems?

Midwestmom,

No he doesn't play appropriately with anyone. He has a nephew that is almost 1. He gets very upset when he thinks he has hurt this child.

Transitions are horrible, flexibility doesn't exist, obsessions are HUGE especially after starting the medication.

He is a math whiz and hates to write. The ADHD medication has helped in the writing area and he is up to about 4 sentences now whereas before he couldn't write more than one.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with a new Child Psyciatrist to help us better understand what is going on with him. We have been to the Peditrician and a couple of psychologists. Unfortunately, there aren't any neuropsy's near us. The closest one is about 50 miles away and they don't take my insurance.

I already know the school is useless and pretty much have the same feeling about the pediatrician. I never thought of these things as "issues" with him before. More like personality traits. You guys are all a great help! Thank you so much!

 

[Jena]

Hi
my difficult child has the same exact issues, the medications she is currently taking actually have helped somewhat with that. I hope your appointment tmrw goes well.

 

[Transparent]

This is interesting to me too. I always thought this was a personality/non issue type thing as well but I'll make note and mention it at difficult child's next session. I hope you get some answers tomorrow. Good luck to you and please keep us posted.

(I can't express how awesome this site is.)

 

[BusynMember]

in my opinion (having a spectrum kid) I think he could be on the spectrum, but psychiatrists are not really good at getting this particular diagnosis right because it's a neurological problem that looks like many psychiatric problems and, unfortunately, the only neuro problem most psychiatrists know is ADHD. So it gets mistaken for that too very often, only it is more severe, especially in the area of imaginative play and social skills. ADHD kids have active imaginations and are socially immataure, but are not usually bizarre. Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids can be downright bizarre in how they socialize, poor things. Some monologue about thier own special interest not noticing that nobody cares. They often don't listen to feedback so other kids get bored and move on. Often they have no idea of personal space and get too close and may yell in someone's face or stand too far back and whisper and not make eye contact. They don't enjoy imaginative games such as acting out or pretending to be superheroes. They prefer the techie games where everything is black and white. Often they would really rather play alone. The spectrum kids I know LOVE TELEVISION. in my opinion it fills in the imagination that they don't really have. Often spectrum kids watch the same things over and over again. They can memorize the shows too! They have GREAT rote memories. Onto sensory stuff: They can really startle their peers when they cover their ears during a movie or a loud noise. The older they get, if they don't get help, the more obvious their differences become. We really started to see it around age ten.
And these kids desperately want to know how to make friends, but they can't learn how by just observing. They need text book teaching/social skills classes as well as (often) Occupational Therapist (OT), PT and often help with regular classes because too much stimuli confuses them so that they can't do their work. My son has done GREAT with interventions, now he barely needs any. He has also learned how to behave socially appropriately, at least when he wants to...lol. 50% of all Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids are on medications. They can help with some issues in some kids. They will not fix the problem though.
My guess is he would do well with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) interventions. He has so many symptoms of the disorder. Here is an online test you may want to take. If it comes out Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) you should show it to the psychiatrist. medications aren't the main help for a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)--interventions are. Unfortunately, if you get only an ADHD diagnosis. or something like ODD or even bipolar (which is commonly diagnosed in Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) kids) you won't get the interventions that your child desperately needs.
We had to travel 1 1/2 hours to get to a neuropsychologist. We went six times. in my opinion it was well worth it as nothing made sense until we took him there. But if insurance won't cover...that's a problem. Good luck and take the test. I posted the link.

http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html

 

[Sheila]

The professional that handles this type evaluation and treatment is an Occupational Therapist with a subspeciality in Sensory Integration Disorder (SID).

 

[Marguerite]

Another thread to read - the one on "Asperger's Signs" which is currently on the same page here. We've just gone into a lot of detail in support of FightingForCole and her concerns for her son. Read her thread and see if you feel your son has anything you can use from this thread.

It saves me repeating myself too often!

Marg

 

[susiestar]

I just want to mention that many of us travel substantial distances to get evaluations and treatment for our kids. With the exception of the pediatrician and the gynecologist and ONE psychologist, EVERY doctor my kids see is 75 or more miles away. when we lived in a large city we drove about the same amount of time to see the docs, it was just fewer miles.

it is really hard to have to travel that far, esp if your child does not like car trips. But it is still important to get the evaluations done.

I don't trust much of anything the docs in our town do- we seem to get "specialists" who don't understand much of anything.

So I understand how it is a challenge to travel to the doctor, but it is still necessary. I am sorry the docs are not closer to you.

it really helps if you can have some activity in the car that the child likes. I have found gameboys to be AMAZING for car trips. Same for mp3 players with audio books.

 

[BusynMember]

ColesMom has fantastic answers. If you read that thread you will find out a lot about Aspergers. We have to be very diligent and educate ourselves because, trust me, professionals are limited in their knowledge and, sadly, certain one focus on one diagnosis. and can't see anything else--so almost all the kids they see have THAT diagnosis. Other professionals don't "keep up" with new medicine information. Aspergers/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified has only been recognized for about twelve years. Before thatl, they were the "funny" man who walked around talking to himself who everyone thought was mentally slow or mentally ill. He is the man who seems "spacy" and unkempt and lives here and there who gets robbed because he trusts too much and thought somebody was his friend, when he was really trying to rob him. Or she was maybe the woman who didn't "get it" and seemed a little "off." Maybe she was called ADHD in school. Worse, she was the drug addict and alcoholic who is always in jail, trying to forget that she/he is different and nobody understands why, including herself. It's very important to know. My son is very high functioning, however he will likely need a little assistance as an adult just to prevent himself from being robbed to to be reminded to bathe (or he won't--it's not important to him) and to make sure he pays his bills. He will probably also need a hand-picked job, although some Aspies are completely independent. But they need help growing up to reach their highest potential.

 

[JLady]

I took the test and the results came out "Mild Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)". Now I have to figure out what the heck Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) is. There are so many initials and so many different issues. It's hard to keep it all straight.

I will go read the other thread. I've also started the Explosive Child. I think my child is one of the kids they are writing about. He certainly could be a main character.

Thanks for all the help! You guys are awesome.

 

[Marguerite]

Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) = Pervasive Development Disorder. it is the umbrella term which covers autism, Asperger's and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified.

If you get a diagnosis confirmed it can open doors for support in school and other possible services.

Stick around. The only difference between you and us, is a matter of time and experience. We can help you over your current hurdles and there will be times you can support us when we're feeling overwhelmed.

Marg

 

[JLady]

Thank you Marg.