The SPD Life

We've moved! URL fixed!

2009-07-06T12:48:00.005-05:00

Sorry ya'll...the url is now fixed and is correct!

Alrighty all my lovely followers! The SPD Life has changed a bit and moved to a new URL so please update your buttons and links. The Parent Support Space is the new site. There are loads more links, topics, categories and so on. We even have a community forum now for all of you to discuss health, life, contest and well...anything you want. Everything from the common cold to pediatric cancer. We hope you'll check it out!

Here's the new url: http://www.parentsupportspace.com/

See you there! :)

Under Our Umbrella: Part One

2009-06-30T17:58:00.004-05:00

The "Umbrella" song by music artist, Rhianna holds special meaning for me. The lyrical masterpiece about sharing the shelter of her love stirs haunting memories of a poignant time in my family's lives. It marks the beginning of our journey. It all started last summer, a few days before the school year began.

I won't go into detail about the events of the evening, but I will tell you that it was a life changing night, not just for me, but for my oldest son. He was eight at the time and had been diagnosed as ADHD two years before, although I had known that it was coming for a long, long time. There was just something different about him. He is just one of seven kids in our family, so I have many others to compare his behavior to. I know it has been said that a parent should never compare their children. In my son's case, however, comparison is what saved his life.

The whole month that led up to the night that changed everything, my son's mood stability was erratic and behavior plummeted. His bad moods got worse, his rage uncontrollable and his good moods were almost manic. He couldn't sit still to save his life, couldn't focus, couldn't react normally to anything I told him. He was becoming a monster to his siblings. Our days were suddenly tormented with his fits of rage and depression, hyperactivity, brutal attacks and I almost hated being his mother. I also hated myself for hating it. I didn't even know the child he had become. I was being told that it was ADHD, but in my heart, I knew something else was going on.

My name is Kadi and this is just the beginning of our Umbrella story...

Birthdays With The ODD Child

2009-06-25T08:06:00.003-05:00

Birthdays and Christmas are usually a cause for excitement and celebration. In our house, Zach really knows how to put a damper on these occasions. This year for his birthday, we got him Blendy Pens, Croc-A-Doodles - he can draw on his Crocs, wash it off and start over with these, and a Razor scooter. All things he has seen and asked for. All things we knew he would like based on his interests. Zach's been dying for a scooter to keep up with the other kids around here because he refuses to learn to ride a bike. He's scared. Here's Zach's reaction to his presents.

The verdict: According to him NOT a very happy birthday because we didn't get him yet more Star Wars stuff. Nevermind that he got almost all Star Wars stuff for Christmas, he bought 5 new action figures with the birthday money one set of grandparents sent, and his godmom usually sends him whatever the newest Star Wars transformers are.

Great news!

2009-06-23T16:25:00.002-05:00

I have some great news today! I am so excited to tell you all that this morning we took Little Miss in for her Autism Evaluation with Knights of Columbus and she came back with no signs of autism! They said it's just SPD and behavioral issues! YAY!!! They said that I'm doing everything I need to be doing to help her and that hopefully by the age of 3 she won't even need therapy anymore but we'll have to wait and see how she progresses.

This isn't something I've been overly concerned with lately because she has been making great progress, saying new words, communicating a little better and learning more signs, but we filled out all the paper work and made the appointment MONTHS ago so we went anyway. It's great to know that she is making such great improvements and that we have something to look forward to. So far today she has had a great day and is now sleeping peacefully for a late nap.

On the down side of things we do still have to take her to a GI Specialist. As I told you before she has chronic, constant diarrhea and has had it her whole life. The past 4 weeks (going on 5) she has hardly been eating or drinking much so this is a concern that she will get dehydrated and/or sick from not eating enough or start to loose weight. We are now going to start charting her food/drink intake, diapers and weight. The doctor says that since the enzyme deficiency is so rare that it is more likely that she has Celiac Disease and not an enzyme deficiency like her brother. We will have to take her in for evaluations, blood and stool work and possibly a intestinal biopsy. I will update more later as things progress.

As for now we are crossing our fingers that good news awaits us. Please keep Little Miss in your thoughts and prayers. :)

Pacfic Pediatric Supply WINNERS!!!

2009-06-22T13:43:00.005-05:00

Here are the winners for our net swing and peanut balls giveaway from Pacific Pediatric Supply.

For the Net Swing:

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 184
Result: 28
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

♥Lisa♥ @ FinalScore:Boys3Girls2 said...
28
entry #4

Peanut Ball #1:

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 184
Result: 22
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

FrIeNdS said...
22
I am following your blog!AmberCrystalclearbc@aol.com

Peanut Ball #2:

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 184
Result: 161
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

lilyk said...

161
I learned that over the years, Pacific Pediatric Supply (PPS) has steadily grown into becoming a full-service therapy supplier, servicing clinics, schools, daycare centers, hospitals, and homes around the world. #4

Congratulations to the winners! You have only 48 hours to answer my confirmation email or the prize(s) will go into a live giveaway contest. Thanks to everyone that entered this contest and look forward to more coming soon.

Pacific Pediatric Supply GIVEAWAY!

2009-06-22T12:08:00.000-05:00

This is a sticky post! To read the more recent posts please scroll down!

I am so excited to tell you all about our new review and giveaway! This is going to be great! The reasons why I'm so excited about it is because #1: they're great giveaways, #2: I know they will help out your kids and #3: they're awesome products that are so fun! So are you on the edge of your seat yet? This months giveaway is:

Net Swing and....(read more)

Summertime Chaos

2009-06-22T09:11:00.002-05:00

I know I've been MIA from this blog for awhile. We were getting ready for my sister's wedding and school has let out for the summer.

Summer is especially challenging for us. Zach thrives on the strict routine that the school day provides him. At home, I'm just not programmed to be that strict. I suppose if I were a parent who over scheduled their child I could be, but that's just more work than I'm willing to put forth. Summer is my vacation too. I like that we don't have to run here there and everywhere by a certain time and day on a constant basis.

The last couple weeks have been especially challenging in our household. Zach's out of school and out of his routine for one. For another, the anticipation of his birthday this week is absolutely killing him. It's very much like the anticipation kids get at Christmas and then they start acting out because they're so excited they don't know what to do with all that energy. Then his Dad is leaving to go TDY for a month. Being a Daddy's boy, these separations are harder on Zach than the rest of us I think.

What do I do to curb the summertime chaos? I try to have a routine, but let's face it; sticking to my 2 year old's nap and bedtime schedules are hard enough. I'm just not a schedule person. I make sure Zach plays outside as much as possible. The more he runs around and plays physical games, the better he behaves when we need him to sit. Kicking around a soccer ball is a current favorite. I have to admit, it won't hurt my waistline to get out there with him either. During those weeks where it seems like we're in monsoon season, I pack up the kids after a couple days and we go somewhere that has an indoor play area. Their current favorite is a local coffee shop that also serves sandwiches. They have a train table that I have to pry my boys off of when it's time to leave. No matter that they have one here and a ton of trains and track.

When my husband is gone we run a lot of our errands after nap time. It kills that afternoon witching hour when the kids get all squirrely hanging out at home. It's one of the perks of not having a work schedule to go around. When we don't have errands to run, I'll take them to the park or pool. By the time we get home, it's time for dinner and then baths and bed. Of course I collapse on the couch after they're both in bed, but it's worth it to get through that hardest part of the day with them.

What do you do to get through what can be long and boring summer afternoons with your kids?

Summer + Routine Changes = Trouble!

2009-06-15T13:34:00.005-05:00

Ahh...summer! It's here! Which for anyone with a child suffering from SPD or autism knows summer requires a schedule change. Little Miss does not do well with any sort of change, so the past two weeks have proved pretty difficult. It is going to take time I'm sure and then just as soon as we all get used to it it's going to be school time again and another schedule to get used to all over again. Great!

The past two weeks have been filled with tantrums, meltdowns, restless nights/naps and decrease in appetite for Little Miss. The meltdowns and tantrums I can handle...or at least try to, however, the restless nights/naps and lack of appetite worries me. Little Miss and Little Man both have enzyme deficiencies in their GI tracks (they were both born without the sucrase enzyme in their GI tracks) which means that they need a special diet to stay healthy, strong and keep them growing and stop them from loosing weight. Since the schedule has changed (or slightly before it changed) Little Miss has been barely eating. I haven't noticed her loosing weight though but I might if I was weighing her everyday...I don't know.

Since Little Miss is so difficult most of the time and obviously doesn't do well with changes I have yet to start her on this special diet of no sugar, no juice, no fruit, no high fructose corn syrup and so on. It sounds selfish of me (ok it is) but I am just picking my battles at the moment. We had her IFSP on Friday and decided that since I have all three therapists here three days (1 day each) a week then we need to start this diet. And let me tell ya, I'm nervous and IT'S.GOING.TO.SUCK!!! We're going to have tantrums and meltdowns times 4 (breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner), she is more than likely going to be eating and drinking less than she already is and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if she gets admitted to the hospital like Little Man did because of a surprising weight loss and dehydration. We'll see!

It's bad enough having three semi special needs children, having them all at home with different needs and wants, summer home schooling my oldest with her regular school work and her vision therapy, trying to keep them busy and happy while we wait for our new swing set and now to add on top of all that we're going to start something completely new to Little Miss. I'll be praying every night that I don't loose my mind...at least it would be a short trip though! ;)

We're going to be having family days all summer on Tuesdays which will be fun. BBQs, fun trips to local parks, museums and festivals and just being together as a family. It's usually pretty difficult to even go to Wal-Mart with Little Miss, although she has improved somewhat, so going out on these family days will be fun but probably more stressful then fun. Taking the kids to a big animal park last week was fun minus the tantrums, meltdowns, screaming and strange 'WTF?' looks from strangers. Although, as you can see in the above photo she did love feeding the goats! That 'my child has SPD' sign on her back is sounding better and better. Which brings me to my question in this post:

Question: When you go out in public and your child is having a serious meltdown and you're getting all kinds of looks from bystanders, what do you do? Do you tell people that your child has SPD (or whatever it is that they suffer from)? Do you ignore them and mutter, 'If you only knew' in your head? Or do you do something else? I would love some tips on how to save myself from embarrassment and stares.

Incorporating Sensory Input into Daily Activities

2009-06-04T21:33:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I got a sheet from our Occupational Therapist (who will be coming on board soon) about how to incorporate sensory input into your child's daily activities. I think they're great ideas so I wanted to share them with you.

BATH TIME: Scrub with washcloth or bath brush, try a variety of soaps and lotions for bathing, play on the wall with shaving cream or bathing foam, rub body with lotion after bath time (deep massage), sprinkle powder onto body and brush or rub into skin.

MEAL PREPARATION OR BAKING: Let your child mix ingredients, especially the thick ones that will really work those muscles. Let child mix and roll dough and push flat. Allow child to help you carry posts and pans, bowls of water or ingredients (with supervision, of course). Let you child tenderize meat with the meat mallet.

GROCERY SHOPPING: Have your child push the heavy cart (as long as the weight is within their capabilities). Let your child help carry heave groceries and help put them away.

MEALTIME: Encourage eating of chewy foods and drinking out of a straw. Try having your child sit on an air cushion to allow some movement. A weighted lap blanket may be helpful as well.

HOUSEHOLD CHORES: Allow the child to help with the vacuuming or moving the furniture. Let the child help carry the laundry basket or the detergent. Let the child help with digging for gardening or landscaping.

PLAYTIME: Reading books in a rocking chair or bean-bag chair may be beneficial. You can help your child make up obstacle courses in the house or yard using crawling, jumping, hopping, skipping, rolling, etc. Listen to soft music. Play the sandwich game (child lies in between two pillows and pretends to be the sandwich, while you provide pressure to the top pillow to the child's desired amount.) Ask them "harder or softer?" as you push on the pillow. Some children will like much more pressure than you would expect. you can also go for a neighborhood walk with a wagon and have your child pull it (make it semi-heavy by loading it with something the child would like to pull around). You can do the same with the baby-doll carriage. Swimming in a pool is a wonderful activity if you have that available,, as are horseback riding and bowling. Mini or full-size trampolines are excellent for providing sensory input as well. Make sure the child is using them safely. Sandboxes or big containers of beans or popcorn kernels can be fun play-boxes too if you add small cards, shovels, cups, etc.

ERRANDS AND APPOINTMENTS: Before visiting the dentist or hairdresser try deep massage to the head or scalp (of tolerated), or try having your child wear a weighted hat. Try chewy foods or vibration to the mouth with an electric toothbrush. Let your child wear a heavy backpack (weighted to their liking with books and with the straps padded as needed). Be sure to give the child ample warning before any changes in routine or any unscheduled trips or errands. Many children with SPD need predictability.

OTHER GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR THE HOME:

~ Keep routines and possessions organized.

~ Be consistent with rules and consequences.

~ Keep an activity schedule or calendar posted.

~ Create specific routines for troublesome times of the day (bedtime or getting ready for school).

~ Discuss upcoming anticipated changes in routine at a point in time that is beneficial for your child. You will have to experiment with how early the child "needs to know".

~ Try to indirectly use your child's sensory preferences for fun rewards to help you handle behavior. For example, having your child work towards an extra trip to go bowling or horseback riding may be helpful. However, try not to restrict movement activities when you child is being disciplined. For example, taking away recess time or playground time for not sitting at the table appropriately during dinner may not be the most effective way to deal with these issues. Your child may need movement time, and by removing it, his or her behavior may actually become more difficult later.

Try some of these suggestions and let me know if they work for you. I'd love to hear feedback if you do them. I would also love any tips that you can offer on how you deal with your child's tantrums, behaviors, etc.

Pacific Pediatric Supply Review & Giveaway

2009-06-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

This is a sticky post! To see the most recent postings please scroll down! Thank you!

and

2 Peanut Balls

That's right! I have *3* things to giveaway and all from Pacific Pediatric Supply! They have been so generous in this giveaway! So I will have not one, not two but three winners this month! Let me tell you a little bit about Pacific Pediatric Supply!

Pacific Pediatric Supply is based out of California and was started in 2004 by a husband and wife team! Since then, they have been providing a new source of innovative, high quality sensory integration products for autistic and special needs children. Over the past 4+ years they have become a wonderful, growing supplier helping schools, day cares, clinics, hospitals and homes across the globe!

Their main website offers over 1,000 products! They also have over 300 products on their Ebay store and 400 products on Amazon. They sell wholesale to websites and magazines and even internationally! Whatever the needs of your child Pacific Pediatric Supply has products for kids and parents! Here is a list of their product categories:

(click on any link below to see what products are offered in that category!)

~ Early Learning , Books and DVDs, Exercise and Strengthening, Fine Motor and Handwriting, Positioning, Oral Motor, Sensory and Tactile, Sensory Integration and Weighted Items, Specialty Furniture

Whether you have a special needs child or work in a special needs facility, these products are for you! Here are a couple photos of just some of the products they offer.

Toddler Rockers

Tactile Brushes

Porcupine Balls

Chewies

Body Sox

As I said before Pacific Pediatric Supply is giving away 3 prizes! They sent me one net swing and one peanut ball to review and my kids love them. They're not only good for therapy but they're also good for fun activities so they can get their energy out! Take a look at this short video of one of the prizes being given away. (And don't mind me saying, 'um' every ten seconds! I was trying to quietly control my son while taping! lol)

Cool net swing huh? My kids love it and I'm sure yours will too! All 3 of my children have SPD and have been in therapy now for a while. However, my youngest daughter is the one that needs ongoing therapy every day. This swing is something that really helps give her input to make her day a little easier. If I'd let her, she would stay in it all day long. As you can see in the video we put a body pillow in the swing to make it easier for her to get in and out of. However, you can also lay down in it on your back or belly without a pillow. The full system net swing is a $97 value and comes with a doorway support bar, rope extensions, swing, screws and instructions. The nets rope is of good quality and holds up to 175lbs. And when installed correctly doesn't interfere with the door opening and closing.

Let's move on; below is a picture of the peanut ball. This ball is used just like a yoga ball would be for therapy the only difference is that it is designed so that children can do it on their own. With this their feet touch the ground so they can jump without having to hold on to someone or something to keep them from falling. Very brilliant idea if you ask me! I was surprised at the quality of plastic used to make this ball. It's very thick so it won't puncture easily. I really liked the fact that it is good for therapy OR just for exercise! And with being only $28 they are affordable.

Well now I have introduced you to Pacific Pediatric Supply, showed you pictures of some of their products and given you links to check them out further. Now it's time to tell you how you can win one of the prizes.

MANDATORY ENTRY:
Head over to Pacific Pediatric Supply and look around. Come back and in a comment tell us one of your favorite products that we did not talk about here.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

~ Blog about this giveaway with links back to us and Pacific Pediatric Supply

(5 entry points)

~ Tell us one thing you learned about Pacific Pediatric Supply that we did not talk about here.

(4 entry points)

~ Follow us on Twitter

(3 entry points)

~ Fave us on Technorati

(3 entry points)

~ Follow this blog

(3 entry points)

~ Grab our button and display it on your blog

(3 entry points)

UNLIMITED ENTRIES:

~ Tweet this giveaway and in a comment give us your tweet URL

(2 tweets only per day please)

Contest ends on June 22 at 12pm Central time. Winners will be picked using a random generator and announced later on in the day. Only one prize per person/household. The winners will then have to answer our confirmation email and respond within 48 hours or a new winner(s) will be drawn. No exceptions!

Contestants may only enter using one name and one email address to enter. Any contestant that does not follow the rules (i.e. Mandatory entry FIRST, spoofed entries, etc.) will be disqualified.

Thanks for entering this giveaway and good luck to everyone!

Therapy Thursday

2009-05-27T23:09:00.002-05:00

Thank you for your question! Therapeutic Listening is a complex treatment and there really isn't a lot of research on it. Please let me know if I have answered your question adequately.

Question: Good luck with TL(Therapeutic Listening)! I've heard and read about how great an impact it can have. We tried it with our four year old and we unfortunately fell into the under reported unsuccessful category which you alluded to briefly. I'm curious about what you know about the downside affects. We are having a difficult time pinning our OT down on the potential for adverse affects.

Answer: I am assuming you were wondering about research on the adverse effects rather than word of mouth. According to a paper published by the Autism Research Institute (B. Rimland and S Edelson 1991), the Berard and Tomatis Auditory Training programs are not harmful. Therapeutic Listening is based on these approaches. They also report that some people experience "mild-not severe-side effects during and after the training sessions, including irritability, mood swings, hyperactivity, and fatigue". This is based on parent report rather than actual data.

On a personal note, both Stefanie and I have children who have participated in Therapeutic Listening. Both of our sons had the experience of throwing up once while listening to the music. It can have a surprisingly intense effect on some kids. For both children, this was a one time thing. In addition to the above side effects mentioned, I have had parents report changes in eating and sleeping habits. Children with sensory issues often have eating, sleeping issues and mood swings before beginning Therapeutic Listening. It is sometimes hard to tell what is actually caused by the music.

Our experience with Therapeutic Listening!

2009-05-20T13:59:00.004-05:00

A week or so ago I told you all about Therapeutic Listening and that children with SPD, among other things, can benefit from it. I also told you how it can make your child sick if not done properly. TL is very strong and should not be fooled around with. Well now I have my own proof to that.

Last week Little Man was at his weekly OT appointment. After about a half hour he and his therapist came out and she told me he had thrown up. He was white and when I say white I mean he was as white as rice! You could tell he didn't feel well. His therapist, who I really like, said that she thought it was because he was in the swing while doing the TL and was in it too long. I felt so bad for him and so did she. But after about 20 minutes, some water on his face, some water to drink and some down time he was back to his normal hyper self.

This past Monday Little Miss had an awful day! She was throwing tantrums, having major meltdowns and was very clingy, screaming and crying, etc. and so on. Nothing I did made any difference so I decided to sit her at the table with her TL headphones on and give her a sensory activity to do along with it. After about 10 minutes she was done. The strange thing was she was worse then she was before. I finally had to put her in her crib because I was afraid she was going to hurt herself (she bangs her head against things when she gets in one of these meltdowns.) After about 5 minutes I got her out of her crib and sat her down for dinner. She ate and ate and ate! All together she had about 4 kid sized plates of pasta, applesauce and cauliflower. She was an empty pit that wasn't getting full. She has been behind in communication but has been getting better with ST, OT and DT so she is saying some new words and new signs.

I spoke with her OT about it yesterday and she said that is was probably because she was so hungry and didn't know how to tell me and the music made her stomach hurt. Well then I just of course felt terrible! So now we are working on the "eat" sign! So my whole point is that even if your therapist helps you with TL and tells you what to do you need to be very observant of your child so that if they begin to feel sick you notice and stop the music. Having a child with sensory issues and having them not feel well equals major meltdowns!

This is my first hand experience with TL and my kids being overwhelmed by it. Please be careful when you do TL with your child(ren). Don't ever attempt TL on your own without the supervision and advice of your therapist!

For those of you that already do TL with your child(ren) here is a small list of things you can let your child do while listening to the music to give added input.

Sensory play activities to pair with headphones and music:

~ Washing cars in a basin or bowl

~ washing babies in a basin or bowl

~ yogurt or pudding paint on paper, mat or themselves

~ magnets on a pan

~ sorting balls, cereal, etc in muffin tins

~ markers, crayons and paper

~ bingo dabbers

~ puzzles

~ necklaces made out of cereal

~ hide small beads in some playdoh and let your child go through and pick them out and sort them however you want.

Do you have any more suggestions that we can add to this list? Please leave your suggestions in a comment!

Energetic Kids

2009-05-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Those of you with kids with behavioral disorders probably know the worst punishment you can bestow on your kids and yourself is to take away their physical play time. We try VERY hard to make taking away playing outside and running around Zach's last punishment because if he doesn't get to work off that extra energy it creates more behavioral problems.

Some of the activities I keep on hand for the kids for outside are long and shallow Rubbermaid bins, one with rice, and one filled with beans, a sand and water table, water balloons for the hot days, plenty of differently shaped and textured balls, frisbees, and plenty of sidewalk chalk.You don't have to spend a fortune, just get the kids outside and let them run some of their extra energy off.

New Addition

2009-05-15T19:44:00.002-05:00

Alright everyone! We now have a navigation bar but please bear with me as I get it all together! I'll let you all know when it's complete! :) YAY!!!

Therapeutic Listening

2009-05-11T20:41:00.003-05:00

If you have a child with SPD or any sensory issues then you probably already know about Therapeutic Listening and what it offers. But in case you don't know what I'm talking about then let me explain a little.

Therapeutic Listening is basically a therapy of music. The specially designed music works with your child on vestibular, sensory, auditory, etc. and is very powerful. The music goes really high pitched and low pitched. It's like a roller coaster of sounds and can make you dizzy or even sick if you listen to it too long and/or don't need it. To learn more please click here. Although TL is great, it is expensive and is not recommended for every child or every need. It is not something to mess around with and should only be done with the support and supervision of your Occupational or Developmental Therapist that is trained to work with it.

We are starting TL with Little Miss and today did a little extra. We (April & I) put her at the table with her headphones on and some sensory activities to play with. Doing both at the same time gives extra input and can really help their mood, behavior, spacial awareness and so on. Little Man does TL in a swing at his therapy sessions once a week too. Swinging while doing TL is another great way to give your child extra input.

We started with a very low CD for her called Rhythm & Rhymes. It is great for Little Miss because they're actually songs she will listen to and at some point start singing along with the music because they are toddler songs that every kid listens to and enjoys but redone in a way that works with certain issues. Little Miss did great with it today. She sat at the table, listened and played with a water activity and then some whip cream on a place mat. Those two activities are great for sensory play. After about 10 or 15 minutes she decided she was done and gave them back to me. Here are a couple pics of her this morning.

If your child has sensory issues and you're interested in learning more about Therapeutic Listening ask your OT or DT about it! Most therapists that are trained in it will have items that you can borrow. Like Little Miss' therapists; April (DT) gave us the headphones, travel pouch and a couple cds to start with. And Little Miss' OT gave us a kids therapeutic cd to work with. But please do not attempt to start Therapeutic Listening on your own. ALWAYS consult with your child's therapist(s) before starting any therapy.

I would also love some feedback from those of you that are or have used it with your kids. Did they like it? Did it help? Would you recommend it? What are your overall thoughts on it?

Edible Playdoh Recipe

2009-05-10T15:44:00.004-05:00

If your kids are like my little one then they put *everything* in their mouths! And yes, I do mean everything!!! :roll: Playdoh is a great sensory item for kids to play with and if it's edible even better! Your kids can play with it at snack time and when they're done it is their snack! So here is a recipe for edible playdoh. FUN! :)

Edible Playdoh Recipe:

3 1/2 cups peanut butter

4 cups powdered sugar

3 1/2 cups corn syrup or honey

4 cups powdered milk

chocolate chips (optional)

Mix the ingredients. Divide into 15 to 20 portions and refrigerate in plastic bags. After washing their hands, have children mold and shape the dough on waxed paper. Provide chocolate chips to be used as decorations if desired. Play with it and let them eat it!

I am going to add another great sensory recipe this week so make sure to check back!

A Bright Spot

2009-05-10T07:51:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. We've actually had a good weekend so far with my Zach. Having a child with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) or any mood or behavior disorder can be challenging. It can make you forget the good days when you're having a string of the bad days. The last month or so has been a string of bad days and very bad days. This weekend Zach as done a 180 and it's been great. For him, he's been perfect. By no means is he a perfect child, no would I expect any child to be perfect. It's by making mistakes that they learn and grow. What has been so wonderful about the last couple of days is that Zach has gotten back to using his manners, remembering some of our basic house rules, and being kind to his 2 year old brother. Zach has been acting like the almost 8 year old he is, and less like his toddler brother. This is really what our goal is in this whole process. To get Zach to behave close to his age rather than several years behind.

Things are lookin up!

2009-05-09T13:58:00.004-05:00

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while, things have been super busy! I hope you are all doing fantastic! Even though things have been busy lately things are starting to improve with Little Miss! She has started saying new words, imitating more, having less meltdowns and is being more tolerant of her brother. She just started Occupational Therapy two weeks ago and so far is doing fabulous during the sessions and already loves her therapists. Things are finally looking up! YAY!!!

We've been doing a little more but also a little less with her. We still do the yoga ball therapy, water therapy among other things but we've also started doing the trampoline with her. She doesn't really know how to jump yet but she's trying. It looks more like she's doing the wave with her feet not coming off the ground but rather just going on her toes while her arms fly up in the air. lol So cute! And another thing I've been doing more to get her to talk is whenever I do something for her or give her something I give her the words that she would use if she was talking more. I'll tell her, 'Thank you mama' or 'no thank you' whenever it is appropriate, that way she knows when to use them and she is hearing it a lot more so hopefully will start saying the words better. Instead of saying, 'thank you mama' she says, 'mama, mama'. lol But she is saying, 'no thank you.' it just comes out as, 'nodankooo'. Again, sooo cute! I love hearing her little voice when it's not screaming! We are also starting Theraputic Listening with her starting mainly this coming week, so I'll let you all know how it goes.

We have done so many things to try and help Little Miss and now we are waiting to take her in for a major evaluation. They are going to check her for all different sensory issues (which she has already had done but I think this one is a bit more thorough or something) and they will also evaluate her for autism among other disorders. Her appt is coming up next month so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

One thing that I have to say really helps is her Miracle Belt! It is a weighted belt that she puts on for about 1/2 hour twice a day. It helps give her extra input by applying pressure and she loves it. We call it her 'pretty' and she thinks of it as playing dress up and will bring it to me to put on her and then stand there and stare at it and make a cute little, 'ohhh' sound. lol I am thinking about contacting someone to do a giveaway on a Miracle Belt since it is something that I am fascinated with. Would anyone be interested?

I am going to post a recipe later on for some really fun sensory play-doh type goop and some other stuff so make sure to check back later this week. And don't forget to leave me a comment letting me know whether or not you would be interested in trying to win a Miracle Belt! Thanks! I hope everyone has a fantastic Mother's Day this weekend! (((hugs))) to you all!

Massaging Action Teether WINNER!!!

2009-05-01T00:21:00.004-05:00

Our winner for the Massaging Action Teether is:

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 35

Result: 16

Icefairy #16

icefairy said...
My favorite is Naturally Playful Clubhouse Climber #2
April 27, 2009

Congratulations Icefairy! You have just 48 hours to respond to my confirmation email or a new winner will be drawn!

Look forward to more reviews and giveaways coming up soon! And keep spreading the word about the SPD Life. We are getting more authors to post about different disorders and all the chaos that comes with them! ;)

Massaging Action Teether Review/Giveaway

2009-04-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

Ok everyone this is my first review/giveaway here on the SPD Life. Thanks to the generosity of One Step Ahead I received a Massaging Action Teether to do a review and giveaway on. The Massaging Action Teether is not only for infants, it is great for children with SPD too! It vibrates when the child bites or chews on it and helps give your child oral input. And of course it's also really good for those teething babies.

Now I know that you all have children with SPD issues but for those of you whose child(ren) have issues with oral gratification (i.e. over stuffing their mouths with food, chewing on non-edible objects, etc.) this is a wonderful product to try. Little Miss mouths everything! Her therapists have told me that getting her a vibrating toothbrush or teether would be good to help give her input so that she won't over fill her mouth while eating and it would curb her chewing on toys and such. One Step Ahead has even partnered up with the National Lekotek Center —the leading not-for-profit authority on play for children with disabilities—to offer a different kind of toy selection. Click here to view their toys and ratings.

When we got this Massaging Action Teether in the mail I cleaned it up and gave it to Little Miss and I sat down to see what she would do with it and waited for her reaction to the vibrations. SHE.LOVED.IT! She walked around with it between her teeth for a long time, just enjoying the vibrations. She has been chewing on it everyday since we received it. This is something safe for her to chew on. No toxic chemicals and no small pieces to break off that she could choke on. Plus it's soft, multi-textured and the sealed internal battery lasts 8 hours! At only $7.95 they're a great buy but this is your chance to win one for free. One Step Ahead is going to give one of you lucky readers one of these! Here's how you can enter to win:

Mandatory Entry:

~ Go over to One Step Ahead and come back and tell me in a comment your favorite product. (3 entries)

Extra Entries:

~ Blog about this review/giveaway with links back to this post and One Step Ahead.
(5 entries)

~ Follow us on Twitter
(3 entries)

~ Fave us on Technorati
(3 entries)

~ Follow the SPD Life
(3 entries)

~ Grab our button
(1 entry)

~ Tweet about this review/giveaway
(unlimited entries)

* We are trying to get more followers to join us here. If you know anyone that has a child with SPD or sensory issues please send them here to join in on the review/giveaway or just the blog. Or if you belong to any mom boards, sites or forums please do a post letting them know where to find us. Doing this (after verified) will give you 5 more entry points!

*Each time you do one of the above leave a comment for each entry. For example if you blog about this giveaway do this: "Blogged about this review/giveaway. Here's my link: (Your URL TO the post) #1" Then come back and do the same thing 4 more times in separate comments. If you tweet about this review/giveaway then leave the tweet URL in the comment.

You have the chance to do 12 + entries. You don't have to do all of them though. Do the first one or all of them if you want! First Mandatory Entry must be done first to enter the rest of the entry requests.

Contest will end on April 30th and winner will be picked using the Random.com generator and announced on April 6th. Good luck!

Any comments that do not follow the rules listed above will not be entered into the contest to win. So please make sure to follow the rules. Thanks!

*Check back because I will be doing more giveaways and reviews on products that benefit children with sensory issues and more!

Nothing Feels Right

2009-04-30T07:42:00.002-05:00

My son Zach has issues with clothing. Tags, seams, stray threads, these things all bother him immensely. I understand to a point because I have issues with tags and seams as well. His sensory issues in this department far surpass mine though. Tagless t-shirts are the best thing since sliced bread in our house. Some still have the tag on the side that bothers us, but it's not as bad as having it on your neck. Now if the sock manufacturers would just get the memo and make their seams thinner across the toes, we'd be all set.

Here's how we've minimized the clothing sensory issues in our house. Besides tagless t-shirts, we went through a phase when Zach first started school all day where he had to get dressed the night before. He would put on his clothes for the next day before going to bed and sleep in them. For whatever reason they felt OK at night, but to put the exact same outfit on in the morning was a battle. He would literally try on every piece of clothing he had and deem that it "didn't feel right." This also allowed him to sleep in longer since we didn't have to spend 30-45 minutes each morning getting him dressed. He woke up ready to go eat breakfast.

For socks, once I find a brand Zach deems worthy, I don't stray. Another thing we do is turn them inside out to put the bulk of the seam on the outside. For shoes, we've found that regular ol' shoes with laces give the best fit. Of course any time you can find the softest material, you're better of. I try to stick to 100% cotton when I can.

Do you have any tricks for your kids who have clothing issues?

The Beginning Of Our Journey

2009-04-28T05:07:00.003-05:00

I know I posted an introduction of who I am, but let me tell you how we began our journey into the world of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).

As a first time mom, I just thought I had a REALLY needy baby. Zach wanted to be held ALL the time. I had to carry him around in a carrier to get anything done during the day. Even basic needs like brushing my teeth. After the first couple months this wasn't really possible for me because he was too heavy for me to do this with because of my own health issues. Zach wanted almost constant attention. As a couple, my husband and I hit that one day where he came home from work and asked the question, "What did you do all day?" It was a bit of a sore spot with both of us. When Zach was 4 months old I had my wisdom teeth out, and my husband saw what I did all day. I was then he truly understood after almost 4 solid days of basically being a single dad, since I was down and out from the wisdom teeth procedure, that Zach just did not let you get anything done.

Enter the toddler years. Zach was a very physical baby. He learned how to climb before he could even walk. Talking was still in caveman grunts and points. He was in a home daycare setting at this point because I had to go back to work. This is when we really noticed how physical he was. He pushed, shoved, bit, hit, you name it. Whatever it took to get his own way. The pediatrician said it was just a phase and he'd outgrow it as his language skills developed. I had my doubts. I just had a feeling he was different.

During the preschool years we had the same issues. Also at this point we had to factor in environment. We had just relocated to a new area, I was back to being a SAHM, and my husband was deployed. Zach had been a Daddy's boy since birth, so this was especially hard on him. It was at this point I FINALLY was able to get a referral to a child psychologist. Our family doctor finally agreed with me that this was more than just a passing phase.

This is where we start attending group therapy, which will be my next post. The point of this post is to tell you our story and also to tell you parents to trust your instincts. I knew around 15-18 months old Zach was different than other kids even though he was my first. It took us until he was 3 1/2 to finally get a referral to the specialist we needed.

Amanda Introduction/ODD

2009-04-23T05:54:00.004-05:00

Hi, I'm Amanda. I'm a 29yo SAHM of two boys. I'm happy to be here. I'll be relating life with a child who has Oppositional Defiant Disorder. At least that's my son's official diagnosis. He has many traits of other behavioral disorders, but not enough to change his diagnosis at this point. Life with an ODD child can be very challenging at times. It takes over a huge chunk of family life. Part of the trick to the balance is that you have to not let the child know they're controlling what is happening with the family, but yet their disorder does control much of the way you parent and run your household. Very catch 22.

I knew around the time my son was 18 months old something was different about him. He was still communicating in cave man grunts mostly, and was pretty aggressive when he didn't get his own way. His pediatrician insisted that as long as he was communicating that it was just a phase and the physical things would subside as my son developed his language skills. She was wrong. Finally, at age 3 1/2 I got a doctor to see that it was not a phase, and to refer us to a psychologist. Here we are 4 years later, and it's still a struggle at times. I think the hardest part is that my son is older, but acts so immature for his age. We expect him to act 7, but do to a lack of impulse control, he acts more like his 2yo brother.

I'm happy that Stefanie brought me on to talk about ODD and my son's other issues so that if nothing else I can let other parents going through the same thing know that they're not alone. I also look forward to learning while I'm here. While not formally diagnosed, my son also has sensory issues.

2009-04-23T00:00:00.002-05:00

THERAPY THURSDAY QUESTION:

My 5 yr old son has SPD, and he has come a long way. However, when he has a sensory melt down, it's big! This past weekend was beautiful weather here in sunny San Diego, but he could not handle the heat or the brightness. And then when we put him in the shade he was bothered by the grass and fear of ants. I plan on putting many things in place to help him, but I am eager to hear any tips I can as the warm months approach. Any meltdown he's had this year in Kindergarten has occurred on a hot day, so he is highly sensitive to it. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!!

ANSWER:

We know that sensory "issues" show themselves differently in each persons life. We also know that people handle and accept them in different ways. The best way to deal with "sensory issues" in children is to teach the child ways to handle the issues or allow them to figure out ways to make themselves feel comfortable during an uncomfortable sensory "moment". For example, "Caden hates sunshine so he chooses to sit on the porch and sell lemonade to his family while they work in the yard". As caregivers we must look at each child's reaction or behavior to the annoying sensory overstimulization uniquely. We must help the child resolve the issue before putting them in an uncomfortable situation that will cause a "meltdown". Remember, encouraging a person with high sensory needs to be in the sun or even the shade could be like making you you sit on fire ants. People affected by sensory issues senses are doubled or tripled from a typical seeking person. A child who doesn't like outside could be having difficulty with the heat on their skin and could be feeling the heat 2-3 times the magnitude of typical seeking people and could actually be feeling burnt in the shade. A child's reaction to outside could also be just plain behavioral and not wanting to be outside because they'd rather be inside playing video gamesm could be sensory or could be a childhood fear. A parent/child need to figure out what it is. Sensory integration can not always be the "blame" or the "answer".

Talking to your child and coming up with a plan is helpful. Leading them into a conversation such as, "When I am outside it makes me feel______________. If the ____________didn't bother me so much, I would love to __________________outside". Work on a goal to get your child doing something they love outside for 30 seconds and work your way up to longer periods of time. Work on communication if your child is verbal and give them ideas to solve their own problems.

1. Where a favorite visor or hat the child decorates or one of a favorite fairy or ballteam.

2. Have the child pick out sunglasses and wear them.

3. Make a social story book to help child understand ways to solve their issues with choices as to what an alternative can be.

4. Try to prevent discomfort by not forcing a child to be outside in the sun if they can not tolerate it.

5. Figure out what it is that is truly bothersome in the environment; ie: sun, bugs, etc..

6. Find alternative activities for a child who is upset outdoors; sell lemonade to the family, sweep a porch, wash windows inside and watch the family, play with side walk chalk. Water the lawn, wash a favorite bike, plant flowers in pots in garage while family works. Get the idea... now every one post 2 ideas and we will all be shocked what we come up with.

7. Have a special chair and let your child be the "foreman" for the day, giving jobs to the family with a clipboard and pad of paper.

8. Make a beach and have the child under an umbrella in the yard spraying themselves or hot family members with spray bottle of watcher.

Massaging Action Teether Giveaway EXTENDED!!!

2009-04-18T12:56:00.003-05:00

Since there has not been many entries for the Massaging Action Teether the rep for One Step Ahead and I have decided to extend this giveaway! Yes, that's right! So make sure to enter and pass along the info to anyone that might be interested! Giveaway will end on April 30th!

And make sure to check back! I am going to be doing more giveaways and reviews on toys and children's products that will help kids with SPD and other disorders! Follow us and pass us along!

Therapy Thursday (Question/Answer)

2009-04-02T20:44:00.002-05:00

Here it is, our first Therapy Thursday question. Shireen, our Speech Therapist, has answered your question. I hope this helps. If anyone has another question please email me at: bloggymommy3@yahoo.com

Question: I have a SPD question for you. My 7yo son is constantly playing with the baby toys. He always has. Tonight he was playing with this toy https://www.tinylove.com/toy.aspx?toyId=25 and I asked him why he liked it so much. He said he likes the gears that turn, the squeaky ball, the levers that go back and forth, the ball that spins, and the music. Is this a sensory thing? Are there more age appropriate things for him to play with that will meet those sensory needs? I'm pretty sure he's got a strong tactile sense. We have lots of clothing issues with him, and he has to constantly touch EVERYTHING. I'd get him some other toys geared at babies and toddlers, but with him being 7, and he's pretty rough on toys, I'd hate for him to break them. I guess what I'm asking is how can I constructively channel this need for touch and to play with the baby toys. We don't have many of the baby toys left as my youngest is now 2 and is on to bigger and better things.
Sincerely,
SPD Follower

Answer: You are right that that toy is not very age appropriate for him, but there are plenty of other toys that are. Some suggestions I have include Gearation or Gears Building Set, Light n' Chaser, Visual Tracking Ball Tower or other marble run, and the Light Up DNA ball or Window Ball. All of these toys can be found at www.beyondplay.com I have no affiliation with this company. I just think they have some great sensory toys. There are also things at home to give him more tactile input like playing with water, sand, playdoh and shaving cream. Hopefully this gives you some ideas of some more age appropriate toys for your son. A book I can recommend with many more ideas is "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun", by Carol Kranowitz. Thanks for your question and let me know if this helps!
Sincerely,
Shireen (Speech Therapist)

Introducing April aka MB's mommy

2009-03-28T07:32:00.002-05:00

My name is April and I been an Early Childhood Special Educator for over 12 years. Since I was a toddler I always loved babies and as I grew up I became a "child magnet". Everywhere I went I ended of playing or loving on the children. As I grew older, I developed a "wonder" of wanting to "figure" kids out and to look at them for who they were and what they were able to "give". I wanted to figure out how each one of them learned and what I could do as an educator to help them reach their own personal potential. So many times I have seen babies and toddlers be given a "stamp" or diagnosis or be judged on their "actions" or abilities, but didn't see those same "stamp givers" set up a plan or try to help those children be successful.
I started working in Early Intervention with the birth to three year old population 10 years ago. As I began to go in homes and work with children, the biggest complaints by parents were "behaviors". Most of them were at their "wits end" due to having many therapies a week for their "baby" and the fact that the "strategies" that worked for their other children were not working for this child.
Over the last 10 years I have seen many children who showed very challenging behaviors, but once observed and assessed it was very obvious that their behaviors were a result of having very immature, "sensory nervous systems". After assessing their systems by having an OT do a sensory profile and determining the actual "needs" of the child we are able to add activities throughout the day to help the child's nervous system "balance out". The more organized the system the more organized the child. The nervous system helps drive all skill levels and once it is balanced children may begin to communicate, attend to task, sleep, eat more or a variety and be more balanced. It gives me great joy to "meet families where they are" and help them determine what is driving the child's behavior or challenges and help them find ways to help the child to live a happier life.
As an Early Childhood special educator I can answer many questions regarding your "whole" child. Step up and ask... Potty training, behavior, IEP advocacy, diagnosis, play skills, play set up ideas, sibling rivalry, eating and sleeping issues and most other skill areas. Looking forward to helping you be the "best" mommy or daddy you can be!

Don't forget about Therapy Thursdays!

2009-03-23T22:19:00.002-05:00

Don't forget about Therapy Thursdays. If you would like to submit a question for this weeks Therapy Thursday please email me at bloggymommy3@yahoo.com by tomorrow evening so I can get the email over to one or both of our therapists to answer. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon! :)

**Oh and just to let you all know, I will be hosting my first review and giveaway here on the SPD Life sometime next week so make sure to check back!**

Vision Therapy

2009-03-14T21:05:00.003-05:00

Update: My oldest daughter "Sassy Pants" has been dealing with many problems with school, her attention span, her ADD/ADHD and more. We took her in for an evaluation for SPD and they told us that yes, she does have sensory processing issues but they thought the main problem was with her eyes so they sent us in to have her eyes checked and for a vision evaluation. After completely both we found that her eyesight is perfect but she has problems with her focus and tracking. They told us that they recommend Vision Therapy but that most insurance companies don't cover this diagnosis. Great, huh? I've been so worried that even though she has a problem with her eyes that she wouldn't be able to receive help because we can't afford it if it's not covered under insurance. Well this past week I got a phone call and guess what??? The insurance company approved her for vision therapy! I'm so excited that she will be able to receive help. They recommend one day a week for 45 minutes for about 4-5 months to see a difference. So we start on Monday!

Her main problems in school were with reading, comprehension, math and spelling. It has been so frustrating that we could work and work with her on things and she would seem to get it and then the next problem or day later and it was all lost. She seems to have problems with her memory too. Hopefully after receiving the vision therapy for a while her school work and comprehension will improve. I am, for now, taking her out of Occupational Therapy until school is out for the summer and then I'll re-enroll her.

She is still on her ADD/ADHD medication but has been having problems sleeping lately. There are nights that she stays up until 11-12 and then has a hard time waking in the morning. This could also be part of her problem in school. So we are going to start giving her Melatonin to help her sleep at night. It's come highly recommended and comes in a chewable form. I will keep you all updated on how things are going and hopefully be able to come back and report after a while that she is doing better in school and the vision therapy is a success! Wish us luck!

Shireen's Intro

2009-03-01T16:06:00.006-06:00

Hi, my name is Shireen and I am a speech language pathologist who has both professional and personal experience with SPD. Stefanie has invited me to this blog to help out with Therapy Thursdays and answer any questions that I can. I would like to tell you a little about myself and my experience with SPD. I became a speech language pathologist and worked in an elementary school for a couple years before my daughter was born. I loved my job and I quickly learned about SPD and many other disablities. However I had no idea that this job was really just the beginning of my training.

In 2000, I had a beautiful baby girl and took maternity leave from my job. It soon become apparent that something was going on with my daughter. She was constantly fussy, and had to be carried all of the time. The only way she would sleep is with me and with her feet pushed up against me. I could not even get out of bed to go to the bathroom without her waking up screaming. It took two years to get her evaluated and realize she had delays in language, gross motor, fine motor, and SPD. By this time, I was pregnant with my son. He was also fussy baby, but his sensory needs were not the same as hers. He also was diagnosed with developmental delays and SPD. I took off a few years to stay home and do therapy with my own children. I spent hours doing research and therapy with my own children.

When my son started in an Early Childhood Special Ed program, I decided to go back to work part time. I am a much better therapist now because of what I have been through personally. I can really relate to parents and help problem solve daily issues. I love working with young children and families. I would love to help you in any way I can. I think this is such a valuable resource for parents, and I would have loved to have this available years ago. Please ask any questions related to SPD, speech therapy, behavior issues, or even being a mom to children with SPD.

Join us for Therapy Thursdays

2009-02-26T12:57:00.003-06:00

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!

Interview: Lori's Child

2009-02-20T20:13:00.003-06:00

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.

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!

2009-02-13T23:23:00.003-06:00

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!)

Husband exeperienced a meltdown today..

2009-02-07T18:44:00.006-06:00

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.

Evaluation Update

2009-02-06T14:42:00.002-06:00

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?

Picture Schedules!

2009-02-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

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!

Let's get organized!

2009-02-05T10:00:00.000-06:00

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.

CEREAL THERAPY!

2009-02-04T22:43:00.004-06:00

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!

Giving your SPD child more options

2009-02-02T09:00:00.001-06:00

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?

Stefanie's Intro

2009-02-01T21:29:00.001-06:00

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

2009-02-01T11:04:00.000-06:00

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!

Explaining SPD to others

2009-02-01T09:00:00.001-06:00

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.

SPD Interview #1: Mommy Cracked

2009-01-30T14:02:00.003-06:00

Here at the SPD Life we are going to have interviews on parents who have a child(ren) with SPD every now and then. We will ask them to share their story and answer some interview questions. This will enable us all to get to know each other a little better *and* give other tips and advice on how we each work with our kids.

So our first interview is Mandy from Mommy Cracked. Here is her story and her answers to our questions.

My Story:
When we received our son's diagnosis of SPD we were confused, a little sad for all he has gone through, but also elated to finally have answers to the many questions about his behavior that had puzzled us from the time he was almost 2 years old. We were almost resigned to the fact that our son was very strong willed and highly temperamental, but as an educator, I knew that these "quirks" in his behavior were not normal. Our pediatrician didn't think there was a problem until our son was 3 years old and still not speaking full sentences. I also happened to film a particularly draining tantrum of his with my digital camera and showed it to our doctor. He was immediately concerned and we were referred to a neurologist and speech pathologist for further testing. Our pediatrician suspected that he may have a high functioning form of autism but did not want to diagnose it without neurological testing.

It was the speech pathologist who was also trained in occupational therapy that diagnosed our son when his neurological exam came back fine. She was a pediatric OT and knew immediately what the problem was. After completing a questionnaire on our son's developmental and behavioral habits, she was able to schedule him for his first therapy session. After 8 months of occupational and speech therapy our son is now speaking in full sentences, able to handle motion like swinging, and thriving in a 3 year old kindergarten classroom. We still have our days when the meltdowns and tantrums are really bad, but we have learned how to help our son through these times and give him the therapeutic play he needs to deal with his sensory issues.

When was your child diagnosed?

He was formally diagnosed at 3 years of age. The symptoms appeared much sooner, almost by age 2.

What is your biggest challenge that you face with SPD?
The misconception that his behavior is deliberate and that he chooses not to learn things like potty training simply because he doesn't want to or that his tantrums are because we are lenient on his behavior.

What are some of the things you do with your child to help them during a meltdown or tantrum?
When a tantrum occurs, I first remove him from the situation and take him to a quiet place. I hold him tightly and sing and rock. Sometimes he doesn't want to be held at all, so I just have to let him cry it out when all offers of comfort are refused.

What are some of your child's symptoms?
He develops vocal ticks, he is very upset if his routine changes slightly, small things like fingernail clipping or lightly touching his arm cause him to complain of pain, speech delays, becomes very anxious around crowds and is upset by loud noises. He can also stay awake for very long periods of time. When he has tantrums, they can last for up to 45 minutes and he almost seems like he is in a trance when he is crying...it is very hard to get him to focus on what you are saying when he is this upset.

Does your child receive therapy for SPD?
He received almost 8 months of occupational and speech therapy. Due to insurance problems we have had to discontinue those therapy sessions for the time being, but we work with him at home on the same concepts he was taught in therapy.

How do you deal with your stress?
I have to be really empathetic and remember what he is going through. When I need a break, his grandparents are wonderful about taking him for a night or a few hours to get some respite. His therapist has been a huge source of support in helping us understand and handle his diagnosis. I also connect with other SPD moms online to get support and help.

What is something you want all parents of children with SPD to know?
I want them to know that the diagnosis of SPD is not the sum whole of their child. It's simply a part that makes them unique. The challenges are difficult, to be sure, but their child is still so full of potential.

Thanks Mandy, for your story and answers! We appreciate you letting us get to know you and your situation a little better.

Tonight's tantrum.....

2009-01-29T18:59:00.003-06:00

*Sigh* Tonight's tantrum was quite a doozy... It lasted for 25 minutes, and it was over chips. Yes, potato chips! Little Man has decided that he's on a hunger strike, and will only eat whatever junk food is laying around. Tonight he found the snack pack of individual chips -- dorito's, frito's, cheesies, etc. A little boy's dream!

So when we got home, I gave him a bag while I was getting everything ready for dinner. 45 minutes later, he grabbed another pack and kept shoving it in my face to get me to open it. He kept screaming "chips", "chips", over and over again. I tried ignoring him, but it just got worse.

He threw himself on the ground and started hitting his head on the floor. He rolled around and screamed, all the time yelling "chips". I tried picking him up to calm him down, and he hit me in the cheek.

Finally, after 25 minutes he calmed down. How did he calm down? I gave in and gave him the chips.....

YES, I know that was probably the wrong thing to do, but what was I supposed to do? I really saw NO end in sight of the tantrum. When he gets in those moods, I just feel helpless. I have no idea how to help him. The O.T. really can't offer any idea's, because she's never seen him like this... I just don't know what to do!!

Any suggestions?

Social story?

2009-01-28T17:47:00.003-06:00

Yesterday at Little Man's O.T. session, his therapist approached me about the idea of making him a "Social Story". Of course, I had never heard of a social story, so she had to explain (a lot).

Here's a good article about SOCIAL STORIES

Basically, a social story is a short, precise story that you write up for your child, depending on what their issues are. For example, with Little Man, one of his biggest issues is going out in public, especially out to eat. He hates the noise, the lights, the commotion, etc. It just overloads his poor little brain and he melts down. He almost always pinches and punches whoever is nearest to him (usually me) and screams and has tantrums the whole time -- totally not pleasant.

So with the Social Story, she suggested I make a book to read to him right before going out in public, so I can reinforce the things he's *supposed* to do. Like sitting still, not punching/pinching, eating his dinner nicely, etc. I'm having a VERY hard time with this. I'm usually very creative - I used to write children's stories for my older boys all the time, but I'm not good with "Short" and "Precise".

The one thing I do know I want to do is take pictures of Little Man out at a restaurant, sitting down, a picture of other people sitting nice, etc. The O.T. said this will help him reinforce the ideas in his brain....

So I'll be working on it over the next couple days, and I hope it'll be a success! I'll post how it turned out, and the directions on how to make one, if anyone is interested.

Some suggestions from my O.T.

2009-01-25T08:05:00.005-06:00

One of my little man's MAIN triggers come from when we're out in public. He hates noise, bright lights, extra. We're almost always guaranteed a melt down when he goes anywhere in public, and it's gotten to be pretty awful taking him out anywhere.

When I told his O.T. this last week, she had a good suggestion -- putting a hat on him to block out the bright lights, as well as putting either headphones, ear plugs, or a pair of ear muffs on him to block out the sound. I heard this, and I had to chuckle. While it *is* a good idea (and I know this sounds lame), but I'm worried about the looks he'll get from other parents and kids while we're out in public while he's dressed in his sensory blocking outfit! We get enough nasty looks as it is, when we're out and he's hitting or pinching me, and I just can't stand anymore nasty looks.

So Stefanie had a good idea -- a small Mp3 player that he can listen to! I think that's a wonderful idea, and I'm going to go out today and look for some that are cheap enough and durable enough for him. He likes to listen to his big brother's MP3 players, so I think he'd love to have one of his own.

AND, he can still wear a baseball cap in public without getting too many stares! I have noticed that when he gets overwhelmed, if he has his favorite Spongebob knit hat near him, he'll put that hat on and pull it down as far as he can, so it almost covers his eyes and covers his ears, and he'll go about playing with his toys. I guess that's his way of blocking out the 'scary stuff' around him.

Yoga ball therapy!

2009-01-24T23:00:00.003-06:00

Sounds weird...I know, but man does it work! Our Speech Therapist recommended that we try using a yoga ball to help Little Miss. Every day, about five or so times, I lay her on her belly and roll her around on the ball for about 5 minutes. Then I change and lay her on her back on the ball and roll her around for five minutes. Then I sit her on the ball and bounce her for another five minutes. She loves it!!! She brings me the ball and tries to climb on top to start 'playing'. When I lay her down on it she lays her head down like she's gonna take a nap on it! The best part of it is that to her it's fun but to me it's therapy for less meltdowns!

So far I've noticed that she has had maybe one or two less meltdowns a day when we do this. Which is great!!! This will help her feel more relaxed and less frustrated throughout the day which in turn means that she will be a little more laid back to learn new things; new words, signs and so on. In the past two days she has started saying, "I KNOW!" in a really cute, happy voice and has even said "hot" to something when in fact it was hot. So now she knows the difference between hot and cold. Before she didn't really understand the difference. And it's great because now when I tell her something is hot she knows what I mean. Some months ago she got a hold of my coffee that I had just poured and tried to take a drink when I went to answer the phone. She ended up spilling it all down the front of her and since she doesn't feel pain correctly she didn't cry or even whimper. That scared me a lot! What happens if she really gets hurt one day and I don't know it? Well now I can rest assured that when I tell her something is hot she won't touch it!

So can I say all of this is due to exercising on the yoga ball? Well...no, but I think that it did play a small part in it. The rest I'm sure is her getting therapy, me working more with her and her getting a little older. But whatever it is I'm sure glad we're starting to see a little change for the better!

Suggestions for children with SPD

2009-01-21T20:18:00.005-06:00

So yesterday was our appointment for Speech Therapy. I have to say that I *love* our Speech Therapist! She is patient and seems eager to get to know Little Miss! She always brings toys that get Little Miss' attention and are good for children with sensory issues. We are trying to find out which textures and things she likes and doesn't like.

She did have a tantrum when she was here but it was only a small one. She came out of it after a little bit and we had to remove the cause of the tantrum which was a toy that she wanted to open but didn't open. She loves the textured puzzle that she brings with her and *loved* the bubbles! In fact that's how we finally got her tantrum to end. The SP blew bubbles and that was enough to distract her and get in interested in something else. Since Little Miss doesn't have a lot of words we are trying to teach her baby signs. I don't know which (verbal communication or baby signs) is going to be easier for her to learn and start using but I really don't care which one it is. All I want is for her to be able to communicate with me other than screaming and throwing fits for whatever it is that she wants.

Our DT (Developmental Therapist) is coming for the first time on Monday and I cannot wait to hear what she has to say. I will update on Monday night or Tuesday on what happened and how everything went.

Here is a list that our SP left with us for me to do with Little Miss. I hope that some of these things will help you out with your own little one.

Suggestions:

1. Take pictures of everyday objects that are familiar to her and make a small photo album to show her the pics and give her choices on what she wants. (Ex. picture of a banana and a picture of grapes. "Little Miss, would you like to have a banana or grapes?" This way she gets to make the choice and it makes her feel more in control.)

2. Establish a sensory diet to calm and prevent tantrums.

3. Get a therapy net swing to put in the house for part of her sensory diet. Everyday at a scheduled time swing her so that she can feel better and hopefully throw less fits.

4. Use a toothbrush before meals to increase awareness in her mouth. (Little Miss has a bad tendency to over fill her mouth with food almost to the point of choking. This is because she cannot accurately feel when her mouth is too full. This will help 'wake up' her mouth so that she won't do it as much.)

5. In nice weather, go to playgrounds that are fenced and not crowded.

6. Stack up mountains of pillows for her to climb on. (Little Miss has no safety awareness and climbs on everything! This will allow her to climb but keep her from getting hurt.)

7. Let her jump on the trampoline with supervision.

8. Teach her to take one bite at a time by saying "One bite" and giving her one bite on her plate.

9. Offer her choices whenever possible to give her sense of control and reduce tantrums. (Yep, she's gonna be a control freak just like her mother! lol)

10. Use 'if' and 'then' when speaking to her about events. (Ex: "If you get your shoes on then we can go outside to play.")

When was your child diagnosed? (POLL)

2009-01-21T18:00:00.004-06:00

Please tell us when your child was diagnosed, and what types of services they receive...

My son was diagnosed in September 2008. I knew nothing about SPD until his Pediatrician brought it up at his 2 year check up. Then I got online and read as much as I could about it, and I shook my head the whole time, thinking "this is *totally* him". He receives O.T services weekly, D.I. services bi-weekly, and speech therapy once every 3 months.

More frustrations....

2009-01-21T17:53:00.004-06:00

I'm still SO annoyed over this. I know part of it's my fault for not checking up sooner, but shouldn't it be the Early Intervention Coordinator's job to make sure everything is running smoothly? I might be naive, but I *thought* that's what part of their job was.

SO here's the situation. When Little Man began services in October, he was set up to have an O.T. come to the house 1x/week, a D.I. (Developmental Interventionist) to go to the daycare he goes to every other week, and a Speech Therapist to come 1x every 3 months.

The D.I. went to *one* session with him, and because of some drama between her and the daycare, she was asked not to come back. That was November. Right afterwards, a new D.I. was assigned, and they said she'd start 'in a few weeks and that she'd call me to set something up'. It's now almost the end of January, and up until yesterday, I had not heard ANYTHING from the D.I, nor the Coordinator.

I finally called the Coordinator and she was shocked that the D.I. hadn't been out there - she thought all along that she was going every week for the past 8 weeks. Ummm, NOPE. So of course once she called the D.I to find out what was going on, the D.I called me right away to set something up for Monday.

So yay, Little Man will finally start getting his D.I. services! But geeze, could it have taken any longer to set up??? He's apparently entitled to 'catch up' services, although I'm not really sure what that is.

The first D.I., even though she only lasted a day, worked on his sensory and tactile issues, so hopefully this therapist will be able to work on that with him. Lord knows he needs it!

Tantrum Strategies (ARTICLE)

2009-01-21T17:37:00.003-06:00

This article was given to me by Little Man's O.T., and hopefully it can help some parents out!

1. BEST TREATMENT: PREVENTION

a. Pick your battles: Avoid confrontations when it really doesn't matter. If they are not at risk for harm or harming something, give them time to get bored and try to get your way later.

b. Identify when and where your child has tantrums to see if there are particular triggers. Is it only in public, when they are hungry or tired? Is it during transitions from one activity to another? Knowing this info will help you prevent tantrums.

c. Be careful about setting yourself up for a NO answer. Do not ask your child a question if they don't have a choice to make. "We are going to leave now, okay?" is better stated, "We are leaving the store in 1 minute". Don't ask, "Do you want?" If you can't have the answer no!

d. Make a big deal often during good behavior that your child does. The key is letting your child know what pleases you and will get positive attention for.

e. Give your child cues that will help them prepare for what lies ahead. Sometimes telling a child when they have 5 minutes, then 3 minutes, then 1 minute until a transition is to occur helps them prepare for a change.

f. Always leave a small toy handy in your bag for distracting or providing an activity for those tantrums caused by boredom. If the toy is reserved only for when you are 'out', the interest in it will last longer.

2. DURING A TANTRUM:

a. Stay calm! The crazier they are, the calmer you need to be!

b. Let them know that you understand what they want, but that it is not going to happen now, then you stop talking!!.

c. Be careful not to reinforce the tantrum with extra attention and words that may actually be encouraging or rewarding the tantrum. Kids want our attention more than anything and often even negative attention is better than no attention at all. to work effectively, a tantrum needs a sympathetic audience.

d. Use isolation when ever possible for the tantrum. Establish a routine with total predictability. Put the child on a soft surface and IGNORE them for a few minutes, staying close enough to make sure they are safe. Occasionally reassure them that when they are calm, they can go play.

e. If they get up and move, do not chase them but make sure they are safe. If they are tearing up a room, then hold them on our lap tightly until you feel their arms and legs surrender. Holding can be reinforcing for some children.

f. Some kids can't calm themselves, and the tantrums last for longer than 30 minutes. These kids sometimes need to be rocked and held quietly when it appears they are 'stuck' and can't calm themselves. Sometimes giving them a pillow and a favorite blanket helps them to calm.

g. When the tantrum is over, let it go. Give them a hug and let them know that it is their behavior you don't like, but you love them all the same.

h. BE CONSISTENT with your words and actions. It is normal for tantrums to increase in order for your child to see if you react the same way every time. If the tantrums then decrease, your strategy is effective!! If the tantrums do not decrease, then you are doing something that the child finds reinforcing!!

2009-01-19T23:07:00.000-06:00

These are our 2 therapists! Please click on their icons to learn about them!

About Us

2009-01-19T22:38:00.000-06:00

There are 3 different authors that work on the SPD Life and 2 therapists.

Here's a little about us:

(Please click on the name to learn about each one!)

Stefanie

(Founder, Owner and Author of the SPD Life)

Michelle

(Co-Founder & Author)

Amanda

(Author on ODD topics)

Don't forget to grab our button and pass along our site info! Thanks for stopping by!

2009-01-19T22:10:00.003-06:00

Life with my little girl is tough...life with any little girl is tough! With Little Miss it's tougher than it is with my older daughter. Each day is filled with new challenges and tantrums.

When she throws a fit she bangs her head on whatever is near her and if there isn't anything close enough she uses her hands or headbutts someone (usually ME!) or throws herself on the floor to use it as her own private headbanging element. She also screams like you wouldn't believe! She has the scream of a crazy hawk...it's enough to make your ears go numb for a minute or two. Seriously!

She doesn't have enough words, because she is behind in speech, to express her frustrations, needs and wants so when she can't get her point across it's meltdown time. This is what really gets to me. I know she wants/needs something but since she cannot talk I have no idea what she wants and as a mother that is incredibly frustrating to me as well. I am her mother....I'm supposed to know my kids' cries and whines but I don't with her. This always leaves me feeling like a bad mother, even though I know I'm not.

She is getting in home Speech Therapy once a week for an hour and tomorrow is only our second appointment so I'm hoping that after a while things will get easier. She is also going to start in home Developmental Therapy once a week and our first appointment is next week. We have so much to work on! We are going to be working on: all of her sensory issues, affectionate, over stuffing her mouth, banging her head, climbing, her unusually high pain tolerance, safety awareness and so on. I needed answers and now after all this time of not knowing what was wrong or what to do I am finally going to get some. Will they be all the answers I need and/or want? Probably not. But as with any child, there aren't answers for all of their issues, some of them will never be able to be answered but yet will come in time or they will just grow out of them.

Please join Michelle and I as we go through our appointments, tantrums, fits, meltdowns, therapy meeting information, new found remedies and so on. Maybe through this blog we can all help each other by being a support team and cyber friends that all have something in common. A friendly 'ear' to help each other get through our days with our tough but loving children.

Hard times with my little man....

2009-01-19T14:39:00.003-06:00

The last few days with little man have been rough, to say the least. His SPD comes and goes in spurts. Some days he's a perfect angel, and I almost feel stupid that he's receiving services, and I feel like the O.T. is going to think that there's nothing wrong with my son. But then there's other days, like how he's been recently, where SPD rears it's ugly head, and all I can do is sit back and watch..... Where nothing I do calms him down, and he just continuously tantrums.

One of his biggest triggers is crowds and noise. He hates them with a passion. We went out to dinner at Friendly's Friday night, and that totally set him off. He spent 2 hours pinching and punching me and arching his back, trying to get out of the high chair.

From Friday night on, he continued to have issues. Yes, it usually takes him a few days to calm down after one of his 'episodes', as the O.T. calls it. She explained it as his adrenaline is all pumped up in his body, and it takes a few days to get back down to a normal level.

But of course, by time the O.T. comes tomorrow, he will most likely be back to normal, and all she'll see is the well behaved child who likes to play with all her neato toys. *sigh*. Some people have suggested video taping one of his episodes, but I never seem to do it when we're right in the middle of it.......

Disclaimer/Terms of Use

2009-01-18T21:07:00.000-06:00

PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY THESE TERMS OF USE BEFORE READING, COMMENTING ON, DOWNLOADING, COPYING, REPRODUCING, ALTERING MATERIALS OF ANY KIND, SUBSCRIBING TO, AND LINKING TO (COLLECTIVELY “USING”) THIS BLOG. USING THIS BLOG INDICATES THAT YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS OF USE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS BLOG.

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2009-01-16T12:09:00.002-06:00

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SPD Links

2009-01-16T00:32:00.000-06:00

Please check out these links to learn more about SPD and the symptoms of it!

2009-01-16T00:15:00.001-06:00

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Oppositional Defiant Disorder Links

2009-01-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

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2009-01-15T23:29:00.004-06:00

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