Our Foray into Sensory Processing Disorder

Superman has started seeing an Occupational Therapist twice a week after initial testing revealed a Sensory Processing Disorder.  There are kids who struggle with sensory avoiding, sensory seeking, and dyspraxia (motor skill problems) and Superman has difficulties in all three areas.  

If you are anything like me, I had zero knowledge of SPD before Superman, so I'll list out some of the things we struggle with.

Sensory Avoiding:
* He likes to initiate contact and doesn't like to be touched without warning, especially a light touch.
*He has a difficult time in areas with loud noise.

Dyspraxia:
*He is clumsy and accident prone, especially when excited or in a hurry.
*He has trouble with fine motor skills.  This particular challenge is probably also because of his background and lack of exposure to pencils, crayons, and the like.  

Sensory Seeking:
*This is what the bulk of Superman's time at OT is spent addressing.  Basically, Superman is under responsive to sensations and his nervous system does not always recognize the information that is already coming to the brain.  As a result, he seeks to add sensory input to every experience. 
*He likes to dump out a tub of toys and lay on them, or swim through them.
*He wants to slide like a snake, crawl on all fours, or walk like a bear as his go-to mode of transportation.
*He wants to be physically close to those he plays with.  Basically, he wants to sit on friends and he expects them to continue playing with him.
*He rubs his face until raw.
*He loves to squeeze people and wants to hug others really tight.
*He wants to rub his feet all over everything.  People, furniture, whatever is near. 

Hopefully you can see why we sought out help.  Playing with others or his brother was such a challenge as kids don't really like others to lay on them or stop and squeeze their arm.  Surprise, surprise.  Jon and I also felt like we were at our wit's end trying to talk Superman out of walking like a bear through Walmart.  Or when Superman's idea of snuggling was to crawl all over you/roll all over you.  Also, from a school stand-point kids with sensory seeking behaviors are often labeled ADD or ADHD because of constant fidgeting and touching.  

Now for the good news, I feel like our OT and our experiences so far with therapy have been a God-send.  We've been going for about a month now, and at first I was hesitant to blog about our experiences because it almost seemed to good to be true.  Now I'm to the point where I have to write it down before I forget what our "before" days were like.  

Basically the idea behind addressing SPD is being proactive, rather than reactive.  Superman has seen the most improvement after our OT taught us about Deep Pressure Proprioceptive Technique (DPPT).  You should google this if you've never heard about it, because frankly it's kinda of weird.  Even weirder that it works.  We brush Superman with a surgical brush and then compress his joints.  This takes about 2 minutes and we try to do it several times during a typical day.  In theory, this gives his brain and body the sensory input he craves so he doesn't have to seek it out in inappropriate ways.  

We have immediately seen an improvement after doing DDPT at home.  We expected to see him spending less time on his belly swimming through our house or his toys, and that has been true.  It has also seemed to help him in very unexpected ways.  He has been friendlier, more compliant.  He has had an easier time making eye contact and responding when someone greets him.  Our home atmosphere has been a million times more peaceful as Bear actually seeks to play with Superman now, rather than cowering when Superman comes near.  When you boil it all down, Superman seems a lot happier and not so grumpy.  I guess that makes sense.  If your body doesn't feel good, you don't feel good. 

I'll leave you with some resources if you want to know more.  Everyone with SPD experience has recommended the same book to me:  The Out of Sync Child and the companion activity book:  The Out of Sync Child has Fun.  I haven't read it yet, but it's next on my book list.