SPD Support Forum

My little girl whos 8 next month has had lots of difficulties mainly around clothing, were so limited on what she accepts to wear and its very very draining, everything has to be right, touch her right and shes such a handful.

Saw our OT for the first time last Friday and wow I was amazed what she picked up in just one hour with her, I was half expecting her to say she cant see anything wrong and send us on our way.

She noticed my daughters low self esteem within minutes of being there as she told her she was rubbish at two things within 10 minutes, she had her do cutting with scissors, playdough, using the peg board, dressing, drawing, she moved to the mats to have her jumping, skipping, doing allsorts of things with her mouth, it was very thorough, she was scribbling down all through, later that evening she phoned me to tell me that from the parent scoring questionnaire she had noticed everything I put in that she could see in the room, she commented on how easily she was tipped over the edge when they started doing a little vestibular work all of a sudden she was crashing around the room, wanting everything out, jumping, hitting the mats. She said she has vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile difficulties, they want to start the brushing and joint compression treatment but told me its time consuming and a lot of commitment and doesn't always work but weve been booked in for 5 session to start with. Just wondering how its worked for others?

The wilbarger brushing protocol is great! It's definitely made visible improvement on me.

I spent 10 weeks on it, was told when I started that most of her clients spend 8 weeks on it but she expected I'd spend longer on it. She judges end based on when the amount of improvement being made week to week isn't worth the effort going in.

It is a lot of effort; Brushing most of your body with a special brush and then doing joint compressions, every 2 hours that you are awake, is the basic idea of the protocol as I did it. However with this protocol you can permanently reduce reactivity to tactile inputs. And the brush and compress still helps after the protocol for short term feeling extra better. Dan describes it as sensory advil.

My OT actually went through with me and had me try on a bunch of clothing after we did the brushing protocol and I was able to wear most of what we had me try on! I'm still limited in what I can wear, but its definitely much easier to find clothing than it used to be. And we've drastically improved some aspects of washing as well. (I have lots and lots and lots and lots of issues with showers, my showers were being used as the baseline for comparing to for progress for lots of the work we were doing).


I'd definitely support the brushing protocol. Just be aware that its a lot of work.

We did the brushing protocol for two months when our daughter was 5. We saw no improvement in her symptoms. The most effective treatments that have helped my daughter are: Feingold Diet, probiotics, Ten Gems for the Brain (ebook) regimen, and most recently Brain Balance Treatment Centers program. I'm a fan of trying everything you come across. Each child is different and the brushing protocol may work for your daughter. If it doesn't, continue to try treatments that you feel comfortable with until you find something that works.