SPD Support Forum

My daughter who just turned 3 years old and has been given a diagnosis of SPD started preschool for the first time last week. Day one Dad and I stayed in the room the whole time and things went really well. Of course when we got home she let loose and needed to jump and swing and play with her playdoh. On day 2 the teacher was not in class and we only had the teachers assistants for the whole period. My daughter was having a much harder time on day 2 and needed me to swing her around and help her jump up and down for about 30 minutes before she was ready to sit with the helper and play. What really bothered me was that the teachers helper came up to me while I was swinging my daughter and touched her on the back (which is not a good thing for my daughter to be touched by "strangers" when she is having a sensory meltdown) and said, "oh poor girl are we feeling sick today...we all get sick sometimes". I find this remark very odd. Either A: she has no clue about my daughters IEP and SPD issues and she really thought she was sick, or B: She thinks that kids with "issues" are sick? Would you say that an autistic kid is "sick" when they are stimming?

I'm not sure how to handle this issue as it is all so new to me at this point. I would normally have explained my daughters situation but it was clear that the helper had no time for a long SPD explanation as she was trying to manage a class of 3 and 4 year olds. The teacher was the only one at the IEP meeting of all the adults in the room. I guess I assumed that she would share the information with the other adults who help in the class. Any suggestions?

That is a really odd thing for her to say. Is this someone who will work with your child regularly? Is the teacher educated about SPD? Possible you could enlist the teacher's help in educating her assistants?

Yes the assistant is assigned to the class so she is there everyday. I think I will have a chat with the teacher about this.