Hello,
I am a 34 yr old mom of a 3.5 year old son with SPD and an 18 month who does not have SPD. I am also a special education teacher. My son was diagnosed last summer, but I have always known. He has been going to OT for about 6-7 months and just started seeing a clinical social worker last month. He sees each once a week.
Welcome!
How have you found your professional experience has helped you? Was it something that you felt you understood and could work with? I've been doing some work with families in Australia whose children have sensory issues and they keep saying that even some of the the special ed teachers and aides they have met don't have a strong understanding of sensory needs and behaviours and it's had me wondering.
BusyMum
Sydney
Good Morning,
Thank you for the welcome. I will say that I think it has helped me some in that I understand the paperwork and my rights pretty well, which sadly here are not many. Since SPD is not recognized in the DSMV the state does not have to recognize it as a disability. My son's IQ is high so he is smart little guy and has found ways to compensate. So this means he is not showing deficits in the areas they assess on an evaluation for services. In other words he meets the standard for "age appropriate". I know it impacts him as anyone with a child with SPD knows. (If I didn't see it having an impact on him, I wouldn't have gone for the evaluation in the first place).
However, I will add that approaching this as a teacher is very different then approaching it as a mom. I still find myself losing patience as any parent does. I also still need to advocate for him constantly with teachers, friends and family members and even strangers. I will say that knowing what he will face when he starts school helps me, but only so much. I am still learning just as much about this as any parent. There has not been training on these issues so many educators are ignorant on it implications and how it impacts children. I will add that because of this as well, I do believe many children are misidentified.
I have wondered how many boys that couldn't stay still no matter what had some SPD issues. They always looked like they had ants in their pants. Forcing them to sit down for the class hour seemed cruel to them.