SPD Support Forum

My son Collin has always been different from my older 2 kids that are now 4 and 3. He was a 32 week old preemie and lived in the hospital his first 2 weeks. He came home and for the next 12 months he was a healthy happy baby!
Just after his first birthday, Collin shut down. He was talking (momma, dada, bye bye) he was waving bye bye and never a care in the world. All of a sudden things just started to bother him. A lot of things. He is in therapy now with a PT,OT,and ST. In my opinion this is a lot for a little guy. He doesn't know how to act or what to do. He scared and hes non verbal so he cant tell me how he feels.
At first i thought the diagnoses was going to be Autism. Which at the moment I'm not sure it wont be. But after 2 visits with the OT she has said SPD. Im frightened and don't know what to expect. How is this going to affect my son, our lives, our relationship? I have read many articles and have a decent grasp on what it is what if anyone has any tips, advice, comments, or anything, i would really appreciate it.

-Becca
(Logan, Jacalyn,& Collin's Mom!)

Some babies don't speak much until they can speak in whole sentences.

Try to do things that relax people with SPD. If he seems more engaged and happy (even if he isn't speaking) then you will know SPD is the problem and just need to make some minor life adjustments for that.

SPD if treated early and the child knows how to self maintain will mostly just be an annoyance at times for them, but they will be otherwise normal. If SPD isn't treated or maintained sensitivity levels can keep growing pushing past the annoyance level into an actual disability level. Anger management problems, crying for no known reason, and/or incapability of doing anything are examples of negative side effects of disability level SPD. They sometimes get diagnosed as other problems, but the cause is their brain overreacting to outside stimulous.

First I want you to know you sound like a great mother Becca! The way you write about Collin you seem to understand him very well. All the therapy etc combined with the way he is feeling can be very overwhelming (and you opbviosuly understand that)- as beck said, doing the things that relax him will help him and help build your family relationships, he needs his family to be the people he feels safe with. Lots of kids with SPD are quite anxious because their experience of the world is difficult and/or stressful. Every child needs home to be a safe, predictable place, kids with SPD need it even more.

Two out of my three daughters were also diagnosed young. Both actually at 18 months. My one daughter who is now 4 is doing amazing. You really wouldn't know that she has spd unless it was pointed out. My youngest who is 23 months have a severe case. I'm hoping she will follow suite to her sister and respond well to therapy. I feel for you, it's very scary. But remaining strong and positive for your child is one of the best things you can do