Hi, everyone. I'm new here. I have a 4 and a half year old daughter who I suspect has SPD. She has always been very sensitive to the way things feel and will only eat very few things. The last couple months things have gotten a lot worse and everything seems to cause a meltdown. She has some motor delay and is very clumsy and afraid to play on playground equipment and cries if she is asked to do it. She can't tolerate wet grass, chapstick, lots of clothing, socks, dirt, etc. She doesn't have a problem with sound other than vaccums and toilets flushing. We have been having a lot of problems with tantrums and not wanting to go from one place to another. She also has terrible anxiety which I am not sure is related to her sensory problems. She is very intelligent and has no social problems. She has a really big problem with change in her routine and also has a lot of fits about that. I took her to a psychologist yesterday and she suspects a sensory problem, and says that my daughter has "autistic traits" but does not fit the criteria for autism. My sister's daughter is on the severe end of the autistic spectrum and while my daughter shares a few things with her, it is very different. The sensory problems have been evident since age 2 but have gotten worse along with the tantrums. We are going back today for a full sensory evaluation. Does this sound like SPD to you or something else? I feel like a lot of it fits but there are other things that I am not sure of. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.
It sounds like she has many of the criteria of SPD from the checklist. Have you read The Out Of Sync Child? It's sort of the Bible of SPD. It was the first book I read and finally had that "aha" moment when I knew my daughter had SPD. I made an appointment for an OT evaluation the next week and had the SPD diagnosis a week after that. An OT could put your daughter on a sensory diet to help her with her anxiety and sensitivities. It's a long, slow process, but improvements will come with time. My daughter's SPD has the opposite symptoms of yours, but there's a 5 y.o. boy my daughter attends therapy with each week with symptoms similar to your daughter's, and his sensitivities have improved dramatically in the year he has been getting OT. Regarding the tantrums, we put our daughter on the Feingold Diet last October, and the tantrums are now a rarity. It turned out to be a reaction to BHT. I wish you well in your research.
(07-03-2013, 02:41 AM)LAC1961 Wrote: [ -> ]It sounds like she has many of the criteria of SPD from the checklist. Have you read The Out Of Sync Child? It's sort of the Bible of SPD. It was the first book I read and finally had that "aha" moment when I knew my daughter had SPD. I made an appointment for an OT evaluation the next week and had the SPD diagnosis a week after that. An OT could put your daughter on a sensory diet to help her with her anxiety and sensitivities. It's a long, slow process, but improvements will come with time. My daughter's SPD has the opposite symptoms of yours, but there's a 5 y.o. boy my daughter attends therapy with each week with symptoms similar to your daughter's, and his sensitivities have improved dramatically in the year he has been getting OT. Regarding the tantrums, we put our daughter on the Feingold Diet last October, and the tantrums are now a rarity. It turned out to be a reaction to BHT. I wish you well in your research.
Yes, I just got that book. I'm hoping it will help some. Things are rough right now. Thanks for the reply.