My 10 year old (11 in May!) has come so far! He has found ways to cope with most sensory input. A big decrease in the number and severity of his meltdowns. We are still finding ways to help his anxiety, but even that is a lot better now too. Everyone has noticed that he is coming out of his shell and showing his sense of humor and personality.

The psychologist who leads the weekly social skills group with my son and three other boys has agreed that my son is ready to "graduate" by the end of the school year. He has learned a lot from the group, and is now a role model for the other boys. I highly recommend a social skills group for any school-age SPDer! It has given my son the tools to navigate our social world. There are things he still needs to learn, but he is at the point where I need to weigh the benefits of the group against his need to be "normal" and more like typical children.

Just want to give hope to those of you just starting on this journey. It's been a roller coaster ride these last 5 years (or 9 years depending on how you look at it), but now things have evened out. We were so lucky to be in the school district we are in--I can't say enough good things about his teachers and the school staff who all helped him become one of the success stories. I never had to fight to get resources for him--they came to me and said, "We think X will help him. Is it okay if we see if it works?"

Hang in there! It is hard--believe me, I know how hard it is when you are in the middle of it. But all the OT, all the speech therapy, all the social skills, all the other therapies, all your love and attention--are helping. It's worth it.