Hello everyone,
I am new to the thread but not new to SPD. I am a mother of a 15 year old that was diagnosed 11 years ago. He was also diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, auditory and visual processing disorders. Today his doctor told me he doesn't show ADHD signs but more SPD, Auditory, and Visual processing disorders. Have others been misdiagnosed and medicated for the wrong thing? I don't feel like a good mom right now. How do you handle it?

I think there is a lot of confusion between ADHD and SPD - my daughter with SPD goes from really hyperactive to exhausted and is in both cases rather inattentive so I can certainly see how this would happen. I'm sorry it's making you feel like a bad mom - you do the best you can with what you know at the time right? Are you considering doing OT or other therapies with him? What does he think about it?

Hi. My son was just diagnosed with SPD too. He is only 9 months old. Not sure if it is anything more than this as of yet, but defiinte SPD. We are in OT 2 times per week for it. We just started last week. If it makes you feel any better, we did not know if my son was hypothyroidism or Gilbert's at a very young age. He was misdiagnosed with Gilbert's and we took him off the thyroid medicine that he needed for a period of 3 weeks and he regressed and developed SPD. Like Angela said, we do the best we can with the info that we have. I was trying to protect my son and take him off a hormone that we did not think he needed and was supposed to take for 3 years. It was a mistake, but it hurt my son and I too, have feelings of being a "bad Mom" as well. Hang in there. We are all here to support one another. You are a good Mom and have been trying to do the best you know how for your child this entire time!

Ashlee

I wanted to come back to this because I am reading the book Sensational Kids right now and she has an excellent section taking about SPD and ADHD and how they frequently occur together but also can be mistaken for each other and a chart outlining the slight variations in the symptoms. It's a really good read I highly recommend it.

I've read that about half the kids diagnosed with ADHD either have just SPD or they have both SPD and ADHD. So I'm sure you're not the only one with a misdiagnosed child. Try to not feel too guilty about it. I agree that you do the best you can with the info you have.

I may have questions for you! I have a 10 year old with SPD and anxiety. I really worry about how things will go when puberty hits. He already has moments of low self-esteem then add in hormone and body changes of puberty. Sigh. Please tell me it's not so bad... ;-)