Looks like our threads our similar. (our story thread titled - will this ever get better). We tried melatonin and 5http (the precursor amino acid the body uses to make melatonin) per our doctor's recommendation for our 1yr old. We started with really small doses of .25mg and worked our way up to 2mg. Niether worked for us but doesn't mean they won't work for you. They seemed to help with sleep onset but made our daughter more restless later. From the research I've read that is not entirely uncommon, they usually work great, or not at all depending on how the body reacts. Either way given the low dose and that even at really high doses the side effects are vivid dreams/nightmares. I figured if the worst thing that can happen is an exceptionally vivid dream, which would mean they wouldn't sleep well so you'd know it wasn't working, then what do you have to loose? I'd feel pretty confident giving it to a three year old.

We've been working with an OT specifically trained in SPD and only after 3O days of intensive therapy did we begin to see improvment, i.e. she slept through the 1 hr mark. As our OT described it ther is a whole bunch of physical experiences that our daughter maybe going through as she is sleeping. She may feel like she is falling, floating, being pressed down on, rolling like on a ship, this accounts for all her thrashing about and why she finds laying still in her bed so uncomfortable. For her the only thing that overides it is constant motion in one or two planes (gliding and bouncing). With this the brain is occupied with this input and blocks out the rest that it is misinterpretting.

We are going to see a neurologist in Jan but from everyone I've talked to i.e. the top doctors in the SPD field, it may provide some interesting insight. The most important thing, though is to see an OT that understands SPD, not just one who has worked with sensory issues. Research and from personal experience these can be quite different as one may approach the issue as primarily behavioral and not brain function - nuerological. One will give you coping mechanisms, and the other will focus on help the child's brain re-learn how to process sensory input, which as your child is only three you have a huge window of opportunity to do. Reasearch shows that in young children the 'plasticity' brain is able to re-map the the process paths so that with therapy some children may show very little symptoms later on in life.

I'm sure you've read tons on info, but I would highly recomend anything by Carol Stock Kranowitz and also Dr. Lucy Jane Miller (they are commentors in each other's books). Dr Miller worked with our daughter at a clinic in Denver and to date the most progress we've made is because of her insight. In her book she talks about how to choose a therapist and I would highly recommend reading that section.

One thing we learned at the STAR center that I absolutely agree with, "You can't treat behavioural issues until you meet the neurological needs of sensory child."

I'd love to hear more about your journey.... Much love and good luck.