Hello all,
I am new to this group. I have a 7 year-old son who we believe has SPD. He has always been extremely sensitive about clothing, bed sheets, etc. But, until he was 5 years old, those were the only symptoms we saw and they were manageable by providing the right clothing, giving him choices, etc. When he started kindergarten, things went downhill very quickly. He did not want to go to school because he did not want to wear clothes and just generally had a lot of anxiety around school. Every morning was a battle -- we would have to force clothes on him while he fought us, and then carry him to the car, crying. Once he was at school, he was fine and was able to hold himself together. I have talked to all of his teachers many times and none saw any sign of SPD or any other developmental issues with him.
We have now been in quarantine for almost a year. Although it was a relief to not have to fight with him over leaving the house every morning, I don't think the withdrawal from normal life/school/babysitters has been good for him. For the past many months, he has refused to bathe or shower, change clothes, let us cut his hair or trim his nails, or clean his glasses. He used to be a very physically affectionate kid and now he rarely wants to be hugged or touched in any way. His bedroom is a disaster and he has a complete meltdown if I try to clean it. We have tried to "pick our battles" with him, but it is getting to the point where everything we want him to do is a battle.
When he is not being asked to do something he doesn't want to do, he is a happy, funny, smart child. But, we need to be able to get him to do basic things like bathing. We brought him to an OT, but that did not go well at all - he withdrew and refused to talk when we were meeting with her. We have seen therapists, talked to his pediatrician, and I've read every book I can. Thus far, nothing has helped.
I was reading The Out-of-Sync child and this group was suggested. I'm hoping connecting with other parents who have been through this will give us some new ideas to try. I also feel like a complete failure of a mother and it will be good to connect with other parents going through the same thing.