Wyatt & Nash: Learning More about SPD

You may see a lot of posts on my facebook lately about Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Nash has this and we are pretty sure Wyatt does as well, just waiting on his evaluation from a Occupational Therapist (OT) but thats not the important part, getting the services from a OT and starting off with tools to help him learn to cope with SPD and early intervention is the important part. Both boys have such different forms of it, its frustrating of course but its fascinating and helpful to have so many resources and there has been so much progress made with SPD in the past few years.

This link http://www.spdfoundation.net/ and resource is helpful and provides some great answers to some questions such as....

So what is SPD? Sensory processing (sometimes called "sensory integration" or SI) is a term that refers to the way the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into appropriate motor and behavioral responses. Whether you are biting into a hamburger, riding a bicycle, or reading a book, your successful completion of the activity requires processing sensation or "sensory integration."

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD, formerly known as "sensory integration dysfunction") is a condition that exists when sensory signals don't get organized into appropriate responses. Pioneering occupational therapist and neuroscientist A. Jean Ayres, PhD, likened SPD to a neurological "traffic jam" that prevents certain parts of the brain from receiving the information needed to interpret sensory information correctly. A person with SPD finds it difficult to process and act upon information received through the senses, which creates challenges in performing countless everyday tasks. Motor clumsiness, behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, school failure, and other impacts may result if the disorder is not treated effectively.

There is also some great insight at the website to questions like, "What Sensory Processing Disorder looks like?", "How Sensory Processing Disorder is treated?" and much more. Visit http://www.spdfoundation.net/ for more info!


On a more personal but brief note, our journey with SPD started back when Nash (who is 2 1/2 right now) was a few months away from turning 2 and we started to realize he had regressed in his speaking. But once we started to look at it more we realized he hardly had any usable words he was using to begin with. He would make sounds and if we couldn't understand him he would get very upset and not know how to deal with this and would act out. So we started with a trip to children's to do hearing tests, all which came back fine, a visit to a neurologist who then put us in touch with Children's Therapy Center in Kent and an Occupational Therapist who did a evaluation on Nash that covered many different areas.

While we believe its SPD and are using early intervention to work with Nash. He is still under the care of a neurologist and we see him every few months to check in on the progress (or lack there of in some areas) we are making, he is being watched for everything from Autism, to Aspergers. All of which has overlapping and very similar things about them but they are different. We now have a speech therapist Nash see's weekly and has for the past year and will continue to see at home until he turns 3. We also have an occupational Therapist who we have been seeing monthly. We find a monthly visit to be easy for Nash at this age as 99.9% of the tools she provides us we need to work on and implement at home. We communicate via email and she has provided us with resources and information that we take and then put to work in our home environment and she comes to the house to help us do that from time to time. After Nash turns 3, we may seek out a more frequent center based OT (Like his Brother Wyatt will be doing) but right now Nash is thriving with the tools we have from our team. Nash also attends a preschool program one day a week at CTC (Children's Therapy Center) that has teachers who specialize in all types of special needs children.

Nash's type of Sensory Processing seams to be Sensory Under Responsivity. He does not feel pain, cuts, scrapes, bumps appropriately. He takes longer to process pain (if at all). He seeks out heightened and what may seam like more extreme forms of things such as food flavors, physical activity and requires a longer time to respond and process such things. He can tune out sounds, and can act as though he cant hear anyone or anything (this is why we started with his hearing being checked) at times.However like most toddlers (with or without SPD) he can also be very overstimulated easily with lots of lights sounds and things going on. Its a catch 22, because he seeks out extra things in some ways and in others he shy's away from them. Deciphering between normal 2 year old behavior and SPD is hard at this age in some ways, but as mentioned above there are some clear signs of not typical 2 year old behavior and response.

Wyatt (age 4 1/2) however seams to be the complete opposite of his brother Nash. Wyatt is Sensory Over Responsivity. Easily becomes very upset at the slightest, touch, cut, noise, light or sound. He of course could be fine with a blaring TV one moment but when I pull out the vacuum he is climbing the walls and inconsolable. To compare, Nash has many times come to me bleeding from a fall and being hurt and not event noticed AT ALL. Where as Wyatt has the slightest *scratch* even and its a huge deal and we are dealing with the scratch for sometimes days and or weeks. Wyatt also does not like any flavor to his foods. While this can be a typical *picky eaters* situation we as mothers face with our toddlers and preschoolers, its often taken to the extreme with children who have SPD of this type. Wyatt is extremely sensitive to even smells of food. He is currently in a Feeding Group with peers to learn more about foods and become more comfortable and its really helping alot. Wyatt also doesnt seek out touch like Nash does, Nash is a cuddler, loves hugs, kisses and being squished in my arms. Wyatt is very selective and usually will not seek this out or even like kisses or hugs. While as a mother this can be hard it makes those moments he does come to me or indulges me in a hug or kiss (he really does seam to know when I need one!) on the cheek just that much more special for us.

I hope this helps explain a little more about SPD and a brief look into our family's journey. As I get to know more about SPD and early intervention I am soaking up as much information and tools as I can. Some of the things we have worked on with the boys has been invaluable and helped so much. (I'll share some of those it the following weeks) I wanted to just give you some insight so if you see future posts about SPD and our classes, OT sessions you have an idea of whats going on.

Feel free to leave comments or questions, if I don't know the answers I will find out. I have a huge list of resources and amazing families I follow by blog that are a wealth of information on this topic!