[Mindybeth6]

adding DHA/Omega 3 to his diet

You can buy this at GNC:-) OMG you know Mikayla has this but I am sooooooo sick right now. We ALL got sick since coming home from FLorida. SO....I will fill most of it out later.

Mikayla is a sensory-seeker. She has trouble eating because she is very picky about the texture of the foods. Doesn't like things that are smooth or creamy. Prefers things with more "texture". Everything gets chewed, then spit out, examined with her hands, and then eaten. It's gross.

She is on the GO GO GO GO. Never sits still. Constantly seeking stimulation. Always has to have something in each hand. Walks on toes. Has to feel and touch everything. IN love with water. Loves the stimulation the bath provides so we use the bath to settles her down when she is upset. Likes to be held tight, thrown in the air.

Does NOT like hair messed with or touched. We use pressure massage with her. She doesn't like brushing for whatever reason.

I could go ON ON ON and ON.

Mikayla: Home at 7 Months
Diagnosed: Around 21 months
Gets OT twice a week at her "special EI school."
We just started so I haven't seen any improvement yet.

[mommamarci]

Name of child: Cameron
age of child at homecoming: 10 days
if adopted, country of birth: US
first signs of a problem: at about 5 months when we first tried to start cereal. He had severe gagging. By 8 months he was gagging on tiny pieces of Gerber puffs.
age at dx: right around 1
type of SI issues: oral and tactile
how does it present itself in your child: oral: Cannot eat anything with any texture whatsoever. He eats stage 2 baby food still (at 22 months). Also puts everything in his mouth.

tactile: Weird texture issues: won't touch sand. Freaks out when food is on his hands. Refuses to eat if food is on my or dh's hands. He used to vomit when food was on his hands. HATES shoes and socks. Undresses constantly!

how long ago was it dx: about 10 months ago
what treatments are you doing: Vestibular activity for 15 minutes before meal time. Cameron receives PT, OT, and speech weekly
what has been the biggest resource for you:early intervention services
what has helped the most: Unknown. We have been receiving therapy for 10 months and have made very little progress...
what piece of advice would you pass on to other parents with SI kids? Good luck. No one understands. You are not just a mean parent. (As I am often told. If I just gave him cookies, he would be able to eat...)

[Theslaws]

There are lots of great Omega-3 products out there now. The comany I use for myself and my kids (and recommend to my clients) is Nordic Naturals. They purify their product so there is not metal contamination. They also flavor their products (either lemon or strawberry) so you dont get a "fishy burp" which is disgusting!!! They sell a liquid form in a bottle which you can add to yogurt, applesauce, etc (drinks are hard cause you loose a lot just sticking to the inside of the cup). There is another brand called Coromega which sells a gel packet in either chocolate or orange flavor. You just squirt the gel in their mouth or mix with something else. Again, very pure and high quality product.

There are couple of good books out there which talk about Omega-3's. One is The Omega-3 connection by Andrew Stoll. Its a bit medical/technical at times but overal really good. I cant find the name of the other one right now sorry!

I give both my girls omega-3's and I take them also (getting my husband is another story!!) Ive gone to a couple of conferences that gave lots of good info on Omega-3's and have done a lot of research. You need to make sure the product you choose is good quality so the get all the trace metals out of the product. Its hard to "overdose". If you get too much in your system you start to have poop issues (sorry -TMI).

I have to say, I am NOT a physician, nutritionist - just a speech path who has done a lot of research.

HOpe this helps!

[LisaF]

First a word of encouragement. 46 years ago, I was the poster child for SID. Of course, my mom didn't know anything about sensory integration and she just dealt with my "issues". I almost starved to death because I wouldn't eat baby food (smooth texture). I hated wearing shoes, anything with tags, itchy clothes etc. Hated having my hair brushed, loud noises, strong smells. I craved heights and climbed everywhere. Thank goodness, for the most part, they accomadated me and I have grown up to be a special care nurse, great mom and a contributing part of society. I still have sensory issues that I deal with every day but I've learned to live with them. I still hate wearing shoes, no socks with seams, no tight or itchy clothes (thank goodness I get to wear scrubs every day!) Food textures and smells limit my vegetable intake (I hate cooked vegetables...texture) but I try to eat very healthy and take my vitamins. So you see, your kids will be fine, especially since they are getting OT, PT and speech.

I also have 2 boys that have SID. One bio and one adopted form Brazil. I recognized it immediately with my bio son. I learned to accomodate him by thinking about what worked for me. What I didn't know with him, is that OT would help. In fact, at that time it didn't have a name. He is 22 and does fine, but also has things he deals with every day. A lot of his sensory was from overload, he didn't like crowds, loud noises, busy places, bright lights. He still shys away from them or limits his time. He also has been a seeker of stimulation and has many broken bones and injuries because of that. He rides motorcycle, wakeboards, skim boards, skiis. He drives dump truck and backhoe for a living!

My son from Brazil was adopted last year at the age of 7. I also recognized his SID immediately. He has been havng PT, OT and speech for 6 months. I have a hard time noticing a difference, but everyone around us has noticed that he doesn't constantly crave stimulation. He still does little things like sucking on his shirt or hands but he doesn't drool anymore. He's getting better about getting his hands dirty, mainly because we work everyday with things like playing in the mud, making hamburger patties, touching things that are "icky". He is working on self soothing.

Sorry this is so long. I don't know if it is helpful, but your kids can learn to live with SID. I am so glad that I finally was able to put a name to it and find therapists that are willing to help!

Lisa, mom to 5

[angelkisses0102]

We use this...
Nature's Plus Animal Parade DHA Cherry -- 90 chewables


mainly because DS will take it! LOL! They really do not taste bad at all. DD also takes them to help her 'pay attention' better. DS also get pedisure at night and I mix rice cereal with DHA (and iron) into it as well.

DS's food issues limit so much of what he will eat but luckily this pill works for him. He eats very, very few foods...everything has to be bland and is basically white and if it crnches he is thrilled. It is a pain but I finally stopped fighting him and just give him good vitamins in the morning and pedisure at night...and let him eat what he'll eat without a fight the rest of the time. I would guess the list of foods he eats, in total is about 25'ish...and that includes everything. The only meat he eats is a specific brand of chicken nuggets (and McDonald's and Burger King's)...and that's it. But since we stopped fighting him, he's gained about 4 pounds this year...he gained NO weight between ages 3 and 4...he was 30 pounds at both of those annual check-ups (and he is fairly tall so he is super skinny.) He also struggles with internal regulation...he rarely knows he is hungry until he is 'starving' so I ask him and feed him periodically throughout the day.

As a side note...I also take Omega 3/DHA for my hands and wrists to help fight arthritis (had multiple surgeries on my hands/wrists when I was younger) and it really helps me.

For US, it has worked wonders!

Hang in moms...it takes a while but you will eventually see progress. I also believe time is a friend...as long as you are addressing the issues...many of them seem to get better with time.

[mommytoEli]

oh my gosh. call it a coincidence....but i got eli this new vibrating teether. he has it in his mouth all the time......after he had it about a day, i noticed he was walking on his FEET! not just his toes. lol! yeah! it is still funny looking bc when he walks on his feet his gait is HUGE...so it is far from normal....but a step (pun intended) in the right direction.

[angelkisses0102]

Great News!!! DS had one of those when he was about a year old and in ST...loved it!

[Parisnroc]

MommytoEli, that is awsome. I wish I could report something. We had our first physical therapy appt today. It left me very upset. The PT is concerned about Faiths low muscle. She has severly low muscle tone and wants to put her in some suit. I'm vaguely familiar with the suit because my nephew is disabled and is put in something similar. My emotions are all over the map right now. I vented on our blog so I'll spare ya'll of anymore. I just want to give my DD the best chance at life.

Baby Faith

[mommytoEli]

ugh...i'm sorry. i read your vent. i understand....a little. dh wanted 2 kids, i wanted 6, we are at 5. all of our children have their own set of issues, some needier than others.

anyways, eli continued to have spurts of feet walking today...again, all with a WIDE gait. i'll have to snap a pic, it is SOOOOO funny. and cute. at least he is trying.

anyways, i forgot about this, for the last 2 weeks or so, this is where i find eli for every nap/night time sleep. not in his comfy bed.....but on the floor. he doesn't even take a pillow or a blanket. he will nap like this for about 2 hours, and then lay there in a commatose type state, just staring off stroking the carpet or the tile.THEN he'll get up. if i even suggest he get in his bed if i catch him, he screams, "I WANT TO SLEEP ON MY FLOOR!" lol. 2 steps forward, 2 steps back???

[mommytoEli]

bumping for new members.

[CashCrew]

I saw this post a couple of weeks ago but our lives have been so crazy I haven't had time to post. And I don't now either...ahhh! lol My oldest son introduced this interesting little thing I had never heard of to our family in '96. we were lucky enough to have a good friend of our family that was an OT from South Africa and had done extensive research in SI because none of our OTs or peds around here knew what it was or how to diagnose it. She educated them and helped us find the right ones. Our 3rd child came along and I knew very early she had it as well. Then our 5th child came along (Kemry who came home at 7mo from GT) and she has it too. God knew just where to send her! LOL I'm almost certain child #2 has it as well but she has never been officially diagnosed like the other 3. So out of our 5 children, 3 are diagnosed with it, and one has it without an official diagnosis (and the one with no SI behaviors is totally the odd kid out lol).

#1 - mostly auditory sensitive (super super sensitive to auditory stimulus), etc.
#2 - sensory seeker in most every way, chews on everything still at 11, gags from certain oral textures, etc.
#3 - tactile sensitive to the extreme - to the point of avoiding things she loves if it requires touching/wearing certain textures, etc.
#4 - totally average sensory kid lol
#5 - sensory seeker to the max, very high pain tolerance, avoids oral textures, craves auditory stimulus/LOUD (imagine the combo of she and my oldest son....ack!),etc. etc. etc.

[kimbo1]

Ok....question:

DS has been home since March 1. He is 10 mo old.

We just had our first OT meeting yesterday, & went home with directions for using the Wilbarger Protocol. He has not been officially diagnosed w/ SID, but it would help me if a few of you would run over to my blog & read the post from yesterday's visit & tell me what you think....(can't figure out how to link it right here, but the link is in my siggy, too! First link)

Thanks everyone!

(BTW...his bio sister, who we also have, seems to seek out any/all stimuli she can get! So, it looks like we may have them on both ends of the scale!)

[angelkisses0102]

MommytoEli...
DS had a love affair with a bathroom throw rug for awhile...he loved it and would snuggle up with it.

CashCrew~
Oh my is all I can say! My guy is currently perfecting the art of gagging...this is his newest adventure in SPD.

Kimbo~
Can you repost your blog entry here? I would love to read it but all blogs are blocked at work...imagine that?! Like they expect us to actually work at work. LOL!

All~
I can not begin to stress the improtance of getting an OT familiar with sensory issues. The change in DS in the past month is amazing. He is truly a different child. Even his OT is thrilled with his progress. And a plus, even she has noticed that improvement in his speech...and he hasn't even started the private ST yet.

Now next week, he starts a new camp...and he does not transition well at all and gets dysregulated. So per the psychologist's reccommendation...we have been taking him to the new place and on Saturday we go to the actual camp which will be all set up...we will take tons of pictures and review with him all weekend. Fingers crossed that this works again...it worked like a charm when he started his special needs pre-K.

Hang in mommy's!

[mommytoEli]

TO kimbo1:

yeah, i'm going to guess that with what they did say, and what they are having you do, that your child has SID. it is apparently relatively new...so maybe they just didn't title it for you. i'm going to consider you a member....bc you are dealing with all the things we are dealing with! how's that brushing working out for ya???
eli likes it, but it is a pain in the butt sometimes for me

[mommytoEli]

Originally Posted by SKL

Dude, I don't know if I have SPD or not, but that cow trying to lick me all the time freaks me out!! Am I the only one??

lol...yes, if you are trying to avoid the licking cow, you may have some tactile issues j/k