[GCS]

I missed this thread as it came around earlier in the year.

age of child at homecoming: 3 years 2 months
if adopted, country of birth: Russia
first signs of a problem: immediate!
age at dx: 5 years
type of SI issues: sensory seeking
how does it present itself in your child: high energy, easily distractable, looking for sensory imput always. Oral - biting nails to the quick (he even bit his toenails those first months home!)
how long ago was it dx: 1.6 years
what has been the biggest resource for you: our wonderful OT! Our speech therapist. Gymnastics. For me the book The Sensory Sensitive Child by Karen Smith was the best. I shop at wttp://www.therapyshoppe.com.
what has helped the most: I very much recommend the weighted vest. Gymnastics (a great outlet for sensory seeking kids! I can't recommend it enough! Also it helps them to learn to do things correctly so they lessen their chance of hurting themself!)

DS graduated out of OT and speech therapy this summer. He's doing very well and we are monitoring him right now with the big transition to full day school when he starts 1st grade tomorrow! He sees his OT once every 2 months only for evaluation. We are not doing a sensory diet at home anymore but brushing was successful for us.

[carolun]

I have an 18 month old brought home 3 months ago. In that time we have made tremendous progress in a lot of areas. His health has improved 100%, he was diagnosed failure to thrive. He has gained 3 1/2 pounds and has mastered crawling and just last week walking everywhere. He is very social and loving, makes great eye contact but diffantely prefers mom and dad. However the boy is absolutely obsessed with lamp shades. He has to touch them. Not just once but constantly. We finally removed them from the living room after 9/10 weeks because he figured out how to pull them. Also he throws everything, food/toys/bottle ect. And he is a banger everything is used as a hammer usually on the window or tv. I have seen so much improvement in him since he came home but not in the area of play. We have already contact EI and have had Speech and PT evual he will qualify for Speech but I want an OT evual any thoughts?

[angelkisses0102]

A bit of a good news/bad news post for us...

UGH! DS's OT is leaving the group as of Friday! I am so bummed as she has been so, so good with DS...and DS loves her. He has come so far these past few months...hopefully once they get the new OT hired (long story as the group is being bought out by a huge group) in the next few weeks...he will not miss more than a month a OT. GRRR! One part of the good news is the OT is going to be working for our school district, not DS's school...but that should help us ensure that DS gets OT added to his IEP along with the ST he currently gets.

The good news however is, we start weekly feeding therapy at 7:30 am (oh my) on Monday the 8th...woo-hoo! We have been waiting since May to get in with this specific speech/feeding therapist. We will be taking breakfst with us...so it's not too bad and he will only miss about 20 minutes of school.

Carolun~
It won't hurt to get the evaluation...just make certain the OT who evaluates your DS is familiar with sensory issues!

Good luck to everyone in this club...

[kirbystarcat]

Umm can I please revive this thread and get some advice?

I think we may be joining the club. I have no idea how I missed this in my child! Some of the posters on this thread are very good friends of mine and I have heard you talk many times about these issues and your children! I feel like a complete idiot! I am emailing you as soon as I get done posting here!

Here's some basic background on my kiddo:
Just turned 4
Came home at 19 mo.
Had EI for speech
Stated preschool last year and was youngest in her class by several months
Is in preschool this year in a class with most children very close in age to her
Has hard a hard time functioning appropriately in almost every organized activity (dance, gymnastics) she has ever been in (all over the place, won't pay attention, won't do anything or wants to do everything she shouldn't be doing)
Very physical with her brother and our cats---will not leave them alone ever
Things that bother others don't phase her (ie a boy at school dumped her juice all over her snack being mean and she just kept on eating unphased, has to be really sick or really hurt before she ever complains)

Ugh, for so long I thought it was the speech delay or adjusting to brother. Or being used to fending for herself more than other toddlers.Then I started spending more time in her new preschool class:

DD cannot keep her hands to herself
Cannot sit still (except if she is reading by herself)
Must touch everything all the time
Does not play with the other children or does not play well with the other children (big time toy taker)
Wants to play with playdough, sand table, dirt, woodchips, or cut paper the entire time

Teacher is great and seems very tuned into it and constructive. She gives her a piece of fleece to occupy her fidgety fingers during circle time to help keep her focused and not touching her neighbors hair, clothes, etc. Teacher describes her as "extremely tactile." We have a conference next week, and she is getting a full developmental assessment and trip to the local IA clinic the week after.

Please tell me what kind of things I should be asking! I feel so lost and so dumb that I have let this go on so long!

[mommytoEli]

welcome! i know it is not a club you'd like to join. lol. sorry about that part. but just know that if your child does have sensory issues. you are not alone. i give an a+ to the techer for giving your child the felt. that was smart.

on the very first post there is a link to a thread started by mindy with many of the signs/symptoms. that is a great place to start. it might give you some ideas of questions you can ask the teacher about behavior in class that you may not see. let us know how the eval goes.

[DeeVee]

Originally Posted by kirbystarcat

Has hard a hard time functioning appropriately in almost every organized activity (dance, gymnastics) she has ever been in (all over the place, won't pay attention, won't do anything or wants to do everything she shouldn't be doing)
Very physical with her brother and our cats---will not leave them alone ever
Things that bother others don't phase her (ie a boy at school dumped her juice all over her snack being mean and she just kept on eating unphased, has to be really sick or really hurt before she ever complains)
DD cannot keep her hands to herself
Cannot sit still (except if she is reading by herself)
Must touch everything all the time
Does not play with the other children or does not play well with the other children (big time toy taker)

You could be describing my son Jesse. Don't be alarmed, but to be on the safe side you may want to talk to your pediatrician about getting her evaluated for an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sensory issues and autism spectrum can overlap, and of course she may not be on the spectrum at all. But it cannot hurt to find out. The things that are jumping out at me on your list are 1. that she does not act appropriately in an organized activity -- all over the place. (There is a certain amount of that with any pre-schooler, but it shouldn't be all the time). And 2. that she does not play with other children.

Prayers are wih you!

[kirbystarcat]

That has crossed my mind, Dee. I'm going to see where our IA doctor wants to go with it. I have a lot of trust in her.

[DeeVee]

Originally Posted by kirbystarcat

That has crossed my mind, Dee. I'm going to see where our IA doctor wants to go with it. I have a lot of trust in her.

I'll be praying for you. Feel free to PM me or e-mail me if you have questions. If your doctor does suggest evals, be forewarned that depending on where you live, the waiting lists could be long. But there is still a lot of help available for your daughter, regardless of whether or not she has a specific dx. And as you can see from this thread, you are not alone.

[BeverlyZ]

Originally Posted by mommytoEli

ok..how do you do this....i know it is in baby formula.lol....but that is it.


adding DHA/Omega 3 to his diet

We give our son fish at least once a week. Canned tuna (avoid albacore) is the easiest, but you have to minimize this for the mercury intake.

My son is sooo active and sensory-seeking, but he hasn't received a diagnosis of SID/SPD. At 30 months old, his pediatrician suggested that we get him evaluated by EI. EI finally evaluated him earlier this week (33 months old), and we learned that we don't qualify. They explained that his sensory issues are not impacting his development significantly, although he is delayed 5 months with fine motor skills.

We adopted him at 9.5 months old from Guatemala, he's been home for exactly 2 years.

[Gabri]

Wow--I don't know how I missed this thread, but we are definitely in the club! Interesting... we thought we were rare in the Guatemalan adoptive world!

age of child at homecoming: 10 months
if adopted, country of birth: Guatemala
first signs of a problem: in the hotel room (he couldn't hold up his head), but we didn't know it was sensory until...
age at dx: 4
type of SI issues: oral, tactile, vestibular
how does it present itself in your child: gross motor delays, drooling and aversion to touch... also, potty training took forever because he didn't like the sounds (?). Once he learned to cover his ears in the bathroom, he was fine.
what treatments are you doing: massage (deep tissue and face), brushing... the vestibular doesn't seem to interfere with daily life so much anymore. He is getting some help at school. For example, he can't pay attention in a busy room, but he has a great attention span if he's sitting at the teacher's feet or at his desk.
what has been the biggest resource for you: Therapist/OT team--they help us figure out what's sensory, what's attachment, what's, well, what's what.
what has helped the most: brushing (need to note that we tried the diet and it didn't help at all in our child, but then he has other issues complicating things as well...)
what piece of advice would you pass on to other parents with SI kids? We just learned that many movies have 'sensory spec.' showings--they turn the sound down and leave the lights on! I wish I had known this a year ago! It's a little distracting for the adults (because the kids are making noise and running around), but it's so much better for my son, and we feel like we can go with our whole family (oldest has vocal tics and youngest is only 3) without disturbing anyone. Also, let your child lead. If they don't like something in therapy, don't push it. It took my child weeks of massage to be ready for brushing. We didn't know but at first the gentle brushing was actually painful for him.

On that note, the worst was that every time I touched him gently (like to take his hand in a store or lead him somewhere with a hand on his back) it was painful and he'd start yelling "stop hitting me!" Always nice in Target.... the alternative was to use more force (which looks worse to bystanders but felt comfortable to my child).

[mommytoEli]

we do supplements now, along with walnuts and flaxseed mostly.

you sound like us. after eli had been home 2 years (came home at 10 months exactly) and was about 3 we had him eval'd. eventhough he was delayed in areas, he wasn't delayed enough in each area to receive services. now that he is almost 4 he is still a toe walker, still freaks about textures and sounds, and now he is reading. he taught himself. so now i have a kid who is academically ready for kindergarten 2 years early, but not ready socially bc of the sensory issues. so i guess his issues didn't impact his academics. but i am still as a loss as to what to do with him.

Originally Posted by BeverlyZ

We give our son fish at least once a week. Canned tuna (avoid albacore) is the easiest, but you have to minimize this for the mercury intake.

My son is sooo active and sensory-seeking, but he hasn't received a diagnosis of SID/SPD. At 30 months old, his pediatrician suggested that we get him evaluated by EI. EI finally evaluated him earlier this week (33 months old), and we learned that we don't qualify. They explained that his sensory issues are not impacting his development significantly, although he is delayed 5 months with fine motor skills.

We adopted him at 9.5 months old from Guatemala, he's been home for exactly 2 years.

[mommytoEli]

We just learned that many movies have 'sensory spec.' showings--they turn the sound down and leave the lights on! I wish I had known this a year ago!

omg! i have never heard of this. eli needs this. when we go to the movies he spends the whole time with his hands over his ears and tries to bury his head in my lap or shoulder to block out the sound completely on one side. he HATES movies.

[mommytoEli]

Autism Society of America: Sensory Friendly Films

i just found this for anyone who is interested in sensory friendly showings of movies.

[Gabri]

Thanks for the link! We just stumbled on it by accident when seeing a film recently. I kept thinking "when are they going to turn the lights off?" Once I figured it out (and that it was a regular thing for children's movies), I was very excited!

[blessedbytwo]

Please add my kiddos to the list.

Toe Walking, getting dressed and undressed, the wind blowing on his face, potty training.

My daughter is very, very active and sensory-seeking, toe walking, very emotional and can be socially akward.

It has been a long journey with many emotions and lots of worry. A lot of our family and friends have never understood but we are so proud of our kiddos and how far they have came.