This post details about our son's SPD diagnosis and beginning of our newest journey. Please check out past blog posts to read about his previous surgeries and everything leading up to them.
When I went back to work after summer in 2014, I could not find a daycare that would accept my son with specialized feeding needs. After looking at several different ones, I just decided that I do not want him to be going to a daycare when his needs were so high, especially during his many surgeries and recoveries. He stayed with my parents during the work day until he turned 2. Once he was healed from his surgery in 2015, he started preschool at a local church. This was the best daycare to get into and there was a waiting list typically. I was lucky enough to get him into the daycare on registration day. I was one of the first ones in line to ensure he got a spot.
Of course I was very nervous because this was his first experience with someone other than family. I expected there to be some bumps as he adjusted to the change. I had no idea what would follow. This is the first time that we suspected something was going on with our son. For the first semester, I continually had notices in the sign out book. He hit this child, he pushed someone, he refused to stay in his marked off play area for centers, he could not sit for circle time, he was loud inside the building, and he could not walk in line.....the list of things that they told me about was endless. One of the biggest issues was that he refused to take a nap. He could not settle down for nap time to sit down. He would run around the room and yell. The other children could not sleep. He usually went to the director's office. He would not be able to keep his hands to himself and would mess with everything on her desk. He would not sit down and could not listen to her directions to do so. Now that I look back, I see all of these items leading to hyperactivity and impulsivity.
My husband and I tried everything that we could think of to keep his behavior in check at school. He was two so we had to make sure that it was age appropriate. I asked countless other moms and read article after article and researched what to do for hours. Nothing helped these situations. I asked the teachers what was going on when these incidents occurred. Besides not being able to calm down, they could not tell me what was happening before the incidents or what could have triggered them. Most people just said he was a boy and was working to adjust to his new school. I was doubtful of this, but I was running out of ideas. It got to the point of dreading signing him out because I knew I would be talked to at pick up or have a notice to sign. I loved my son and wanted to pick him up for sure. I just hated the act of signing him out.
I spoke to a few other parents that had their child attend the same school and one had the same issues with the school. She said that it had to be the unrealistic expectations for two year olds. I was skeptical. Maybe our kids wee just really similar? So many other parents had such a good experience with the school. Why couldn't we?
I noticed that he was tripping and falling a lot at the school. They sent notices home about that too. Usually when a child would get hurt they would send an incident report home. This is normal practice.
It got to the point of his speech therapist suggesting that we have an occupational therapist come in and do a behavior evaluation. They found he was in normal ranges and I did not hear about it any further. This was just one more dead end in my eyes. This was something else that did not tell us anything or work.
At the final speech meeting with the early intervention speech therapist, I shared my concerns with her. I was usually not able to chat with her one on one because she came to his school for his therapy. She told me what she was seeing in class and then mentioned that the behavior observation showed that he was baseline sensory processing disorder and that could be a possible explanation.
As soon as she left, I started doing research. This all made sense! This could be the answer! I spoke with some friends at my school and his future teacher for the following year. We decided to have him tested for sensory processing disorder at the beginning of the year. We wanted to ensure that if he needed interventions, that he would get them right away. Why make him wait any longer.
That school year he was in the integrated VPK classroom. This was a class of general education students that were 4 or 5 and then a small group of students that had special needs that did not prevent them from being in a general education classroom. Those students cold be 3-5 years old. My son was a very young 3 year old. I absolutely adore the teachers that were in this classroom and knew he was in good hands with them. They were incredible teachers that could help those children who were a little more challenging. They both noted that he had the same struggles. He could not sit for circle, he struggled with transitions, he could not rest for nap, he was being impulsive when it came to keeping his hands to himself. He did not hurt anyone- he just liked to hug people and did not know what personal space was. Occasionally he would use his hands to solve his problems, but he was never malicious.
He was evaluated for Sensory Processing Disorder and it was established that he did indeed have it and also had fine motor delays. They recommended he go to Occupational Therapy twice a week to work on sensory integration, strategies, and to work on his fine motor skills.
Finally!! We had an answer to what was going on! We could work on helping him be successful in school. We could work to improve his focus and his hyperactivity. Around this time his teacher met with me to chat one on one. She is a friend and coworker of mine and she wanted to be very open and honest with me. She stated that he was still struggling in class and that he needed to be in a class with a group of students that were around his age and level. The group of students in the class were mostly 4-5 and he was on a completely different level than them. She stated that the ESE VPK class had an opening and that it would help him to be in that class to help him with strategies to focus and to work on his sensory needs. The teacher could focus on getting him on track to being in the integrated class in the following year. She did the same curriculum, but modified it according to her students' needs. I agreed and we moved him right after the Thanksgiving Break- which was three weeks later. The rest of the year was incredible. Since he was with others his age and he was learning all of these new strategies, he was very successful. We were so excited for the following year!
That year we discovered that he was sensitive to lights and loud noises. Sunglasses and headphones were great solutions. He also needed deep pressure and weight on his lap to help him to calm down. Swinging also helped him quite a bit. He needed to crash, spin, and run. I noticed that when he was overwhelmed, he would start spinning. He would tilt his head to the side and then spin. The more overstimulated he was, the faster he spun. I took note that this is when his hyperactivity and impulsivity was at its worst. Throughout the year, I just continued to find connections to his quirks. What were the causes? What was the situation? Did this happen each time he was in this situation? This is what helped me find what worked for him and how to avoid those situations in the future. For those with children with SPD, this is the most important thing to do for your child.
Our next post will be all about Sensory Processing Disorder!
Comments