Learning about Sensory Processing Disorder – Our Journey

Have you ever struggled with the thought that something was a little different about your child, but you didn’t quite know what it was? Have you told the “experts” that you needed help figuring it out, but they didn’t really have answers? If so, you aren’t alone. I felt that way for many years, but once we figured it out, it has made a huge difference. After it was so difficult for me to determine, I want to raise awareness. I had never heard of Sensory Processing Disorder before this journey. I don’t want others to experience the same struggle. In this article, I’m going to take you on our journey learning about Sensory Processing Disorder.

From the time he was 2, one of our kids behaved slightly different than from other kids. There were little flags here and there that seemed off. However, nothing was drastic enough for anyone else to see what was going on. Many people just told me that he was an average boy. A few people said that he had ADHD. The challenging thing was that he was one of the most quiet, well behaved children in his preschool class.

“It’s a parenting issue,” said the pediatrician.

At one pediatrician visit, I mentioned the challenges I was having with some behavior. He told me that it was bad parenting and I needed to become better at disciplining him. Ouch! That didn’t make me feel good. I wrestled with that, though, especially since my other children didn’t show any of the same “flags” that I was seeing with him. My husband and I had already read many of the parenting books. We had been trying all the different “methods” and nothing seemed to make any changes. I tried some more, but things didn’t improve.

That Christmas, family was asking a bunch of questions about his speech. I also had watched a show with a child who had autism. Many of the struggles in that show seemed to be similar to things I was dealing with at home, however the show was slightly exaggerated compared to my situation. At the following pediatrician visit, I mentioned the other challenges again, and added the speech thing. I asked how I would go about getting him tested for speech and for autism. He referred me to a Pediatric Occupational Therapist.

At that visit, he was super calm and tested wonderfully. I found out that kids usually don’t say their “L”s and “R”s until they are about 7. Since those were the only things he was struggling with for speech, they said to hold off and come back at 7, if there were no improvements. They said he didn’t show any signs of autism, so they sent me on my way.

The Beginning of Learning about Sensory Processing Disorder

Over the course of a couple years, I continued to seek answers. I would read things, and talk to people, and keep my radar up. I’d hear the words Sensory Processing, but nothing much more about it, so didn’t know to look into it. One day, a massage therapist started telling me about her son’s Sensory Processing Disorder. I stopped her and said, “Now, I’ve started to hear this phrase a number of times lately, but I don’t know what it is. Will you tell me more about it?” At this point, I’ve learned that if I’m hearing something similar from a number of different sources, there’s a message for me in it.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

– Matthew 7:7

That moment began my journey of learning about Sensory Processing Disorder. She told me that it’s a situation where the nervous system gets overloaded by all the messages coming at it. The brain gets so overwhelmed with all the messages that it can’t filter out things it doesn’t need to think about, and it creates a sort of traffic jam within the nervous system. She started telling me about how her son needed to be wrapped up in a blanket really tight to help calm his system. She told me about “brushing” and all sorts of other situations with her son. Then she recommended a book called, “The Out-of-Sync Child.”

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This Is It!!

Once I got “The Out-of-Sync Child”, I knew this was a huge key in what I had been trying to figure out. While I was still on Chapter 1, I ran into the room my husband was in and was so excited to tell him what was in the book. It described our situation exactly. I was so excited to have answers! Unfortunately, Sensory Processing Disorder can vary so much from child to child, it was still overwhelming to figure out.

Right around the same time, we had another pediatrician visit. When the pediatrician asked about behavior for all the kids, I commented that the situation was the same with that child, but everyone else seemed to be doing well. We talked about a few things, and I mentioned that I’d been learning about Sensory Processing Disorder. I asked how I would look into that more. He drew blood to make sure that he didn’t have some sort of underlying physical challenge. All tests came back normal, and he referred me back to the same Occupational Therapist office as before, only this time it was to test for Sensory Processing Disorder.

Unexpected Testing Blessing

When we went in for the Sensory Processing testing, I had to bring another child with us to the appointment, due to a schedule challenge. That ended up being a blessing in disguise. The kids played in the gym, while I spoke with the therapist about all the symptoms I’d seen. Because I had begun the book, I knew which little oddities were important to list. Previously, I’d have only thought of a few at a time, but that book equipped me with a much more complete list. Also, during the course of play, the therapist was able to see the challenges for herself.

The therapist told me that with just a normal testing session, his symptoms were only borderline, and probably wouldn’t have qualified for any kinds of therapies in the school or other places. However, because of how she saw him get hyped up on the equipment with his brother and some of the other things she noticed during that play session, she signed him up for 90 days with a re-evaluation at that point.

I honestly didn’t make it all the way through the book. It is a textbook type of book. Nonetheless, it was a great resource to be reading at the same time he was in OT. I’d read something in the book and ask her about it. She would then be able to help guide me in finding the right tools to put in our toolbox. It seemed like no matter how much I was learning about Sensory Processing Disorder, there was always so much more to discover.

Transforming our Family

I can’t remember if we did 2 or 3 stints in OT. Still, it was transformational for him and for our family. I had learned that a lot of his struggles with school came from the fact that b, d, p, and q all looked exactly the same to him. His brain would flip letters and numbers, and that would make any schoolwork challenging. It made him feel “stupid” even though I was careful to never communicate a message that he wasn’t where he should be with school. He sensed it on his own, by seeing what his peers were doing and extended family was doing. That all played into an inner critic that would make things worse.

During his time in OT, he went from being a reluctant, late reader to reading at his reading level. He went from being unable to copy a drawing in class without a meltdown due to complete frustration, to being one of the best in his class during that year. He learned to control his body and not get overly rambunctious, and he was able to wear more clothing, eat more foods, write meticulously, do puzzles, and get dizzy. School became easier, his behavior improved, and he was happier and more confident. Not fighting with him constantly about schoolwork and his behavior, made our house, and me, much more peaceful.

Advocating for Our Kids

As the parents of our children, we see things that others may not see. We need to be the advocate for our kids. If they are really struggling with something, we need to help them to discover what is causing the challenges. As I’m writing this now, I’m being reminded that kids typically don’t purposefully misbehave. Usually if you are having a power struggle, it’s because they are having a challenge that they don’t know how to communicate. It’s our job as parents to be a detective. We need to uncover what that challenge is, so they can become the best them they were created to be.

It’s an Ongoing Process

For my son, Sensory Processing Disorder is an ongoing process that he will have to continually overcome. We still have our struggles from time to time. We often need to remember to go back to the tools in our toolbox and figure out what we need to do to make it easier again. I continue to seek more tools to add to our toolbox all the time. If we stay on top of things, it’s easier. When we slack, things are harder for him than other kids his age. Unfortunately, there’s always more to learn about it.

If you want to know more about Sensory Processing Disorder, I highly recommend checking out Alisha Grogan’s blog at www.yourkidstable.com. (I do not know Alisha – outside of being on her email list and reading her blog – and she is not compensating me in any way for recommending her site.) Since this journey began, I’ve discovered that many of my kids have challenges in this area. Her blog has helped me continue to learn. She has helped us with many things from brushing teeth to overcoming extremely picky eating.

“For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him.”

– 1 Chronicles 28:9

If you continue to seek God through your struggles, he will help you find solutions. Sometimes they are not obvious, which is why we have to be seeking and searching for Him at all times, in all things. Today, for me, it was a conversation with a friend who reminded me that our obedience in God will restore peace. By trusting Him and praying for wisdom, I was reminded that we have been through this place before and have the tools to overcome again.

I hope my journey in learning about Sensory Processing Disorder helped you in some way. I’d love to hear from you if it did.