Traffic Jam

Our physical senses are intended to assist us. Deficiencies in these areas encourage a variety of visible behavioral difficulties. Identifying these distinctions early allows the necessary actions to be implemented. Sensory issues may be altered with treatment. The capacity to understand the world would become less complicated for those affected. Realistic encounters within their environments would become more productive and less confusing.

People always ask me, "What is Sensory Processing Disorder?"

Honestly, I don't really know, not the full spectrum of the disorder anyways. I mean I have read so much about it, but there are still so many questions left unanswered. I guess the best explanation I have found is "A traffic jam of information in your brain."

This disorder is child specific. Meaning that no two children with this disorder are exactly alike. They don't react the same to situations and in fact can react the exact opposite to another child. SPD/SID is usually accompanied by another disorder or several. Like, ADHD and Autism.

Here is some helpful information I have found.

Information found at The SPD Foundation

Most children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) are just as intelligent as their peers. Many are intellectually gifted. Their brains are simply wired differently. They need to be taught in ways that are adapted to how they process information, and they need leisure activities that suit their own sensory processing needs.

Research by the SPD Foundation indicates that 1 in every 20 children experiences symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder that are significant enough to affect their ability to participate fully in everyday life. Symptoms of SPD, like those of most disorders, occur within a broad spectrum of severity. While most of us have occasional difficulties processing sensory information, for children and adults with SPD, these difficulties are chronic, and they disrupt everyday life.

"Is it something I did?" parents want to know.

The causes of SPD are among the subjects that researchers at SPD Foundation and their collaborators elsewhere have been studying. Preliminary research suggests that SPD is often inherited. If so, the causes of SPD are coded into the child's genetic material. Prenatal and birth complications have also been implicated, and environmental factors may be involved. Of course,as with any developmental and/or behavioral disorder, the causes of SPD are likely to be the result of factors that are both genetic and environmental. Only with more research will it be possible to identify the role of each.

Signs of SPD/SID

Information found at Sensory Processing Disorder

Signs Of Tactile Dysfunction:

Hypersensitive:

Refuses or resists messy play, resists cuddling and light touch, dislikes kisses, rough clothes or seams in socks, resists baths, showers, or going to the beach.

Hyposensitive:

Doesn't realize hands or face are dirty, touches everything and anything constantly, may be self-abusive, plays rough with peers, doesn't seem to feel pain (may even enjoy it!)


Signs Of Vestibular Dysfunction:

Hypersensitive:

Avoids playground and moving equipment, fearful of heights, dislikes being tipped upside down, often afraid of falling, walking on uneven surfaces, and avoids rapid, sudden or rotating movements.

Hyposensitive:

Craves any possible movement experience, especially fast or spinning, never seems to sit still, is a thrill seeker, shakes leg while sitting, loves being tossed in the air, never seems to get dizzy, full of excessive energy.


Signs Of Proprioceptive Dysfunction:

Under-responsive:

Constantly jumping, crashing, and stomping, loves to be squished and bear hugs, prefers tight clothing, loves rough-housing, and may be aggressive with other children.

Over-responsive:

Difficulty understanding where body is in relation to other objects, appears clumsy, bumps into things often, moves in a stiff and/or uncoordinated way.

Difficulty Regulating Input:

Doesn't know how hard to push on an object, misjudges the weight of an object, breaks objects often and rips paper when erasing pencil marks.

Signs Of Auditory Dysfunction:

Hypersensitive:

Covers ears and startled by loud sounds, distracted by sounds not noticed by others, fearful of toilets flushing, hairdryers and/or vacuums, resists going to loud public places (even cafeteria at school).

Hyposensitive:

May not respond to verbal cues, loves loud music and making noise, may appear confused about where a sound is coming from, may say "what?" frequently.


Signs Of Oral Dysfunction:

Hypersensitive:

Picky eater with extreme food preferences and limited repertoire, may gag on textured food, difficulty with sucking, chewing, and swallowing, extremely fearful of the dentist, dislikes toothpaste and brushing teeth.

Hyposensitive:

May lick, taste or chew on inedible objects, loves intensely flavored foods, may drool excessively, frequently chews on pens, pencils, or shirt.


Signs Of Olfactory Dysfunction:

Hypersensitive:

Bothered or nauseated by cooking, bathroom and/or perfume smells, may refuse to go places because of the way it smells, chooses foods based on smell, notices smells not normally noticed by others.

Hyposensitive:

May not notice unpleasant or noxious odors, smells everything when first introduced to it, may not be able to identify smells from scratch 'n sniff stickers.


Signs Of Visual Dysfunction:

Hypersensitive:

Irritated by sunlight or bright lights, easily distracted by visual stimuli, avoids eye contact, may become over aroused in brightly colored rooms.

Hyposensitive:

Difficulty controlling eye movements and tracking objects, mixes up similar letters, focuses on little details in a picture and misses the whole, looses his place frequently when reading or copying from the blackboard.

Click here for a SPD check list.

I hope this information is helpful to you! It is so hard to understand SPD. Things that seem ok with your child one day traumatize them the next.