After I picked him up from school, he made himself so upset because of the different transition he was crying so hard he could not get words (or even a head nod out), crying so hard he was turning blue, crying so hard my boy could hardly breath, crying so hard he puked on himself. Which turned into him crying so hard he was shaking all because of the puke touching his skin.
Let me back up a little to what also happened at school -- it was a little boys birthday and his family came in and threw a little party for him. Zach is not able to eat but they brought in treats (this is fine as Zach knows food is not safe) BUT it wasn't the food as much as the people he didn't know. He asked his teacher if he could go to a different area -- she of course said yes and he went to (what I'm thinking, he's thinking) his quiet spot and started looking at a book but it seems that wasn't going to cut it and he ended up laying down and covering his face with the book. When I told his OT about this she couldn't have been more pleased --- as this is the FIRST time we've seen Zach calm himself instead of shutting down. He was able to know what he needed and figured it out before he couldn't talk -------- Progress is a GREAT thing!!!!!!
Three different issues in one day (and this wasn't all that happened today) reasons to be upset and a child who can not tell you why because they were in a sensory overload is not easy to deal with. Thankfully one issue he was still at a verbal state!
For Zach, what is starting to change with him is that his SPD is not getting much better, in fact I'm seeing days where it seems much, much worse....Today was one of those days!
Ironically at therapy his OT had printed out (before we even got there) the updated information about SPD..... I thought I'd type it up here so you can have a sense of what life is like with SPD -- a day in the life of Zach.........
SPD is now broken into 3 categories (SMD, SBMD, & SDD) of which Zach has 2 (SMD, SBMD).
First is SMD: Sensory Modulation Disorder: Child may "over" or "under" respond to normal sensory events, and/or "seek" or "crave" sensory activities ----- this is then broken down even more into 3 parts of which Zach has 2 ---- he has Sensory Over-responsiveness and he is Sensory Seeking
SMD
Over-responsiveness
- Also referred to as "hyperresponsiveness" or "sensory defensiveness"
- Child may respond more then expected, have a quicker response, or a longer response to a normal sensory stimulus
- May appear to "avoid" certain sensory activities more then a child with normal sensory responivity.
Sensory Seeking
- Child may be constantly "seeking" or "craving" sensory activities or stimulation
- May appear more active then other children or be referred to as "daredevils" or "troublemakers"
- May have difficulty attending to tasks that are not "physically" active (i.e. schoolwork, movies, church)
The next type of SPD that Zachary has is called SBMD: Sensory Based Motor Disorder: Child has difficulties succeeding in daily activities due to underlying vestibular (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system) and/or proprioceptive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception) issues. This is then broken into 2 more categories of which Zach exhibits both. Zach also has both vestibular and proprioception issues.
SBMD
Dyspraxia
- Difficulty with motor planning that is not related or explained by any other medical diagnosis or developmentally disability.
- May appear with gross-motor, fine-motor, oral-motor activities, or a combination of any three areas
- Child may appear "awkward" or "clumsy"
Postural Disorder
- Difficulty with activities that require a significant amount of postural stability and control
- May have trouble writing, kicking a stationary ball, or feeding at the dinner table.
- May appear "lazy" or "weak"
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