The Next ADHD?

Wow, we've been researching this to try to figure out our younger son, but I didn't know the DSM wasn't acknowledging it yet and insurance wasn't covering it. I know our first appointment with a psychologist is $175.... I also know that if I don't help him when he's 3yo, he's going to be a very unhappy and difficult person later.

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Jill, It's likely your regular pediatrician won't have a clue, anyway. If your state has an early intervention program, and, actually, if your child is 3, you may be able to go through the local school system, you can request services. They have different therapists as well as developmental pediatricians. We are currently going through this with my 3 yr old son.

He is already in the Early Intervention program, and has been since practically birth. I have just recently begun to research sensory disorders, as I have felt for some time that something was just not quite *right*. SPD is rather a broad term that seems to encompass many issues, as I am learning.

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Some years ago an Honours student of mine, Wendy Manning, assessed a group of ADHD diagnosed children for Auditory Processing Difficulties, and found many to have this condition. Auditory Processing Difficulty is a sensory disorder involving the processing of the electrical signals sent by the ear to the brain. They can hear fine but it is as though people are talking to them in a foreign language. They cannot cope with complex verbal instructions and have difficulty remembering verbal instuction. There are a number of interventions that can make life easier for children with these difficulties.
Certainly there are Visual and other sensory processing difficulties also.

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It is important to note that a sensory processing problem may show in hyposensitivity, rather than hypersensitivity. You may have a child who doesn't feel the feather touching his arm at all, or who doesn't like light touch but craves deep, hugging touch.

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Calling it the "next ADHD" somehow makes it sound like you`re not taking it seriously. At least it does to me, maybe because most everyone thinks that ADHD is over diagnosed.

SPD is VERY common in children who were born prematurely or who have had some sort of brain trauma. It`s recognized as a real condition here, and my son went through a battery of tests to determine whether he is suffering from it or not. Luckily he isn`t, but I know quite a few children who are - we know them from my son`s hospital stay.
Several of them are unable to bear even the feeling of food in their mouths, so have a lot of problems eating.

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I should send this article to my staff guy. He is always asking me not to rustle papers or brush over them with my fingers because it drives him crazy. I tell him he has sensory issues but he thinks his reactions are perfectly normal. Hmm . . . .

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Ok so I have a sensory thingy possibly. My family mocks me because I will almost gag thinking about putting certain foods in my mouth. Very few things do I not like the taste, but the texture will completely gross me out. Hmmm

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My son has this and it's pretty frustrating. We recently moved to Texas and the school district doesn't recognize SPD as a disorder so we are left to get the treatment on our own which is fine, but insurance won't cover it also. Our insurance will cover therapy for his fine motor skills delay (which the school system says he doesn't have, but 2 professional evaluations say differently), but we have to pay the $200 an hour therapy bills and he needs 3-5 hours a week of therapy. It's not going to happen. We just can't afford it. It's absolutely not fair that this is not recognized yet because it is very real and very debilitating at times.

Also, as ULY noted, my son is the child who bangs into things hard for the input, he used to ask for us to put ice cubes in his freezing cold bath, he falls and never cries because it doesn't hurt him. He was hiking with my brother in law and husband one day and fell and he smashed his head hard on a rock. He was bleeding, but got right back up and kept walking. My brother in law was shocked and said his kids would have been screaming. I think most kids would have, but to my son (and hundreds of kids like him) it felt just like he bumped into something. It's insane.

The problem is a lot of these kids have meltdowns because they are so over or under stimulated and their brains can't process what's going on and they just lose it. We have had so many family members question our parenting and say we need to spank or be tougher when that isn't the answer. How do you punish a child who is freaking out because the lining in his suit jacket actually is hurting him because it is touching him?

Sorry, I could go on and on. SPD is very real and very unfair. Therapy makes a WORLD of a difference. The problem is most children can't get what they need because the parents can't afford it.

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My son is getting OT for this... it's so good to hear stories of positive experiences with therapy. We do know that he had a stroke at birth, so that's probably helped us to get the attention that he needs. So sorry to hear that other people have had trouble getting the insurance to pay!

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Kellie, how right you are about others questioning your parenting! Like you don't doubt yourself enough when your child is dealing with a sensory disorder, to have those whose support you need questioning you, too.

We are, temporarily, living with my MIL, who is constantly berating me for not disciplining my 3 yr old firmly enough. He is a sensory seeker, in most aspects, so he is constantly running, spinning and seeking out fast movement and loud activities. He also gets overstimulated quickly and melts down, and he is very difficult to calm down in a timely manner.(yeah, so the very things he seeks out, cause screaming fits quickly. Fun!) You cannot just tell him to stop screaming, or redirect him, like a normal 3 yr old.

He is very freaky about clothing, socks and shoes in particular, he won't sleep under a blanket, yet he likes to be cuddled closely, as long as he is not being held down. He also has sleeping problems, possibly caused by not getting enough movement during the day. (even though he is never still)

At the same time, he has a vocabulary and cognitive skills superior to most children his age. His attention span, when aimed at something he is interested in, is hours long.

But I have become the parent that cannot *control* her child. I get the dirty looks from other people. Yet my 5 year old is very well behaved. But unless someone has a child with these issues, they have no clue, they just sit in judgement of my parenting skills.

I have a degree in Early Childhood Education, I have taught and worked with children pretty much my entire life, yet I am at a loss when it comes to my own son.

Like Tamyu said above, this is apparently fairly common among preemies, yet, they don't prepare you for these kinds of things when they discharge you from NICU!

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