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The problem we have found is that not many OT's are Sensory Based OT's. We worked with a private OT for about 2 years and then finally said enough - the last handful of sessions the OT had resorted to physically holding down my then 4 year old in a chair and forced him to complete worksheets to work on fine motor skills with crayons. Yes, he did a handful of sensory things with him but none of the sessions seemed to be catered to his specific needs - it was like a one therapy fits all thing - after we got more educated and more information started to come out about SPD, we quickly left that OT. We have been getting school based OT since he was 3 - so that is going on 3 years for that - but they honestly don't do much of anything in his 30 minute session and are not allowed to focus on his SPD just his handwriting....we have been searching non-stop to find a Sensory based OT or even one who is aware of SPD and there are none in our community - the closest is an hour away and they are not on our insurance plan..so we can't afford the drive over or to be able to pay full price fees...so we are kind of stuck trying to make due the best we can. So it is sad to say that after 3 years we haven't seen much progress. We started when he was 3 and he will be 6 in Jan. I know that if we could find the correct OT we would be golden!

Oh, Belle, I am so sorry to hear that. We've had huge luck with both our private OT and the OT in the public school last year (DS loved the "kid-crusher!"). Wish I could help.

I have some questions regarding SDP and OEs and phobias.

My oldest son has never been Rxed SPD, but has a lot of the traits. I thought that they were just OEs, like sensitivity to sound (ever since he was a baby), sensitivity to some things--some slimey things, but he will help me bake bread now. ... so I don't know. I wish I could think of more SPD examples, but they're failing me now.

He is Mr. OEs... everything is very dramatic with him. But he has this phobia of dummies, mannequins. He begs us to never take him to disneyland, and if he even just sees a picture of the mannequins at the pool, for instance, you know, the cpr mannequins? He looks terrified and begins to cry.

I feel so badly for him.... and don't know what to do. It is really limiting and the anxiety is too much for both of us now.

Does anyone know if any of this stuff is related? Has anyone helped their child with phobias?

Help!

My 10 year old son has all of the overexcitabilities and has some sensory issues and phobias that he did not want to talk to a doctor about and he asked me not to mention it to the doctor because he was embarrassed about them, and having anxiety and a few phobias myself that I was embarrassed to tell anyone about, I kept his secret. But not getting help for my phobias and anxiety in addition to a lack of sleep caused me to have health problems, so it is time to deal with it. I will try to get an appointment as soon as possible for my son and we will talk about it together with the doctor and see what he says about it.

My son, like me, could hide the phobias in public but I am finding that hiding it and not getting help is not healthy.

Our insurance paid for six sessions of occupational therapy which the OT said was really sensory integration therapy but she had to call it something else so our insurance would pay for it. She said she had worked with other "sensory kids who were very bright and she nicknamed my son Mr. Drama. He wants to go back for OT. He recently told me that he felt it helped him and he wanted to know if we could just pay for the therapy ourselves if the insurance wouldnt. There was no way we could afford it last year.

Hi Starman.
My son doesn't have SPD but does have extreme sensitivities and OEs. I'm also an SI trained OT, so I've checked him out every which way back when I was sure there was something "wrong" with him.

Sensory processing, IMO and those of some current theorists in the field, should be looked at as a continuum. EVERYONE processes sensory information and EVERYONE has problem areas in terms of sensory processing. It's more a question of degree and whether the level or sensitivities or poor registration, etc are interferring with other stuff.

My son has a very vivid visual imagination. He is easily frightened, often fearful of new stuff or strange images, has anxiety issues and is generally very sensitive. I think it is all tied in to the giftedness. When a psychologist spoke to us about his anxiety and keeping an eye on it I asked "isn't it all just part of being gifted?" She responded that it may be but that wasn't the point. No matter what causes the anxiety it needs to be addressed if it is causing disruptions in development or daily activities.

So, my suggestion is to focus on the phobias or anxiety or sensory experiences that are most disruptive for him and just find an approach that works to help decrease those issues. For our son, it helped to work with the school social worker about some imagery - he liked using the visual imagery of a blackboard and him erasing the pictures that "haunted" him. He also does well with distraction and sort of replacing the "bad thoughts" as he calls them with happy ones. We also have found that lots of advanced preparation help. Although over time we have discovered what is the "just right" amount of advanced preparation - because too much info too far ahead of the situation can actually INCREASE his anxiety as he obsesses over it!

My opinion, it's typical of kids like ours. It's all part of the package and is worse for some kids. My son is now almost 8 years old and seems to be getting better in all these areas. So I do think that there is some maturation that helps - as that asynchrony evens out.
Hopefully that will be true for your guy, too. But in the meantime I wuold try some different approaches to help ease his stress and just deal with the phobias, regardless of the cause of them.

For my son, the issue comes from having too much knowledge. He understands the risks involved in things like swimming. You can breathe underwater, if you fall you will drown etc. He is like that about everything. He watched other kids go down the slide on the playground for two days before he would try it, weighing the risks. I have talked to him about fear keeping him from amazing opportunities and was informed that he is "not scared, just cautious". He goes through a whole process of observation before trying anything new. ND kids don't stop to consider what might happen, ours do.

My older son has some issues that I would call OEs and some that are SPDs and it's very hard to differentiate at times. I think part of it is that it is a continuum like another poster said. For instance, he has always hated to get anything on his hands. I would consider this an SPD. He hates to clean pumpkins, he hates to have mud on them, he hates anything on his hands and he will wash them off immediately. OTOH, he sometimes is very sensitive to smell, however, most of the time smells don't bother him too much, they flare up more when he's stressed. That seems more like an OE.

The problem is that the mix of these make for a kid who acts SPDish. And the sensory issues do sometimes get in the way of his being able to interact appropriately with other people, at which point he needs SPD therapy whether or not he has SPD, just to learn the coping strategies.

Thank you for your reply. I'm hoping to be able to help him manage the anxiety and phobias. We try to do mental imagery of him erasing the bad images, but he is really terrified by mannequins.
But I think we need to get some help. I'm looking at a local university hospital that has a ped. clinic that deals with anxiety. Hopefully they can help us!

It is good to hear your perspective... OEs are so interesting and mysterious... it is like part of our kids, but something else, too.

I think it would be good to read up on some of the SPD therapy and see if anything works. Because this is my guy, too. I think it is really triggered by nerves and anxiety as you state.

Our son benifited greatly from his work with an OT trained in Sensory Processing. It was private half hours weekly for 6 months, and our insurance paid. At the same time, the school let him work with a small group in the OT/PT room twice a week. We saw a huge leap forward in his ability to try new things that are physical activities. He also was in a 'I know too much' position. For example - he loved jumping into the ball pit, even though previously he seemed very nervous jumping or balancing on even 1 foot high places. He said that it was because he 'KNEW' that the Ball Pit was safe. I think just being in the OT room with all the Mats was a little bit of heaven for him.

In my mind, I imagine that lots and lots of practice is needed for things like handwriting, tummy time, jumping and dating. I've know people who were too 'mentally aware' to allow themselves to do much of these activites and had a difficult time catching up. I also believe that there are other things, like shoe tying, and multiplications facts that aren't harmed by a child waiting until they are ready. The kids just learns quickly when they get motivated.

Any researchers out there looking for a project? I'd love to see if this is actually true, so I could advise people to worry less about the later, and more about the former.

Love and More Love,
Grinity