My ds6 with the most issues of my three older kids (he also has a twin brother, who was/is bigger and had far fewer issues), was a small for gestational age premie (3 lbs 13 oz at 33 weeks). He's gotten through a lot of stuff, and OT for SPD seemed to really help (wondering if we should go back for a booster - now he's petrified of bugs in his bed?). He's quite a late bloomer. But for now I'm pleased with his recent progress. I'm sure some of what he's endured is related to prematurity, but I can't say that it all is. (ugh, my one totally "normal" child, almost 3, is starting to have his moments - crowded room, certain kinds of noise, very particular about the order of things, etc.; *sigh* LOL. he was full term and about double the birthweight of ds6.) ds6's twin brother was more than a pound heavier and while he had a speech delay also, he never had any sensory issues that were significant enough for me to bother paying for OT. Sometimes I regret that a little bit, but the OT we did was pretty expensive.
I have also heard that kids who have been through surgery as infants can be affected in a similar way. DS6 had a kidney surgery at 8 months, but I remember my friend saying something about SPD in her dd who had heart surgery at maybe 4 months (she was also IUGR though so who knows) - she kinda blamed the surgery.
I don't think I know anyone with micropremies (is that term applicable) well enough to know whether they are dealing with SPD now. (sorry, I tend to use SPD and OE interchangably)
Maybe it's kinda like Silverman hypothesizes a bit about in Upside Down Brilliance - some sort of insult or injury to the later developing parts of the brain (usually the left brain) result in VSLs with left-brain weaknesses. So many different things can cause this - I've seen something as simple as pitocin fingered by both Silverman about VSLs and also by Dr. Miller in her book about SPD, "Sensational Kids" (query: to what extent is SPD occuring in VSLs vs. auditory-sequential learners?). But I asked Dr. Miller and she agreed that anything causing growth problems late in pregnancy would go under a theory similar to their pit theory - that somehow oxygen is compromised (in my case I have a clotting issue, for example). It would seem that premies in general would have an issue with growth in the left brain, but then wouldn't they all, to the extent of their prematurity? Or maybe only those with some sort of minor brain bleeds? Just wondering out loud. (clearly preggo brain has gotten to me once again
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FWIW, on adhd, for a while I wondered whether ds6 possibly had it, but now I think not.
