Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional NEEDING to swing or roll or stand on head??

My 6yr old son seems to need to roll on an exercise ball or swing in the special needs swing at the park or stand on his head multiple times a day. When stressed, the drive for these activities becomes stronger. The threat of not being able to do one of these activities sends him into panic mode with intense crying and begging proclaiming he "HAS TOO" do that activity. That he really needs it.

My kid usually is right when he tells me something like that. He says it feels really good and just "helps" him but I can't get more than that from him. Does anyone else have that type of behavior? What is it connected to? Could this be related to the vision issues we are in the process of diagnosing or maybe something else?

The need to do these things seems SO intense for him. I really want to understand.

Read this as my five year old is downstairs on his disc swing.

He has sensory processing issues. One of his big issues being proprioception.

It is a less than twenty dollar set up that gets more use than anything in the house. A $15 swing from Amazon and $5 worth of hardware from Lowes and it is easily the best thing we have ever purchased for him.

My dd who is now 11 was very much like that (sensory-seeking) at around the same age. She went through sensory OT, and a few of the things that helped the most (at the time) were:

* Swinging (on the swingset). Her OT had us purposely send her outside to swing for 20 minutes at a time in the morning and after school.

* Brushing and joint compressions - this is something you shouldn't do without first having someone such as a sensory OT train you in how to do it (to be honest, it's very simple and I'm not sure *why* it wouldn't be ok to do it based on an online description, except that I'm guessing you might be able to pull a joint out of the socket?). Anyway, my dd loved it, and it really *really* helped her relax.

* Making a sandwich. A dd sandwich - not the type of sandwich you eat! DD would roll up in blankets and I'd apply light pressure on top for a few minutes, sorta like a sandwich.

* Pushing a child-sized wheelbarrow (usually with other children in it). She used to do this at preschool for fun - the other kids hated pushing it but dd loved to push the other kids around all day long.

And now that I've told you all those things that worked for dd *at that time* in her life.... we eventually found out dd had severe double vision, and all the odd twists and turns she did, all the needing to be upside down, all the rolling around in very public places where she could totally embarrass her parents... went away after she had vision therapy - so for her, the sensory seeking stuff was definitely tied into her vision challenges. That's not necessarily the case for all kids, but I thought I'd mention it since you mentioned you are looking into vision challenges for your ds.

Also, fwiw, I've known a few other kids who were like this around the same age who didn't have vision issues... and they outgrew a lot of the behaviors by the time they were in 3rd-4th grade. I'm not sure if it was related to maturity or therapy or peer pressure, but something seemed to click in that timeframe.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thank you, Thank you! Thank you for helping me sort through what I am seeing with my little guy. I knew I was missing more here.



This was important to include. I knew when I saw his reaction that this was WAY more than not getting to go to the park. I just couldn't understand why swinging would matter as much as I was seeing. We did go and he only wanted to swing for 20min straight.


I ordered this book in addition to the Out of Sync Child Has Fun, and Emotions to Advocacy. I also showed him some pages on Amazon from Squirmy Wormy: How I learned to Help Myself. He was begging to get the book because he said it was about him and he needed to learn more. We should have all of them tomorrow. He can't wait to read it.

As I read things here and online, I realized I'd already been integrating some tools for this without realizing what "this" is. We have a Train Table that we fill with rice or beans for sensory play. He still loves his sand table outside and he likes to work in the dirt with me in our garden. We have a trampoline in his room for jumping. During a stressful time at school last year we sent "chewy" pendants he would put around his neck or in his pocket as well as a seat cushion for balancing. We have lots of "fidgets" and even a little plastic calming brush.... I've just never put together why it helps.

He is currently taking Swimming, Gymnatistics, and a multi-sport gym class. He also does Running Club once a week and Bowling. We have found that he NEEDS copious amounts of exercise. We also walk a half mile to school every day. BUT the dizziness and nausea have him avoiding his classes more often than not lately. He's also avoiding eating often. He just feels sick much of the time.



We did this last night! Three times actually. Wow the look on his face! Nothing has ever gotten the response I saw of pure relaxation. He's never that still or quiet. Thank you so much for sharing.

I am going to read up on all of this and see what information and impacts we get with vision therapy. It was quite a sight to see him go from hyperactive antagonizing his dad to quiet and relaxed in an instant when I offered the "sandwich" again. He said "This is really therapeutic for me".

I am constantly feeling amazed at how much and how well he has handled challenges in his life... I had no idea how hard it was for him. I'm really grateful that he's starting to be able to share about it and that you all know what he's talking about! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Portia - you might look into getting him a weighted pressure or compression vest. It can give him that same feeling, without needing the blanket or another person.

If he continues to ask for "sandwich" time I will look into the vest or blanket options.I have seen those with other sensory items we have ordered.

It was such a help to have your responses and a night of experience because when I went to volunteer at school the next day I was asked to meet with the school nurse and talk about what they could do to help as his complaints of nausea have landed him in her office several times now. I was so much more knowledgeable about what is going on.

Thank God for all of you here on this forum because I would not have had a clue about Vision Therapy or SPD and would have been left with wondering if my child's symptoms were "real" with nothing to offer him help with his symptoms at school.

In addition, they are beginning to do out of level testing for my son and I was able to email asking that he be given questions one per page or computer screen, plenty of sensory breaks, short testing periods, and oral reading of the questions. He was doing SO much better today and reported having testing on a computer that was "a good level" for him. He also said he was not having vision issues today. (Of course meaning that he was aware of... seems to be back at his normal.) This was big improvement from the day before when he reported the symbols like = and -, x and + morphing into each other and the numbers moving around where he could not do the problems on the sheet of work he was given.

Now if we can just make it through the last 6wks of school and the rest of our vision testing...