Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Experience/advice for sensory seeking and gifted?

My daughter just turned six. She was assessed almost a year ago with an OT as sensory seeking and has been in OT for almost a year. We already knew she was a sensory seeker before this assesment. We've made significant modifications to our life and home over this year and we see a completely different child. She is able to manage her own morning and afternoon routines, she is (mostly) sitting through meals, she will work on workbooks and read to herself for long amounts of time without being prompted. She will sit with me and do activities. I am not seeing a lot of attention issues in any setting which are not overwhelming. She swims 3 days a week, does gymnastics and dance and is attentive and cooperative in all of those. All of her instructors and even the carpool have commented on what a different child she is from a year ago.

BUT (you knew that was coming, right?) at school we aren't seeing the same progress. She goes to a private school with very low ratios, 9:1 in her current class (traditional school.) Her older sister who is both gifted and emotionally intense also goes there and has thrived. But for the younger child, we just keep hearing she is a disruption, cannot focus, cannot sit, etc. We've had the OT, an early education specialist observe, make modificaions, teacher has been overall supportive. But we just don't seem to be making much progress. I have provided a special chair for circle time, school has a special desk (actually made for her) away from the other kids, she has an ipod with headphones with music, chewy necklace and gum available, lists that break down her work, etc etc. But we just keep hearing she is a distraction. She's extremely social which proably is also part of the issue as well as very independent.

We have signed up for testing at the school's urging. I suspect they believe she will get an ADHD diagnosis. But her focus in everything other than school doesn't seem to click for me with that, I'm open to the possibility though. They also believe she is gifted. I agree because her sister is as well, her father and I both are. But even if she does get the ADHD diagnosis and is identified as gifted we still have to work with the sensory issues.

Academically, she is above where she needs to be but clearly not working to her ability in school. At home, the things she is doing eagerly and on her own are far beyond what she does in school.

I work and really don't know that homeschool would be an option for us, although deep down I suspect academically would be the best choice for her. Socially though she LOVES school and functions very well. But I am feeling a little hopeless about whether there is a school environment that she can learn in successfully. We have many good Montissouri schools here. I went to Montissouri myself and can't decide whether the freedom would be better for her or worse. Until this point I've believe the lower ratio would serve her the best but now just don't know.

Anyone have an experience with gifted and sensory seeking? Anyone have school experience/advice? I'm also preparing to cut out dairy and then gluten due to a family history of allergies and because I'm ready to try anything.

I don't know if your dd has ADHD or doesn't - but you've made significant modifications at home - that is perhaps an indication that her challenges are impacting her at home as well as at school.

We have a dd who was extremely sensory-impacted as a young child. We had to tackle things a little bit at a time. She had multiple food allergies, and removing certain foods from her diet absolutely helped with her behaviors. It wasn't as straightforward as removing gluten and dairy - but keeping track of what she ate, simplifying her diet etc really helped us identify what was causing issues with feeling foggy-headed and resulting in some of the challenging behaviors. DD was also extremely sensitive to odors too. Sending dd through a course of listening therapy when she was in kindergarten helped her deal with the distraction of background noises in the classroom, which made a huge difference in her ability to sit still and focus at school and at home when she had homework or was reading. The ultimate thing though - was that through all of this, none of us (parents, teachers etc) realized she had a severe vision challenge (double vision). So ultimately, while all of the other things we did were helpful and important, dd was still facing a big challenge until we caught the vision issue (in 2nd grade) and she went through vision therapy. Vision remains a bit of a challenge today and definitely impacts her ability to focus in the classroom.

I don't know if any of that or all of that applies to your dd, but just wanted to share that it can be a journey. I wouldn't be quick to jump to an ADHD eval without thinking through what else you think might be an issue, but I also wouldn't shy away from an ADHD eval if you feel it will be a thorough eval. Our dd was evaluated for ADHD and although she *looked* like a hyperactive ADHD child to the world and she for sure couldn't sit still at that point in her life, her eval did not show ADHD.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thanks so much for the thoughtful responses.





She has a tendency to roam the classroom, both when she's finished her work and when she hasn't. Often she is trying to help a friend or is generally trying to find out what they are doing if it is different from her. The interfering with them completing their work themselves is probably what we hear about the most. We continue to try things for her (challenge work if she gets done early, masking tape on the floor defining each childs space when they are working, etc.)

Her sensory seeking also means she generally likes to touch people and things, smeel them sometimes. We've worked a lot on asking before she gives hugs and not petting friends, etc. There has been great progress on this in her classroom but when she gets stressed, this is still a comfort mechanism for her. I notice for example when they do little singing concerts she will often stand touching the child next to her or holding their hand, etc. I am not sure she is even aware she is doing it.

And that also is another issue, some poor spatial awareness. She doesn't always know where she is in space (although OT has been helping a lot with this) but at circle time she would end up on someone else, or she would fall out of her chair. But she's made great strides in this area and her how-da-hug chair helps a lot. The teacher commented that she needed one for every kid in the room it works so well.


The fitting in question is a good one and I probably need to think about that more. Thats a great point. All of these modifications could be causing more awareness. She asked after the holiday break to be moved to a table with other kids. They tried it for a few days. Then she said she and her teacher agreed she needed to be moved back to her own space (her teacher emailed us as well). But I do think that probably hurt her feelings a bit as well. She acts like a pretty tough kid, but I suspect underneath she is starting to be more aware of the differences. And I think the toughness is part of her coping mechanism (I have that tendency as well, so I can relate.) That will certainly not get easier as she gets older.

On the vision questions, her handwriting and artwork is very good, her vision has been tested and I don't have any reason to think this is an issue for her, but I have never really thought about it since the vision test. Maybe I need to pay closer attention to that. Auditory processing is also a work in progress. Her hearing levels are normal (and maybe a little over sensitive). But background noise and loud noise are a big problem for her. I now believe that when there is enough background noise she literally cannot hear any instruction bening given. She isn't ignoring it, she just isn't hearing it in the first place. Using touch with instruction and other things have been helping. And with classwork the heaphones have sometimes made a difference, but its a fine line between shutting out the background noise and overwhelming her with the music. We haven't yet tried just white noise, which is something we are going to try. But it just seems like some days some things work and some days they don't. I sure for the teacher this is exhausing and I keep waiting for the phone call that its just too much work.

He anxiety levels seem to be low (I compare this to my other daughter who has higher anxiety). I think all the sports my younger one does (particularly swimming) are great for this. If she's had a rough day I put her in the pool and she comes out a happier kid. But she likes a routine and surprises can be tricky for her and so we're trying to balance trying things in the classroom with not disrupting the routine too much.

I met with the head of the school yesterday and she said she has a perfect placement for first grade in mind for her. But I'm still just wondering if a "normal" classroom is even going to work for her or if we should be trying something much different.


Who performs this kind of therapy? I am going to look into this for sure. And you are right, there are so many varying sensory issues that its a slow process tackling them.

Also, polarbear and Portia, how did you end up diagnosing the vision issues?

Its also helpful to know that the dietary changes may make a difference. Thanks again for all the thoughtful works, this gives me some new things to look into and its helpful just hearing other say that this bumpy journey doesn't have easy answers.