SPD in older grades

[Anonymous]

It seems like there are lots of parents with young children (early primary years) who have Sensory Processing Disorder or Regulatory Disorder or general "sensory issues." And the main thing they have in common is that all the children are pretty young, 8 years at the most. My question is, where are the older kids? Is everyone getting treated successfully so that it's under control by 9 or 10 years old? How come I only hear about this with young children? I guess that's probably a hopeful sign, but I just don't know. Any parents of older SPD kids out there? What's going on?

[Anonymous]

From my experience, it seems like as time goes by, teachers, doctors are getting better at recognizing SPD for what they are and what they are not (like ADHD). My OT said my son who is 4 is one of her younger clients but she sees younger kids every year since the general public seems to be better educated about SPD than they were a few yrs ago. She also treats school aged kids who had many wrong diagnoses when they were younger. She loves the little ones b/c they really respond to treatment quickly and they don't have as much emotional baggage as the older kids (I am worthless, stupid, I can't do anything right, etc). My son's ped said "He will grow out of it" and I took my concerns elsewhere (to an OT). So my thinking is that many elementary/middle students who have ADHD diagnoses may actually have sensory issues and not true ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Good point, PP. Although, it still doesn't tell us what the (properly diagnosed) SPD kids, diagnosed at ages 3-5 actually look like at ages 7-10.

[Anonymous]

If kids get help early on, they should be doing quite well in ES. My son's OT said as long as a child gets properly diagnosed and then get help from the proper professionals, they may not need help for long. Our friend's son who had some sensory issues went to OT for a few months and was "kicked out" for not needing services anymore.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 08:38 that professionals are getting better at recognizing it. It may also be that it's more apparent at younger ages than ADHD - that's true for us. Our son was diagnosed with SPD the spring before he started kindergarten. It wasn't until he started school and we started seeing behaviors that weren't adequately explained by the the SPD that led us to have him evaluated (among other things) for ADHD. For our son, the SPD is secondary to the ADHD because it's impact is much less significant and we've had so much more time to learn how to deal with it that we don't even really think about it too much anymore. We're also starting to see a lessening of sensitivities. Our son will now go without socks and will wear sandals (without socks) on the weekends. He's also getting much better about food. A lot of this is probably because of therapy but also because he's getting to an age where he can reason before he reacts.

[Anonymous]

Whenever people say that children will "Grow out of SPD" I want to wince. That is not true. It's a neurological based problem. One doesn't grow out of it. One can learn to compensate, to cope, or manage better using their other skills or strengths. But it isn't something you grow out of in my opinion.

I think I had SPD as a child. DS now has it. I had attention issues. I used to get carsick all the time. I would almost faint on amusement park rides. I could not stand to eat certain foods. Of course there were other things too, too many to mention though. Anyhow, I did not outgrow those issues. I handled my attention issues by becoming a great note-taker and by making million to-do lists, or by listening to lectures on tapes over and over again (by 'tapes' you can tell how old I must be LOL). Somehow I got around my issues.

The difference with younger children who are getting dx today I think is that they are getting treatment (which I never got) and so they will not need to learn to cope or manage. Their brains are literally being rewired with therapy so they work like the neurotypical brain. So they aren't going to outgrow it, they are going to not have the problem at all when they are adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whenever people say that children will "Grow out of SPD" I want to wince. That is not true. It's a neurological based problem. One doesn't grow out of it. One can learn to compensate, to cope, or manage better using their other skills or strengths. But it isn't something you grow out of in my opinion.

I think I had SPD as a child. DS now has it. I had attention issues. I used to get carsick all the time. I would almost faint on amusement park rides. I could not stand to eat certain foods. Of course there were other things too, too many to mention though. Anyhow, I did not outgrow those issues. I handled my attention issues by becoming a great note-taker and by making million to-do lists, or by listening to lectures on tapes over and over again (by 'tapes' you can tell how old I must be LOL). Somehow I got around my issues.

The difference with younger children who are getting dx today I think is that they are getting treatment (which I never got) and so they will not need to learn to cope or manage. Their brains are literally being rewired with therapy so they work like the neurotypical brain. So they aren't going to outgrow it, they are going to not have the problem at all when they are adults.

Not that I don't profoundly hope you're right (because I do: with every fiber of my being, and I could practically kiss you for your optimism) but do you have any actual evidence to support this?

[Anonymous]

Yes I do. DS is perfect evidence. I wish you could have met him 3 yrs ago and then now. At 2 I could have sworn he was autistic because his symptoms were so classicly autistic - hand flapping, aversion to changes, rigidity, obsessions, not responding at times, lack of eye contact, etc..etc..Now at 5 with at least 3 of therapy he makes perfect eye contact, responds almost always, rarely hand flaps, is not too rigid, enjoys some changes actually. He loves going to new places, will tolerate last minute plan changes. He is so warm, empathetic. Only thing that remains is his periodic obsessions (harmless ones) and some motor planning issues/attention issues (mild). We did floortime and lots and lots and lots of OT (with a therapist 2x a week and tons at home too). I am totally confident that we'll see much of this go away in the next two yrs with more therapy. I expect there will be some residual issues but not very much. Read The Challenging Child by Dr. Greenspan. It is a book about nothing but SPD and all the issues associated with it. It's quite reassuring. He's seen probably hundreds of patients with SPD and treated them.

[Anonymous]

Are you planning on asking for support from the school for kindergarten? How much floor time did you do? What kind of preschool did your child do? Thanks for answering my questions.

[Anonymous]

We did montessori for preschool. Even though the classrooms are large, we felt the calm and quiet would work well for him. It did. Only drawback was that with 25 children in a classroom, he was sometimes left alone and became self absorbed. So I tried to fill his after school activities up with playdates and fun activities galore to compensate.

He starts KG in September. He will not need much support I think (or rather I hope) if we provide lots of OT for him. In KG he will get one recess. If we provide OT daily after school we think he may be okay. He will need some regular redirection. I hope the school won't mind that though. He does not need a shadow, however.

I'm not planning on asking KG for support.

A backup plan for us is to put him in private school to allow him time to adjust. Then when he is 6 or 7 move him to the public school system when he can adapt and be independent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He starts KG in September. He will not need much support I think (or rather I hope) if we provide lots of OT for him. In KG he will get one recess. If we provide OT daily after school we think he may be okay. He will need some regular redirection. I hope the school won't mind that though. He does not need a shadow, however.

I'm not planning on asking KG for support.

Congratulations on the great progress your son has made! Some unsolicited advice from someone who's been there. Start working now to get accomodations for your son on a 504 BEFORE school starts. Our son sounds a little bit like yours. Working with the school (in exalted Fairfax Co.) has been a nightmare and after attending special ed conferences and networking with a lot of other parents, I'm sorry to say our experience isn't unusual. It's extremely disappointing because we're really the kind of parents teachers and therapists love to work with (if I do say so myself!). It still amazes me how many teachers, and particularly principals and vice principals, still hold old attitudes towards kids who have challenges. Poor discipline is not the problem. Our kids have neurological conditions. Yet, it's as if this is the first time they've ever heard of kids like mine. It's taken us most the school year to get accomodations. I hope you're experience is different than ours but you should keep in mind that it's not a question of the school "minding", it's your son's right to a free and appropriate education. Not everyone is up to speed on what that means. If it's not in the 504, you may have a teacher or two that doesn't want to accomodate your son. It's miserable for everyone when that happens. Good luck!