Sensory seeking? or ADHD symptom?
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Anonymous
| My son who is 4 has always had sensory seeking and has done OT for it for two years. His sensory seeking is still out of control. His legs and arms constantly need to move. He now does an odd walk where he stamps his feet and runs in place when really excited. He also rolls on the floor constantly and needs to touch everything and anything, leaning into people, the floor, kicking the seat, moving always moving but in an extreme way. Always lying and rolling on things. what. Is. this. How can we address it. Is it something medication might help. |
Anonymous
| Sensory issues can be related to many things. In order to figure out what and if medication would help, you need to go to a developmental pediatrician. Get yourself on the waitlist at KKI or Childrens. It will be several months out, but usually there's a cancelation and that's the appointment you go to, canceling the other one. |
Anonymous
|
My personal opinion is that "sensory seeking" is often a layover stop on the way to an ADHD diagnosis. Not always, but often.
Medication probably will help, at some point, but I really think 4 is too young. Read the NYTimes article from yesterday about early ADHD diagnosis and parenting classes. I'm not sure the OT really helps, to be honest, but there are lots of other "sensory diet" type things that do help. Get an indoor trampoline. Get a rocking seat for the table. Have the preschool sit him at the edge of the carpet and let him get up and move around during circle time. Do yoga with him. Have him get 2-4 hours of serious exercise a day. Have him take lots of warm baths. Get him fidget and similar things so that he can move some part of his body and have something to touch. Put a therapy stretch thing between the legs of his seat so he can push against that. Give him lots and lots of really tight hugs. Tell him that he can always come to you for a bear hug if he needs physical contact, but that other people don't usually like lots of physical contact. Always put him at the end of a line, and make sure that are physical marks that indicate his body space, because he wouldn't recognize his "space" intuitively the way other kids do. As they get older, they learn to recognize their bodies cues a bit more and can figure out when they need movement or physical contact. We started medication at 6, fwiw. |
Anonymous
| What can sensory issues really be related to other than asd and ADHD? Curious. |
Anonymous
DCD Tourettes |
Anonymous
Hmmm. I am pretty sure he has dyspraxia, we know he has ADHD. What helps kids with sensory issues that have DCD? |
Anonymous
Dyspraxia and DCD are often referred to interchangeably. Do you know this b/c your gut is telling you this or b/c you've seen a developmental pediatrician? OTs cannot diagnose ADHD and SPD isn't a true disorder in the diagnosable sense. This is a Canadian website but it gives a good overview of DCD: https://canchild.ca/en/diagnoses/developmental-coordination-disorder Kids can have weak vestibular and proprioceptive development in addition to the clumsiness. OT helps but they don't "outgrow" it. If you've been seeing an OT for 2 years, I would see a developmental pediatrician. |
Anonymous
| WE have seen a dev ped and a neurologist. I was just asking if this was all part of ADHD/DCD. |
Anonymous
Most definitely. This site summarizes some of the studies on DCD: http://www.theravive.com/therapedia/Developmental-Coordination-Disorder-DSM--5-315.4-(F82) |
Anonymous
| Its hard because his DCD is severe for some stuff - fine motor, planning - not for others, like riding a bike or baseball and he is actually a very athletic kid. Ugh, he is such a puzzle. |
Anonymous
That sounds exactly like mine at 4. Writing was such a struggle for him. He's in second now and it still is work, but he's doing soooo much better. And he doesn't run into things anymore. We did 2 years of Ot (ages 4 to 6) but I think a lot of it he did just grow out of. It was a developmental delay not a permanent disability. I may regret not getting him private therapy for the fine motor, but this year seems so much better that I'm sitting tight. |
Anonymous
You mentioned leaning on people, rolling on the floor--you may want to try swimming or martial arts that strengthen the core muscles. This can help with fine motor too b/c handwriting is harder when you can't sit up properly or for long periods of time. |
Anonymous
| What is DCD? |
Anonymous
Developmental Coordination Disorder |
Anonymous
| Ok so if your child had Dcd and ADHD did you see a decrease in sensory seeking when you started medication? I need some hope here posters! |