After years of discussions, parent training, so many Occupational Therapy sessions with my children, phonecalls, emails and questions from friends, friends of friends, relatives and even OT's and physios looking for ideas and advice I'm taking to the blogosphere and going to keep and account of ideas I've come across and products and equipment I come across and tried and tested.
A bit of background about me, I am a nurse and worked in different Emergency Departments over the years. I've 2 sons and 1 daughter. My eldesy son is 8 and he has Autism. He has particular problems with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and dyspraxia, he also has ENT and opthomology problems not associated with his autism but can effect it. We see Occupational Therapist, Developmental Paediatrician, Physiotherapist, Dietician, opthomology surgeon and ENT surgeons with him
Our Daughter is 5 and has been with a multidisciplinary team since she was 22 months. She originally was diagnosed with a phonologicl speech disorder which was severe to profound (which is now in the mild range) she has emotional regulation delay and sensory processing disorder and recent tests show us she has a superior IQ. It's early days but excelerated learning programme is proving to resolve most issues and hopefully will be discharged from her multi disciplinary team. She sees Educational psychology, Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech and Language therapy (SALT)
We have a 2 year old son with epilepsy, he is on Keppra which so far is fully managing his seizure and has been seizure free the 6 months he has been on it and is otherwise developing normally.
Phew!
Since our eldest was diagnosed with Autism he started straight into Sensory integration Therapy. It has been so wonderul to see such a positive change over the years.
the oly down side is some of the exercises are trial and error and sometimes it is hard to know if a new activity will have a positive and negative effect. Every child is also different and has different sensory needs. My son is extremely tactil defensive. He finds touch very difficult, this includes have to touch things as well as things, items or people touching him. My daughter on the other hand is a real sensory seeker and actively seeks out certain textures to touch, or oral sensory seeks and often we will find her licking objects that are most definitely not meant for her mouth!
OT Equipment for different integration activities can be expensive so I find I need to be certain it will work before making permanent purchases. Luckily, I have found that shopping around is an option and even better some things can be replaced by household objects. *****Always Check With Your Therapy Provider or Author of your Childs Sensory Diet before Substiting anything on the plan/diet*****
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