Learn More About SPD

Jaimie is unable to cope in the world around her and, until recently, wasn't able to communicate this to me. Until w e learned how to help her, Jaimie was basically trapped in a struggle between wanting to be comforted and touched but her body being utterly repulsed by the feeling of touch. Everyone thought I was nuts, but just knew something was wrong with Jaimie as early as three months into her life.

While other wee ones seemed comforted with touching, hugs and kisses, Jaimie was the opposite. Whenever we picked her up she struggled and screamed but calmed down somewhat as soon as we put her back down. As she grew, the small odd things I'd noticed about her temperament grew with her: she adjusted slowly to change, startled easily, rarely smiled or laughed, and was so afraid of other people I'd spend an entire visit or shopping trip with Jaimie clinging desperately to me. A simple, "Hi there." From a stranger, or even her own Daddy, triggered tears immediately.

On top of this, she had terrible fits where she'd hurt herself in some way-such as head banging, biting herself or other people/objects, scratching herself or pulling out her hair-on purpose.

Whenever I addressed my concerns with family or friends, I was made to feel I was reading too much into things because I was a first time mom. Even Jaimie's pediatrician said her behavior was simply chalked up to "spiritedness" and to be patient with her.

"She'll grow out of this stage soon enough," he said at the end of each visit.

When Jaimie's behavior worsened to the point where she had fits for hours at a time every day, I knew she needed help far beyond what I could handle on my own. When she was about two and a half, Jaimie's pediatrician finally listened to my pleas and directed us to an Early Intervention program. After only one visit, the occupational therapist (OT) named Donna, who specialized in children with sensory issues, was able to deduce Jaimie's behavior down to three words: Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) [At the time, she'd called it Sensory Integration Dysfunction, or SID.]

It's important for people to remember that Jaimie's form of SPD is quite severe, with all her sensory systems being affected at some level. It's also important to remember that Jaimie's form of SPD isn't common. Most children who have SPD usually only have one or two systems affected and can still function relatively fine once they've learned to recognize their symptoms and learn positive coping skills.

What is SPD?
The simplest definition of SPD is, "The inability for the brain to process information received through the senses." (Kranowitz, 2005). The hardest part about SPD is giving it a solid definition. The main reason for this is that no two children experience the exact same symptoms or the same severity of symptoms. Children are categorized as either over responsive (or sensory seekers) or under responsive (or sensory avoiders.)

An over responsive child is one who freaks out with even the slightest sensory stimulation. For example, an odor that's barely detectable can cause him to gag; or a neon light will actually hurt her eyes; or he's easily startled by noises, no matter how loud or soft it may seem to others.

An under responsive child is the opposite. These children don't seem to respond to stimulation at all. For example, there could be a lot of activity in a room but they don't acknowledge it or the child will hit himself with something but not react.

Sensory seekers, on the other hand, are children who need way more stimulation than the average child to "feel" something. For example, when my Jaimie was very stressed, she needed to have the television, stereo, her toys, my computer on at the same time and still sought more noise in order to cope. Odd as it may seem, this calmed her.

Donna told me to keep in mind, however, that SPD children may not stay within one category. They may have symptoms spreading out within the three areas. With Jaimie, for example, were are times where she needed the over-stimulation as described above but there were times where even the noise of me pulling the tabs apart to put on her diaper caused had her covering her ears and screaming, "It hurts!" (over-responsive). Finally, were are also times where we'd be calling her name repeatedly and she wouldn't respond until we stood right in front of her so she saw us (under-responsive). This uncertainty may not be reassuring but getting the diagnosis is the first step in giving parents a sense of direction in how they can help their child cope.

What Are the Sensory Systems Affected By SPD?

The most commonly known sensory systems are the visual (vision), olfactory (smell), auditory (hearing) and gustatory (taste). These systems work together with the following systems, called Primary Systems, to give us information about our environments and how to relate to the people and objects in our environments:

(a) Tactile - This is the sense of touch. In addition to feeling things-touching and being touched-this system also sends the brain messages about things like pressure on the skin, temperature and the awareness of our bodies. Essentially, when this system is out of whack, we don't feel safe in the world around us because we never know how something is going to feel.

Jaimie, for example, isn't able to handle light touch. It drives her crazy. When she's very sensitive, she fights having a bath, getting her hair brushed or having her teeth brushed, she doesn't like the feel of her clothes, won't go outside if it's too windy, or even refuses to have anyone sit too close to her. To her such things send a "pain" message to her brain and she goes into immediate sensory overload.
There are other times, however, where Jaimie can shove her hands into snow, hold ice cubes, hit parts of her body on other objects or touch something burning hot and she won't feel the sensation until much later on. This aspect of SPD, the under responsive side, is scarier because a child can seriously injure themselves if they aren't paying attention.

(b) Vestibular - This is one of the gravity senses that tell the brain about movement. This sense tells the body whether we're moving or not, what direction we're going in, and how fast. It works closely with the visual system to help develop good eye muscle control, eye perception and attention span. The vestibular is also in charge of our coordination, balance, muscle tone and fine motor skills (hand control and dominance). As you can imagine, children with poor vestibular systems struggle with fine and gross motor skills and often seen as clumsy or "rag doll-like" (poor muscle tone and control.)

On bad days, Jaimie walks into things, trips and falls down a lot, isn't able to concentrate on anything and struggles with simple tasks like bouncing a ball, hopping on one foot or cutting paper with scissors.

(c) Proprioceptive - Essentially this is just a big word to say it's the system that tells us what our bodies are doing. It allows us to gauge, for example, how close we are to something or someone where are bodies are in the environment. The system takes information from joints and muscles and helps us to learn skilled movements.

Children struggling in this area will have trouble coordinating their bodies to do activities like bouncing a ball, playing coordinating sports-like baseball or hockey-and are terrified of heights, being picked up or held upside down or activities like ice-skating where we can lose a sense of control over our bodies.
It's important to know about all of these sensory systems in order to understand why a child like Jaimie may react to a certain activity, person or experience. And one should also bear in mind that what may bother a child with SPD on one day may not even phase him or her the next. It's one of the most confusing and frustrating aspects of helping and raising a child with SPD.

What Causes SPD?

I asked Donna this very question because the books I'd read hadn't been very clear. Unfortunately, Donna's answer was no clearer: "There could be many explanations for it, from what I've learned," she said. "The truth is, nobody has been able to pin point this for certain. Currently, the most plausible explanations are genetic or hereditary predispositions, meaning it comes from one or the other parent, prenatal circumstances, or birth trauma. But these are only possible explanations and not definite."

Donna also mentioned that once some parents figure out what's wrong with their children, they've actually said they'd remembered experiencing similar feelings as children. So, perhaps, there is a genetic component causing the child to be predisposed to develop the disorder but an environmental factor must occur in order for it to come out or become phenotypical.

Personally, I've stopped trying to find a solid explanation because I only end up pointing the finger at myself and this doesn't help Jaimie at all. If I've learned anything, it's not to waste time to find blame, but to use the time to find out what proactive things can be done to help Jaimie. Our child doesn't blame us so we shouldn't either.

With research, we can discover the root of the cause then understand how to treat these children most effectively. But without acknowledgement and discussion, there won't be any research. And without research there will be no understanding.

There are so many wonderful resource tools out there written by occupational therapists, doctors and other professionals. Here's a resource from a Mommy who simply wants people to see her child and not just her reactions to her surroundings.

As I always say, "Through awareness comes understanding and that's so powerful."

When doing online research for new sensory products for my daughter, I came across a link to an interesting product called dokedo. The moment the page uploaded I had a feeling that I'd found something special that Jaimie would love. And after contacting the founder and owner of dokedo, Tina Cambio, I knew for sure.

I conducted a heart-warming and insightful interview with Tina about her awesome product. Please visit my Associated Content site for the complete interview (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1682020/product_review_of_dokedo_putty.html?cat=2).

Be sure to come to my website at www.lilywolfwords.ca during the month of May and sign up for our newsletter to be entered in our draw for a chance to win one of three fabulous dokedo prize packs that Tina generously donated. Details will be up on the site by the end of April so be sure to check back!

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Our Product Review:
Tested by: Jaimie (six), Jordhan (four) and Xander (two)

We tried each of the scented versions of dokedo which are: banana boat, citrus circus, boy o boysenberry, cotton candies, gumball burst, hello marshmellow, icing on the cake, melon splash, midnight berry, peppermint stix, popcorn ball, and shake like jelly. We also tried out the non-scented putty: blue me away, flamingo pink, iguana green, jet black, sunnyside yellow and whitewash. As you can see, the names of the putty are as much fun as the putty itself!

First impressions: The bright beautiful colors are appealing and match their names so the kids found them easy to remember. Jaimie had some hesitation when first attempting to get the dokedo out of the containers as she was used to using PlayDoh, which is soft right out of the can. Fortunately she was "seeking" that afternoon so I suggested to her that we squeezed and twisted it until it softened. She loved how it snapped and crackled between her palms. After awhile, she was able to pull it out like stringy cheese and squash it out like other doughs.

Sensational review: Jaimie's sensory sensitivities are very high with her most sensitive systems being tactile (touch) and olfactory (smell). I noticed on our test afternoon, she squeezed, pushed and twisted with all her mite and was constantly smelling her hands and the different puttys. I also got Jaimie to try the dokedo when she her mood was more "avoiding." Then she asked to try the "non-smelly" types and asked that I soften up for her. Whether scented or not, she still enjoyed the product very much.

Overall impressions: Xander absolutely loved every color, smell and didn't mind whether it was hard or soft as long as he could squish it into a ball. Jordhan also enjoyed each color but preferred the scented ones and the colors. Jaimie said she liked smelling them all but liked the lighter, less fruity scented dokedo, such as cotton candies. If you have a child with extremely high tactile or olfactory with issues about smells on their hands, either be sure to have a cloth/wipe handy or simply give them the beautiful non-scented options. They're fun too!

The favorite scents were cotton candies (Jaimie) and icing on the cake (Jordhan) The favorite colors were pink and yellow. The favorite thing to do with dokedo were stretching it out and bouncing it.

Other things we tried: pushing it into a printed magazine/newspaper picture then stretching it out-very funny to everyone; squashing small toys into it; blending some colors together to make cool figurines and shaping it into pretend food.

The containers are small enough that you can fit them into your craft box or even a backpack or purse for fun on the go. And you can use them with other sensory fun as part of a child's overall diet. The best part is that siblings with no sensory issues can play right along too.

Final word: Excellent product and we highly recommend it. If you plan to use it with children who are more on the severe side of sensory issues or SPD, always be tuned into the child's stimulation needs so you know which scents-or no scents-and the consistency they'll need. Most importantly: get in there and have fun too!

(Tina gave me some great advice to put the dokedo in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds at a time until you reach the desired consistency. The putty goes back to its original state.)