My Daughter’s Delay:  Sensory

by Mary Whalen

I’ve known plenty of kids who have been through speech therapy to help with a language delay, physical therapy for missing milestones, or occupational therapy for fine motor skills.  But I hadn’t heard about sensory delays until my daughter was diagnosed.

What is a Sensory Delay?

Like with language and physical development, kids’ senses need to time to develop, and some kids take longer than others in different areas.  Though kids eventually grow out of the delays, getting help can reduce stress on the child and parent and, apparently, help the child grow out of the delay faster.  With my daughter, we were motivated to get help when her sensory problems started making our lives feel abnormal.

My daughter’s main problem was with getting dressed in the morning.  I’m not talking about insisting on wearing the princess outfit because it’s her favorite.  I’m talking about NOT wearing the princess outfit, even though it’s her favorite, and being miserable that she can’t.  Because her sense of touch is a delayed sense, her clothes just don’t feel right on her skin.  Her condition is called Tactile Defensiveness.

The other main issue for my daughter was feeling uncomfortable in her playgroup.  Even at 3 years old, she would cling to me and often cry rather than join in with the other kids.  Because she seemed comfortable in preschool and had many friends, I was thrown off.  But after she was diagnosed with auditory sensory delays, it made sense.  The noise and chaos of the playgroup was overwhelming to her, while the structure and organization of school was comforting and the predictability of her “close” friends felt safe.

Getting Diagnosed/Getting Help for Sensory Delays

Though I had mentioned sensory-related problems to my doctors over the years, my doctors were not the ones who made me aware of sensory delays.  A friend who is a Kindergarten teacher encouraged me to check into Sensory Processing Disorder after babysitting my daughter a couple times.  I didn’t think that Kiley acted like what I knew of an SPD kid, but there were some abnormal behaviors listed that my daughter had.

My doctor finally gave me some attention when I came into her office crying.  She set my daughter up with an OT assessment, where her delays were diagnosed.

The time between my doctor visit and my daughter’s first treatment was almost three months.  These were three pretty stressful months for me!  The main thing that helped after we got an OT was brushing and doing joint compressions. I saw some YouTube videos on this but was afraid to try it myself until we got a therapist, and I wish that I would have just tried rather than wait.

Managing Sensory Kids

My daughter’s occupational therapist had some advice that might help any parent with a sensory child:

• Schedule – Make your schedule as predictable as possible. Make a picture schedule that you post, discuss each morning what the schedule for the day will be, warn the child when you are going to switch activities.
• Vary Stimulation – Vary the amount and type of stimulation. Do something low-key like drawing, but then switch to something energetic, like doing an obstacle course. Switch between activities that involve sense of touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight…
• Physical Activity – Do everything you can to make physical activity accessible. Sign up for gymnastics, get outside when the temp is not freezing, find things to do in the house…any kind of equipment that you can use like a therapy ball, a swing, chin up bar, tubing to crawl in helps.
• Squeezes/Pressure – Find the right level of pressure that your kid wants, and give it. My daughter wants medium pressure, not light or heavy. I squeeze her arms and shoulders often when I talk to her and legs and back when I lay with her.
• Rotating Swing – Since my daughter has some issues with her vestibular system, the therapist also suggested a rotating swing and doing other activities that have to do with balance.  We bought a circular swing online for about $25 and hung it from a beam in our basement.  It’s been such an easy way to get our kids to work upper body.
• Therapeutic Music – I overheard a couple moms at the OT place raving about how much therapeutic music has helped their kids. It’s music that’s modulated a certain way, and kids listen to it for 20 min a day or something.  I think that it costs about $100 for the headphones and one CD, and you use our own CD player.  You do need to have a therapist set you up with this.
• Eye Contact – Eye contact can be overwhelming for sensory kids.  My daughter and I have a routine where I tell her to look at me, then we say together, “I….love….you!”  It’s predictable and routine, and it’s short.

Caring Resources

The Out-of-Sync Child

Developmental Delay Resources

Parenting a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder

Raising a Sensory Smart Kid

Sensational Kids

Sensory Processing Disorder

SPD Foundation

The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book

Sharing Experiences

I am writing just from my limited experience, and I’d love for you to share any suggestions/share your experience in your comments or by contacting me.

Also, on my AH Moms website I created a group called Sensory Kids, where you can bounce ideas off other moms, even if your son or daughter has not been formally diagnosed with sensory issues.

My family is a member of the Creatively Caring Families meetup group, which welcomes all children at their events.  They host community service projects that can be geared towards raising awareness about special needs children.

Mary is a technical writer and trainer who has a social networking website for moms who live in the northwest suburbs.  You can contact Mary by leaving your comments or by visiting ArlingtonHeightsMoms.com.

Can you guess what I am?

I am free.

I can be given and received by anyone.

I can change the outcome of a day.

I can bring you to laughter or tears.

I am unconditional.

I can express happiness, sadness, comfort, gratefulness, loneliness, sorrow, support, encouragement, achievement and many more….

Did you guess? I am a hug.

Such a simple thing can say so much and do what words can’t.

I was inspired to write about hugs after reading a Creatively Caring blog posted by Anne Hoffman. As I read the blog, my reaction to it was ‘my life, my life, my life’…..until I came to the end and was reminded just how important the little, simple things are like a hug. How it can change a day, change a mood and most certainly add reassurance that you are not alone in this great big world.

Sharing a hug can be one of the most important things you can do each day.

~ Melissa Duncan

“Nourishing the Planet and the People on It” came to life on April 1, 2012.  During this pre-Earth Day celebration, about ten families got to experience the importance of preserving the planet and the health benefits associated with that!  There was a brief presentation, conducted by myself (Emily, the intern), followed by two kid friendly crafts! The emphasis was placed on reusing and recycling in order to save energy as well as money!  We gathered old spaghetti jars that were hanging around the house, washed them, and took the labels off. Out of these, we created rain jars that the children could decorate. The purpose of these jars was to stick them outside when it rains and keep the water to use around the house to water the plants or a garden (or however you would like to use it!). The purpose of this is to preserve our natural resources and save water.  Second we decorated our own useable tote bags, a fun craft you can take to the grocery store! The purpose was to reduce the unnecessary use of both plastic and paper bags found at the supermarket. Additionally, some grocery stores (like Whole Food’s for instance), give you $.05 back for every reusable bag you bring in. It’s small, but it’s something! And over the course of many years, that can surely add up! The overall theme was to promote good personal health and being kind to the planet. Earth Day 2012 falls on April 22 of this year and these are fun tips that our families can take with them and use all year round. You guys are the future and starting now to recycle and live healthier will allow for more positive behaviors to be learned and use throughout our entire life time!

~ Emily Null, intern for Creatively Caring

Allergies, something our older generations didn’t have to contend with like we do.  It seems today that allergies are everywhere, and everyone has them.  Personally, our household has seen many changes over the years because of allergies.

That is one of the reasons I am so happy to be a part of Creatively Caring and having that connection to other parents that share similar hiccups in life.  Being involved with a group that understands I have a animal-allergy-nose-picker son, a beware-of-tree-nuts daughter and a challenging teenager makes my days seem more rewarding than they already are.

From Creatively Caring Families, I have learned how to cope with changes in diets and play dates.  I have learned different ways to make my children aware of their allergies and how they can prevent an unnecessary allergic reaction.
I have also learned the biggest coping method around…. knowing that I am not alone.  I have met some many wonderful families that suffer from allergies just like ours does.

I would like to say thank you to Creatively Caring Families for all the allergy advice.
I would also like to invite others to share their allergy stories, whether it’s a poem about your nose picker or more great advice on coping today with allergies in the family.  Please leave a comment below.

Sincerely,
Nose Picker’s Mom, Melissa

Ode to the Nose Picker
My son picks his nose, all the time you see.
I try to stop him, it’s as hard as can be.
He’ll pick at a fancy restaurant.
He’ll pick at home when ever he wants.
He can not stop, it’s habit you see.
For he has really bad allergies!

It was my day off. My mom took me to this Creatively Caring event. We learned about this organization called Tree House. They have shelters for cats. The cats run free. This is some extra of what happened:
When asked if I wanted to be interviewed by the news, it came as a complete surprise. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of a camera and a news reporter. Still I have no idea what I was thinking saying yes, but I guess I didn’t want to disappoint the reporters. I had already told the camera woman how to make a catnip cat toy, so what was there to it? During the interview I expressed my ‘love of living things’ and that it felt really good to help one of the animals most people take for granted. And that is completely true, you can have my word. I feel like I’m really helping creatures in all the Creatively Caring events, whether human or not.
-Eliot Klus, 8

See the ABC 7 Chicago News video here!

“Earth, Inc., the company that brought us “the original wellness shoe” – Kalsø Earth Shoes, is celebrating its annual birthday (Earth Day) in a big way!  Every year, associates from the company venture into the community and work with an ecologically-sustainable local farm as they prepare their annual harvest.  It’s a day of service that embodies the defining values of the company – wellness, being active, community engagement, and sustainability.” – Kalso’s Project Earth Day

To help promote a similar message, Creatively Caring will be hosting our own celebration on April 1, 2012.  This  free event will help families prepare for the Earth Day festivities being held on April 22nd!  There will be a brief information session where families can learn the health and wellness aspect of being kind to the Earth.  Following the presentation, kids and adults alike can participate in environmentally friendly craft projects!  And after the big event, all in attendance will take home important materials to learn about health and our environment!  Additionally,  participants will be automatically entered in a raffle to win a free Starbucks Coffee gift basket to take home with them after the event!

Creatively Caring is interested in partnering with Kalsø Earth Shoes by earning one of their three generous scholarships. We feel we share similar beliefs about the Earth and wellness associated with it.  We also especially love their vegan shoe collection!  If Creatively Caring wins a scholarship, it would help provide a fantastic opportunity to allow families with children around the Chicagoland area to give back to the Earth through a fun community service event.  We are excited for this opportunity!

Creatively Caring is a proud member of the North Suburban Childrens Business Network, a quality group of businesses serving families with children in the North Suburban Chicago market who are dedicated to helping parents keep their children active, educated, healthy, safe, and entertained.  As a special thank you to our customers, we are having a special Customer Appreciation giveaway in which we are giving away a brand new Kindle Fire Reader/Tablet valued at $199!  One lucky winner will receive this amazing prize when the giveaway ends on March 19, 2012!  Make sure to get your entries in!  There are many ways to enter but “liking” all of the participating businesses is mandatory.  This contest is open to all Chicago area participants and all entries will be verified.  We have 12 participating sponsors and many of them are offering a special discount or promotion during the course of the giveaway!  Make sure to check them all out and leave them a thank you on their Facebook pages if you’d like!

Here is what you need to do to enter the contest.

1.)  Go to the NSCBN facebook page.

2.)  Click on the link on the margin, titled:  Customer Appreciation Kindle Fire Giveaway

3.)  Please read the information about our businesses and visit some of the websites/Facebook pages.

4.)  Scroll down to the bottom where a Rafflecopter form will pop up (might take a minute) and then follow instructions.

***You must enter your name, email address and city in the first box AND like all of the participating businesses for your entry to count.

Good Luck!!!

We asked our readers and here is what they had to say…

“Look for the ways we are alike with others, rather than looking at the ways we are different. Many of those differences don’t matter even a bit.”  ~ Eileen

“To be peaceful and broad-minded as we ask others to be, to not berate the work of others just because their approach may not be the same as ours, to not split hairs and divide and conquer amongst ourselves, to try to the best of our abilities to forge relationships with those who oppose us, to try and remember that all of life is intertwined in some way, and never let us the messengers appear to be bigger than the message that we’re responsible for delivering. And, know who depends on us and NEVER EVER give up on any of the above.” ~ Debby

“The Golden Rule! It really does hold true….” ~ Gail

“I think helping people get healthy, while we save the planet and pass that wisdom on to others too….lol” ~ Lizette