I've been to see a therapist and now I'm totaly confused.

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my daughter is nearly six and has quite a severe speech problem and developmental delay. I also suspect auditory processing difficulties.
She's been acessed by a therapist who uses the Johansen sound therapy method. She did several tests both physical and accademic. She said that Lucy is very sensory and kept refering to the moro reflex that she kept longer than she sould have. She has difficulties in co-ordination and balance and dosn't like being touched, wether it's wiping her mouth or holding hands. (She clenches her fist). She also likes to rub her fingernail against her thumb for comfort. I've never really payd much attention to these things but I get the impression that the therapist thinks these things are important in her therapy. I don't even know what very sensory means. I thought the problems were her speech, the fact that she dosn't seem to hear properly, her toileting and her anxiety over what's happening in her day. Now we seem to have another piece of the jigsaw.
Does this make any sence to anyone? I probubly haven't put it very well as I worked last night and haven't slept much but I'd be really greatful if anyone could shed any light on this. Thanks.

[mummyloveslucy]

That is a shocking post, sorry.

[purplepidjin]

Sensory simply refers to the senses - touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing.

If your DD doesn't like being touched, she is probably over-stimulated by it, which means it hurts. Toiletting issues might be sensory - pooing and weeing can feel really odd - and so can anxiety; imagine if every time someone spoke to you, it sounded like a shotgun going off? Pretty bloody scary!

Most people try a "sensory diet" then keep going with the things that their dc enjoys. Brushing, joint compression, weighted blankets, different lights eg fiberoptic, weighted blanket/vest...

I'm sure someone more experienced will give you a proper answer soon, but that covers the parts I know a little bit about HTH

[LIZS]

Many SEN/SN children exhibit sensory issues. They can manifest themselves as stroking , specific movement, licking, hugging, wanting to touch certain materials or avoiding contact, hating/enjoying loud noise etc. Overload can create confusion and distraction in the child and tolerance levels may differ to the accepted norm - either higher or lower. Some like being touched or certain physical motions like spinning or rocking and seek that sensation as reassurance, to extremes, perhaps in turn touching/hugging others, others will react the opposite way and withdraw or scream and fight. If you can identify which creates what reaction then a trained OT can devise therapy to reduce the impact in every day life(Sensory Integration Therapy is oen method), almost desensitising the child to certain stimuli and enabling them to focus better.

[IndigoBell]

She has retained reflexes. See all my previous threads on retained reflexes - but basically this is fantastic news because retained reflexes can be cured and then you should notice a dramatic improvement in Lucy.

My son retained his Moro reflex. We have been doing nightly exercises with him for the last 5 months and everything has improved. As well, he has made 2 years academic progress in 1 term.

[JoMamanHasJoinedFightClub]

Also there are a couple of good books on sensory processing problems - 'the out-of-sync child' and 'sensational kids'

[negligentmummy]

my dd primary difficult is speech and language but after 19 month wait have finally seen OT and waiting for our "sensory diet".
She also has coordination problems, fine and gross motor skill difficulties, sensory processing disorder and postural instability. she is the opposite to your dc. She strokes all the time- putting her hand inside clothes to have the tactile sensation of warm skin.
she stokes the hair of all the chidren in class and loves hugs and holding hands.
toileting for us was the other extreme HATED being wet or dirty so pretty well dry and clean on day 2 without nappies. that said when there was an accident there was all hell to pay.
an OT will be able to put you on the right track but push for assessment/ treatment as soon as possible- from our experience it takes ages and ages for any input...

[mummyloveslucy]

Thank you everyone, that's really interesting! Some sensory things she likes, like rubbingg her nail against her finger and she does hugg strangers. She likes being cuddled but only if it's fairly firm and you don't touch her with your hands, she says it tickles.
That could explain her apparent fear of the toys that make noise. She got given a mampster toy that makes a high pitched noise or says "go, go, go" then scoots across the floor. She was terrified of it, we had to give it away.
She loves music though, that is quite a passion of hers, it always has been.

It's great to know that this can be cured with therapy and she should make good progress.

[LIZS]

I'd hesitate to claim any such condition can be "cured" but therapy can certainly help reduce the impact so it interferes less with learning and everyday life.

Am now wondering if ds has retained reflexes - who would normally identify that and is 12 too late for intervention? Indigobell do you pay for this programme of therapy I'm usually sceptical of those like the Dore programme ?

[IndigoBell]

Retained reflexes can be cured. You can test whether or notyou have them before and after the program. So the retained reflexes themselves can definately be cured. What impact that has on the rest of your life is more debatable - but I am certainly not the only person on this board saying that my child has been totally transformed by doing retained reflexes therapy.

We did ours at the sound learning center in London. They call it a neuro development program. It cost us £600 for the initial assesment and then a further £100 every six weeks.

We are just about to start my DD on the program and she has learning difficulties rather than sesnory problems.

12 is not too late. But you will have to pay.

[improvingslowly]

probably more correct to say that retained reflexes can be integrated rather than cured, but find sensory trained OT will give exercises to help integrate these reflexes.

i think indigo's progress with this has been maybe unusually good in that results were seen so quickly, and resulted in great progress in academic terms. (ie dont necessarily build your hopes up that everyone has such brilliant results).

Friends son has been doing similar work over 18 months and has made slow steady progress oover that time, ie more coordinated, less cross etc. (thye also did 'therapeutic listening' similar to TLP and johanson therapy whihc was also really good.)

definitely worth doing, and certainly helpful.

[mummyloveslucy]

thank you. If it helps her in any way, then I'm all for it. She is hopefully starting the Johansen therapy soon, either that one or one that combines the auditory processing therapy with some sensory therapy. The lady is going to mark her results and decide what would suit her best.