ANYONE HAD ANY EXPERIENCE OF OT AND TESTS FOR HEIGHTENED SENSES???

[law3]

I posted a while back about my ds 3.6 who doesnt eat. Since he has been able to eat, all he has eaten week in and week out is dry bread, yoghurt, dry choco hoop cereal, strawberries and thats about it give a take.

He was assessed by a speech therapist today and she is going to refer him to an OT to test his senses.

Anyone know what this involves please?????

tbh, law, my ds1 was tested for similar and was found to be hypersensitive to sound and touch. But not sure exactly how this was established as I left him alone with the OT. He was 7 though.

Hi law3! I nearly fell out of my chair when I read your post! My son is in exactly the same situation! He is a bit younger (20 months) though.

We have a terrible time feeding him - he'd only eat bananas, strawberries, cheese, potato chips but will drink milk and juices. When I try to just approach him with a spoon - he starts pushing my hand away and crying.

Get this - he too was tested for sensory hypersensitivity for tactile (texture) senses. Now the way we discovered it? At 20 months he only makes sounds and doesn't say any words.

So we evaluated him for speech development delay. In the process of that he was diagnosed for sensory hypersensitivity. They've explained to us that since little kids explore the world through their mouth, including texture, and since for our kids it's a hypersensitive area - they'll be guarding it from over-stimulation. It will manifest itself in delayed development in everything that has to do with mouth/ tongue, etc - like exploring new foods, talking, etc~

We too just started with an occupational therapist. She is great and our son loves her. She is primarily working on helping him to gain a better sense of his body (like massages, physical games that involve lots of touching/ body contact, etc). They explain that when he becomes more aware of his body and learns to better integrate all senses - including texture - it should help with all his delayed behaviors, including eating and speaking... sounds very surreal, doesn't it?

I have more info but don't want to overwhelm you with a long post. Just so great to know that my developmental marvel isn't the only boy in the world with this condition!

hi there Katendmom, its great to talk to somone in a similar position, you wont think im mad!!!

My son never explored the world through his mouth, i thought i was lucky he never put anything in it, i thought he was just a 'good' baby who took notice of what i told him, how niave i was

I have been fighting for 2.5 years to get this far. After seeing GP and HV to be told, dont worry he will grow out of it. My son is severely anemic (on medication)and was under a dietician. He told me not to let my ds eat any of his normal foods and he would soon eat what i gave him as no child would starve themself!?! after 3 weeks of my ds not eating a thing, he soon changed his mind and 'there is nothing more i can do for you' and passed the buck!!

I went back to GP and HV to be told dont worry he will grow out of it, just keep taking the medicine.

Speech therapy today, explained the situation and she has now referred us to OT.

How long did you have to wait for an appointment? Has ds's eating improved

He NEVER puts any food in his mouth other than the 'safe' food, he doesnt even pick it up, never has done. Even the 'safe' food he is eating less and less of, im going to get him weighed on Thursday but no one seems bothered but me. Surely someone should be at least monitoring his weight.

~Morning~ wow, reading your post is like reading my diary. We're in the same boat. My son has recently started eating even less of what he ate before... So I think regressions are very possible.

Has you son already been tested by OT? If not - what they'll do is have him do some developmental tests, like match shapes, pull a string through a bead, etc (now that was done for my son who's 20 months). They would ask questions like - 'does he put toys in his mouth,' 'when did he start talking' (if he did), 'if you ever took him to the beach - did sand on his hands bother him?' etc.

Usually when you start describing eating habits - they pin point tactile hypersensitivity right away.

I have to say - we were very luck and the OT called us the same day his evaluation was done and schedule her first visit on the following Monday. So far we have had only 2 visits so it's too early to say BUT he has started to put more of non-food items in his mouth.

Next week's session she wants to dedicate (partially) to observing his eating patterns. She says that it is completely within her realm of skills to help him overcome that hurdle! She says that she can even teach him how to move the food away if he doesn?t want it/ had enough rather than throw it on a floor (which is what he is a King of doing!)

Now, depending on where you're - wait time, etc might be different. We're in Pennsylvania.

Good luck and keep me posted! I cannot believe that your pediatrician let your child go anemic before referring him?!?!?!? But honestly - I had to push our pediatrician for a referral as well...

Hi Katendmom thanks for sharing your experiences with me, its much appreciated.

Anemic - Dr at the hospital read his test results wrong and told me he wasnt amenic, so he went for over a year before the mistake was realised and medication started

Im in London, apparently they will write and inform me of waiting time (doesnt sound very promising, but hey ive waited 2.5 years!!)

He is also being observed for autism, im no expert, but i definately dont think he is, he does have a few autistic traits, but he is very socialable etc, but im prepared to go along with anything they might suggest, as oppose to nothing.

He doesnt have any developmental problems, just delayed speech ie his sounds, c, k, g etc all sounds made with the back of the tongue.

As soon as she suggested the OT and heightened senses, i thought that was spot on. His eating goes beyond fussy or faded. Sand on the hands bothers him, we have a sand pit in the garden, this summer it was in the sand pit for 2 seconds, then over to paddling pool to wash sand off hands. Make a castle wash hands, make a castle wash hands. Doesnt play in it much at all.

Its interesting to know how they can help, what they do etc, i feel i have tried everything, im out of ideas. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Hi, my son (just 4, with HFA) is similar - restricted diet and speech delay - and has been seen by an OT. Things have been looking up recently, though; he's tried quite a few new foods including lettuce and we even managed to take him to a restaurant for a family lunch which lasted a couple of hours.

Here is a link to a book I found helpful.

Other stuff we've been doing:

Making pretend meals with play food

Making and decorating cakes together (I bought a small tin for making a one-egg cake since neither of us were going to be eating it)

Talking about nutrition and how the body works - food gives us energy, some foods have good energy and some have bad energy, some are good for your bones and some are bad for your teeth, eating fruit and vegetables helps you grow tall and strong (this is why he started eating lettuce)

Letting him see us eat as wide a range of foods as possible, having him stand on a chair and watch me cooking

We were also advised that the best time to introduce new foods is at a time that isn't mealtimes, so he feels under zero pressure

I've been through this with my 2 boys.

They were given specific toys to play with during the appointment. The OT was looking to see how they used their hands. They had to do things like pick up a pile of plastic coins, push down on some pop-up toys, do inset puzzles, and try to catch a ball. Ds1 has hypersensitive hands as part of his autism and the OT quickly spotted that he was only using his fingertips to pick things up and touch things. The OT then goes through a questionnaire with you about what your child likes/dislikes and the things they can or can't do. It varies depending on the age of the child but questions will include things about your child's eating habits, how they react to noise, whether they like to be swung through the air etc.

Ds1's hands were very sensitive. He wouldn't touch anything using the palms of his hands. If he fell over he wouldn't even use his hands to break his fall. Over the past few years (he's now 7) he's slowly become desensitised to most things. This has come about through slowly introducing him to different textures. The first few times he would just look. Then he would use his fingertips very carefully. Eventually he was able to use his whole hand to touch something.

Ds2 (4) is the one who eats only a very limited range of food: mainly dry bread (although he's now starting to have a little butter on it), smooth yoghurt, and bananas. Gradually we've been having a couple of breakthroughs. After 3 years of ignoring peas he started to sniff them now and then. A little while ago he actually put one in hius mouth and ate it. He's still not ready to eat more than one or two at a meal but it's the first time he's ever tolerated eating a vegetable of any kind. It's a very slow process but it can work.

It's very helpful to read experiences of others, thank you for sharing. I do have a question - is tactile hypersensitivity, speech development delay and aversion to food all symptoms of Autism? My son (20 month) was evaluated by a child psychologist/ OT group but they have not said anything about Autism. Is it because he is too young to be evaluated for it?

I just read up on Autism - really more like "101" and I am picking up on some cues that I see in my son's behavior. He isn't saying any words yet (20 months), he does like cars - primarily plays with them, tries to climb into a real car if is near by ? so does that classify as an ?obsession with a single object??

BUT, he likes to be held, he maintains eye contact (especially if it is during active play or when he wants something from you), responds to his name... doesn't have repetitive behaviors... when playing, knows that you have to wait during ?ready? set? and only act on ?go? ? so does that classify as following rules of social play?

He is too young to tell if he can make friends? but if I make a serious, disapproving face ? he gets upset? so does it mean he IS reading social cues?

I'm very confused now... If your child was evaluated for Autism - what did it involve and at what age was he evaluated?

Law - we only had 2 sessions with OT. I think the next session will actually be more interesting since she'll be observing him during meal time. I am curious to see how she'll teach him to eat (he has sensitivities but I guess not as sever as some described here). In the previous 2 sessions she played with him by giving him toys that vibrate and make sounds. She also had him jump on a large inflatable ball. Now, interestingly she'd help him jump a couple of times and then she'd stop and say "Jump?" and wait until he made eye contact and a sound that resembled something of a "daahh!" - and he's smile ear to ear. She also supplements her dialogue with him with some limited sign language (e.g. ?more? ?help?, etc)