Sensory Under Responder

[Emerald237]

I feel my child may fall under this category. She ticks some ASD traits but this area of SPD seems to massively jump out at me. She's almost 3 (has significant receptive and expressive language delays and lots of ENT issues currently and we don't know the extent until the medical elements are sorted).

She is an easy going toddler, nothing really annoys her, not rigid or restrictive in her routines. It take A LOT to get her excited about anything, responds well to chase and tickle/people games. Very seldom responds to her name, has poor balance and way below age appropriate gross motor skills (e.g. kicking and jumping).

Has anyone else experienced this? Most SPD profiles I have read about seem to be sensory over responders or sensory seekers I can't see much about the placid non or under responders. Thanks!

Dyspraxia is also associated with SPD ADHD and ASC. SPD can also be avoidance. Might be worth doing a Sensory profile. Definitely look at dyspraxia though. My eldest is ASC, ADHD and has dyspraxia and hyper flexibility. Try focussing on some games where you work on jumping and developing gross motor skills at home eg: blowing bubbles and stamping them out together. Use the things she is interested in and try and do a bit everyday.

Thanks for your reply!

Excuse my ignorance, (aside from verbal dyspraxia) can dyspraxia affect behaviour and communication? That's really interesting. I plan to do lots of the gross motor type activities you have mentioned to aid this.

Did your child present with any of the other issues I have mentioned? Under response is a major one at the moment as it's really hard to get an 'in' to implement SALT activities.

Have a look at this. As you can see it affects much more than speech. https://dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/advice/dyspraxia-in-children/
https://sensoryhealth.org/basic/subtypes-of-spd
I hope these are useful x

Thank you so much, those links are great!

I definitely see some of those dyspraxia traits in her, that's really interesting, I thought dyspraxia was just gross motor and fine motor skills.

She's a particularly aloof child, doesn't respond much to things like loud noises, obscure animals at the zoo etc or her name being called. I will ask OT about a sensory diet to see if I can start to get an 'in' for her to respond.

Happy to help. Don’t be afraid to be pushy regarding referrals for assessment. It’s best to have things in place before school starts as it can take years otherwise and school can be a very difficult environment to navigate for ND children without support. Girls in particular are great at masking and often get missed. I got missed and got diagnosed at 50 because I recognised things in my children In myself. Both my children are ASC and ADHD, but very different in lots of ways. This is also really interesting and helpful. There is a sensory profiling exercise in this that I recommend to a lot of my families. https://courses.washington.edu/sop/ArticLang/MoreThanWordsChap1.PDF

I'm actually doing the Hanen More than Words course at the moment! Only started it though so hoping for a breakthrough once we get going!