My son has been diagnosed with SPD, can somebody hold my hand whilst I freak a bit?

[MakeMineABellini]

It's been a bit of a shock.

If anyone has any experience I will be so grateful to hear your story.

I have Googled and it fills me with doom.

I skim over the words depression, low self esteem and pretend I am not paying attention then burst into tears the next minute.

Are the miracle belts any good? Will he get better/improve? Shall I just move to Guatemala where we can just have goats for company so it won't matter?

Can i ask- you eman sensory processing? Just there is also a semantic pragmatic disorder

Whichever, consider your hand well and truly held, and I have some info on sensory issues if you ever want it so feel free to cat (Ostensibly its about asd but really its generic)

I'm s sorry, Sensory Processing Disorder.

I stopped reading when I saw a link to Schizophrenia

So is it ASD? Does is come under the same umbrella. Why didn't I ask all these questions in the room? I think I stopped listening when I heard the first bit then there was lots of noise and blur (then I realised my children were scrapping behind me and the appointment was halted quite swiftly thereafter)

This was mentioned re my DD at her last appointment, I am also wondering if it is considered to be ASD in the UK, as I think my DD might end up with the diagnosis amongst other things.

Have you read "The Out of Sync Child"?

Our OT also recommended "Raising A Sensory Smart Child".

The OT told me to get that book, she said I would read it knowingly and nod at the descriptions and think it was written about my child. That's the book by Carol Stock Kraowitz isn't it? Will but from Amazon in a moment.

Can it improve? Ds is having such a tough time of school lately, I am worried it will kill his confidence.

He is such a wonderful kind soul, I fear that'll go.

It's not asd in any definition I know, there however parallels

SI for example is not proven to work with ASD kids

the only reason we had it under asd is my MA is in asd, and the OT came in under that header but tried to delver as wide a presentation as she could; wise, most of us don't live in narrow asd worlds after all

I think it is...am reading it just now, but slowly as its quite heavy going.

I have heard it can improve a LOT..is he over or under sensitive?

(DD is hugely sensory seeking, to the extent of acting completely strangely much of the time - hoping it will improve as she is still only 3).

Your MA sounds amazingly interesting.

I don't know (god I sound insane) He hates loud noise. Is very clumsy- he used to spill his drink every day- no matter where we were (had to almost fight with my dh to use sports bottles as he was convinced that ds was just being clumsy ) and dh would all but scream at him! he falls alot, needs to touch his peers (too much) which is starting to become a problem.

He is very unflexible and has to follow rules to the dot, if others do not do this it leads to a melt down- and he will cower away and cover his ears compaining of his head feeling like it will explode.

OT said it's definitely not Dyspraxia.

We were told my DS had this a year ago. There is so much information to digest.

I'm sure things will improve, even if just by you knowing. It makes life so much easier when you can recognise that it isn't just your child being badly behaved that is making them irritable or upset (or at least it did with my DS).

He has now had a diagnosis of ASD and I think the 2 can be linked but not always, it can be possible to just have SPD.

How old is your DS and what signs has he been showing?

It's all really confusing isn't it.

Sounds like the experts at least now know where his problems lie, and hopefully you will now get some help with them.

he is six.

Sorry to moan, I am a positive person but today I just broke down a bit a felt doomy.

I feel very lonely today. The family I have told say things like "no he's fine there's nothing wrong with him" "he's lovely"

It's annoying when people won't accept there is anything wrong.

You aren't moaning!!

It's hard to hear something like that about your child.

Oh, I get that all the time. His nan says "well I can't see anything wrong with him" - hugely helpful!

We have the noise thing too. We had to run out of a toilet with my hands over his ears when someone dared to use the hand dryer today.

I get the "you just haven't TRAINED her properly"..like she is an animal....yes, my bad parenting is why she can't speak or walk properly..

Has he been referred to OT? They should be full of ideas to help.

MMAB, you just described my 6 year old DS almost to the letter. He does have other things going on (autism and ADHD) but he has to touch everything and everyone, mouths everything, trips over everything and nothing and ends up wearing half of what he eats and drinks. He rarely sits still and is constantly spinning, squirming and bouncing. When he's tired, he lays very flat on the floor or crawls around with his head on the ground.

It's a real pain in the arse, sometimes, but you find ways of adapting to, accommodating and diverting the behaviour, as appropriate, that work for you and your child (like sports bottles and dark clothes on pasta days!) I do recommend reading the Out of Sync Child and the Out of Sync Child has fun, since they're both pretty accessible for books of that type and full of really helpful hints.

Thank you, you are all so kind and tonight this place has seemed like a sanctuary, I really mean that. I haven't wibbled yet (dh here and refuses to see a problem, he just needs to be careful is what his usual line is as well as I was clumsy when I was a kid because I had long legs too!)

The OTs all agreed that what he does at the moment is perfect and we shoudl continue. He does dance, swimming, trampolining and gymnstics. He is terrible at all of them but he does them (I make him ) They seemed happy enough that he was doing that.

I got really upset when I put him to bed earlier on. I was looking at how gorgeous he was and balming myself. I worry I caused this because I didn't hold him enough as a baby (he never wanted to be put down ever) or I did something wrong when I carried him

definitely not something you did or didn't do. Just the way their brain works. Each child with it is different from any other so those scary lists your reading may have no relevance to your dc.
My DS is 8 and has it as a result of cysts in his brain, nothing to do with ASD in my case. His behaviour can be embarrassing, distressing, engaging loving and can also drive me totally bonkers and it does make my heart ache to see life has so many challenges for him. There are ways to help (sensory diet, listening program, OT etc). Reading about it and understanding how he functions does help.

you sound like a wonderful mother-and just think about all the kids who are dragged up and turn out just fine!it's nothing you have done!

Definitely not something that you have or haven't done, Bellini. You seem to be very sensitive and responsive to your DS's needs.

And mine's a Bacardi and coke, right now, thanks to DH popping into ASDA on the way home from work after I whinged about the earful I'd had off DS1, today. Cheers!

Thank you so very much. I have just noticed my appauling typing. I was not balming myself blaming myself.

Let's see what tomorrow brings. I just want a happy person, I don't care about clever, athletic or successful- just happy.

I wish I had some Champagne right now A walnut whip will just have to suffice.

Wondered if anyone has used a miracle belt?