Basically, the brain must organize all of the information it takes in, categorize and process the sensations and attempt to move and learn “normally”. If the brain can not do that then the output is dysfunctional.

Sensory integration includes not only the five senses but also balance and movement.

Sight
Sound (auditory- with no diagnosed hearing problems)
Touch (tactile- input from the skin receptors about touch, pressure, temperature, pain, and movement of the hairs on the skin.)
Vestibular (input from the inner ear about equilibrium, gravitational changes, movement experiences, and position in space)
Proprioceptive (input from the muscles and joints about body position, weight, pressure, stretch, movement, and changes in position in space)
Oral
Smell
Auditory Language
Social, Emotional, Play, and Self RegulationSensory Integration is typically detected and diagnosed in children because SI can be obvious during early childhood activities such as tactile play, tumbling, and gross and fine motor skills. If Sensory Integration is not detected learning, development, and behavior problems can surface later and become more serious.

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What Causes Sensory Integration?

A Sensory Diet is a carefully designed activity schedule that provides your child with sensory and nervous system input to help him/her stay focused, alert, and organized throughout the day. It is VERY important to recognize that EVERY child’s sensory diet will be different because there is no child who is the same and who needs the same sensory input and output. For example, one child may need to use more heavy work activities to utilize her proprioceptive sense and another may need more tactile input.

According to the Sensory Smarts website (a byproduct of the book, Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues) “to construct an effective sensory diet, you need the sensory smarts to truly understand your child’s sensory difficulties and how they interfere with his life.” You will need an occupational therapist to evaluate your child and help you create the sensory diet that will best suit your child.

What is also important to take into account is your child’s threshold for stimulation. If your child is easily stimulated and is often overstimulated it will be very important (early on) to keep a log of what triggers the overstimulation.

Even three years into AJ’s diagnosis we are still learning what triggers his overstimulation but we believe we are getting a handle on it and are finally able to keep him at a more regulated state during the day.

Here is a sample Sensory Diet from Sensory Smarts. We do MANY of these things as well as use natural light as much as possible and try to avoid using lights in the house. We avoid noise (no TV, stores, and play areas) as much as possible because his auditory sense sends him into fight or flight very quickly. We have limited clutter in the house to get rid of visual stimulation.

The hardest part is finding his threshold everyday because everyday it seems to change based upon his sleep or the weather. But, we try to do the best we can, minimize as much as we can, and provide him with as many sensory tools as we can.

Post from: Blisstree

What is a Sensory Diet

To quote my favorite SPD parent, Did you know, statistics say about 80% of our SPD kiddos will also have VISUAL and/or AUDITORY processing deficits? Yes it’s true… 80%! That is a huge number! Additionally, according to Patricia S. Lemer, M.Ed,. NCC, Executive Director, Developmental Delay Registry, “Vision plays a major role in language and social–emotional development. Children with language delays, attention deficits, pervasive developmental disorders and autism all have inefficient visual systems. If a toddler is not speaking or relating to others, a vision evaluation is essential. Given this information, it is something that we as professionals and/or parents should be acutely aware of.

Because we just recently pinpointed AJ’s Visual Processing Disorder via an outside evaluation we are also just starting to learn exactly how it affects him. Sure, we knew that he had some visual issues; his far sightedness, his hypersensitivity to lights, fast paced television shows, sunlight, etc, his inability to label colors and correctly track while counting, his clumsiness and lack of tracking and coordinating body movements with objects, and his disorientation in large crowds or when trying to find objects when they are in “junk drawers”.

The key to having a visual processing disorder detected is to see a specialist, an expert in central visual impairments, or a neurologist because an eye doctor can often miss signs like visual tracking, crossing the midline (with the eyes), fluidity, and may not even test your child’s reading or writing ability and may miss the flipping of letters such as b’s and d’s, p’s and q’s, and the also common 3 and E. (Read this for three common tests to do at home)

But what are the symptoms of Visual Processing?
When the brain is not processing visual input correctly the body tries to compensate by fidgeting, acting out, being disruptive or often defensive. You may see poor handwriting, slowness and difficulty reading, failure and frustration when trying to finish work, slouching in the sear, leaning head into hands, covering one eyes or rubbing both, or tapping toes or fingers. These children may also have trouble with gross or fine motor skills.

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What is Visual Processing Disorder?

Additional Sensory Integration Books
The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun, Revised Edition: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder
Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder

Post from: Blisstree

Book Review of the Week: Raising a Sensory Smart Child

Fleetingly.

And you all know that I am as honest as the day comes.

I was exhausted. I was not just tired, I was exhausted to the point that getting up in the morning was painful. I would daydream about naptime and I would forfeit my lunch just to get a few more minutes of precious sleep.

I was physically abused but a 2 year old who was scared of everything around him, who was in constant sensory overload (and thus in a constant state of flight or flight), who could not understand or speak the language, who was medically ill (ear infections, food allergies and intolerances, H Pylori, yeast infections, etc), and who was so frightened that I would leave his sight that he would hurt himself if I left the room or took the garbage out.

I was emotionally drained by a depression that took hold because this was not at ALL what I expected, by family who wanted normalcy, by ailing fathers, by anger and grief of what might have been.

So I can understand why parents seek alternatives or solutions for their children but I am sure NOT about to give up my fight to help my child.

Most adoptions are successful, between 80 and 90 percent. However, sometimes things just happen. Sometimes medical issues arise like fetal alcohol syndrome or mental health issues. Sometimes it just is not a good match and safety becomes a primary consideration for all those involved.

In a nutshell, the older the child is at placement, the higher the risk of adoption disruption. It is extremely rare, at less than 1%, for an infant adoption to disrupt. Depending on the group being studied, the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse says that the disruption rate can range from 3 to 53 percent.

According to the Chicago Tribune article, Ranch Raises Hopes for Adoptees, disruptions and dissolutions are up because of the amount of international adoptions and the lack of parental training prior to adoptions.

First, as Americans adopted more children from overseas — the figures have almost tripled since 1990 — the number of children with despairing behaviors grew, and these children are now hitting adolescence, when their rages are more dangerous.

Moreover, many parents were unprepared for the challenges, in part because agencies glossed over their charges’ complex medical histories — or omitted them altogether. “Now, they’re out there all alone … living in a constant state of crisis,” said Amy Groessl, a therapist with the Children’s Research Triangle in Chicago, which serves high-risk families.

Read Nancy Spoolstra’s article When to Hold and When to Fold about her own families adoption disruptions and dissolutions. I have spoken to her a few times about AJ and how to handle family issues and she is insightful.

Post from: Blisstree

Adoption Disruptions/Dissolutions Increase