Anyone out there know anything about sensory problems?

Question

Our son is 3years and 8months old and we have been told that he has sensory difficulties. He also has speech and language delay. We are currently waiting to have him assessed. We have been told that he will need to see an occupational therapist also to help him with his problems. Does anyone know anything that could help us understand a little more about sensory problems?

Answer 1

When you say sensory problems are all his senses affected or just certain ones can you be more specific?

Answer 2

I may be way off base here, but with the basic information that you provided, it reminds me of a little boy I have been teaching.

He had speech and language delays, in that he was unable to follow directions, or if he could, he may be able to follow them one day, but not the next, he also had articulation problems, which made it very difficult for him to be understood by others.

He also had sensory problems in that he hated many types of messy play, and also food affected him... he was a very fussy eater, because sensorially he could not handle the texture of certain foods in his mouth. He also had fine and gross motor difficulties.... this came down to motor difficulties in planning and spatial awareness.

Does any of this sound like your son? If so, the child I have described above was recently diagnosed with Dyspraxia. There are three types of Dyspraxia - oral, verbal and motor.... It is not uncommon for a child to have a combination of some or all.

Try researching Dyspraxia on the net.... I found some very helpful sites that really catered to sensory problems (unfortunately I do not have the sites handy, as they are at work).

I hope that any of this information has been helpful. Let me just say that if your child does have something like Dyspraxia, do not stress.... the child that I have talked about here has been getting early intervention through an occupational therapist, and a speech therapist.... the improvement that I have seen in him in the last 6 months has been out of this world!

Answer 3

I could go on for ages about this and then not answer your question appropriately so for what it's worth I would like you to visit www.Tocki.co.uk where you will find a range of "equipment" designed, manufactured and sold by Ann and Harry Tock. Their stuff is wonderful. I had the pleasure of having a stall next to Ann at a special needs exhibition in Scunthorpe earlier this year. I was blown away by her and all things Tocki. Hope this is of some use. If you get in touch with Ann she will be able to advise on ways of dealing with sensory problems. Good luck. PS I have just read the other answers you have received so far. They are all very good and should be really useful to you. Best wishes.

Answer 4

Hi
I work in a school with both normal children and children that have problems.
But where I work there are people called "sure start" and "snaps" people that are able to help a lot more, and deal with children in this.
If you are after sensory toys, I am sure that if you have a health visitor she can advise you on this. And also if you do ask him or her about "sure start" they are brilliant people and are very helpful.
My job at the school is I am a volunteer in a Toy Library which means we lean toys out to parents and groups, and also some where , where the parents get advise and help if needed as we have special people come in.
I really hope that this helps you!!, I know its hard but it has its good points and is very rewarding and you learn lots from other parents with the same problems that you have.
Remember that you are not alone!!

Answer 5

An occupational therapist will be a great asset to your child if they have sensory processing difficulties. Sensory Integration Dysfunction comes in many forms, and can involve more than one sense. I work at a preschool for children with disabilities, and many of our children have sensory processing difficulties. Some are tactile (touch), who don't like certain textures, such as shaving cream, pudding or paint. Some to the extreme extent of vomiting when they even see the offending substance. Granted, that is an extreme reaction, but it is one I've seen often enough. Other children have problems discerning between sounds, or the "invisible" sounds that our brains filter out are still heard by these kids (the buzzing of flourescent lighting, for example). Others are offended by tastes and textures of foods- oral dyspraxia is common- the child may only like crunchy or mushy foods, or may overstuff their mouth. Sight- some children may have an intolerance to the colors of certain things (may only eat certain color foods or wear certain color clothes) and visual stimuli may be too much for them. "Busy" signs, wallpaper, bedsheets, too bright of colors, etc may be difficult for them to look at, or they may need more of it. That's the thing about sensory processing difficulties... there are always two sides- a hypo-sensitive (under sensitive) and hyper-sensitive (over sensitive) version. Children with SD may also have problems processing in two internal systems- the proprioceptive and vestibular systems. The proprioceptive system regulates pressure. How much pressure you exert on items and how much pressure is being put on you. It tells your joints about pressure on them, and regulates your body's sense of where you are in space. This system keeps you from bumping into things in your path and from dropping the glass in your hand. The other sense, the vestibular- is located in your inner ear area, and regulates your sense of balance. This is also the system that tells your body whether you are upside down or tilted to the side, and helps you to always "right yourself" when you are tumbling or somersaulting. If this sense is "off", then your child probably either abosolutely loves to swing- or hates it. This sense also tells your body when it is in danger of falling, so it can cause a lot of gravitational insecurity. This is a child who will not climb stairs, or seems frightened or wary of curbs or other level changes. Speech delays are common with sensory processing difficulties simply for the fact that the child's body is responding to everything- all stimuli coming into their brain- at the same time. It would be like having music on really loud, with someone flashing a light on and off in your face, sitting on a chair with tacks on it, with a lemon wedge in your mouth, as someone spins the chair. It would be awfully hard to attend to anything at that point, let alone learning words. A wonderful book about sensory processing disorders is called The Out-of-Sync Child by Carol Stock Kranowitz, and it's sequel, The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun. The first really explains the different types of processing disorders in detail (far better than I could) and the second book has all kinds of activities geared towards the specific type of processing difficulty your child has. We use both of these references in our child care center to help our children. I hope this has helped you, and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

Answer 6

Read "The Out of Sync Child'! Great book. Link below. Children can be put on a "sensory diet" where there are scheduled stimuli added to his environment or body, It's interesting stuff. Don't worry. He can be fine. You are start to get on this early. Good luck.

Answer 7

try this link hope it helps
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/fall97/sensory.htm