SPD?

So my daughter will be 2yrs old next month. She recently started through the First Steps program and they have signed her up for speech and occupational therapy. She has been evaluated a few tims so far and although the occupational therapist hasnt put her final word in yet, she seems to thing she has some forms of SPD. Vestibular dysfunction and oral hyposensitivity. This isnt the final word but from what i have gathered, it seems to be right on the money.

Are there any other mothers out there dealing with this that could tell me more? Does this mean she is autistic as well? Any advice? TIA!

You can have SPD without being autistic, and be autistic without SPD.

It's all about figuring out her sensitivites and working with/around them.

My son has autism and while it can be a challange, once you figure it out things become your new "normal"   Good luck!

DS will be 2 in April and is also in the First Steps program and has been for quite some time now. Almost 6 months. They haven't diagnosed him as anything other than speech delayed and "sensory sensitive" because he is very attached to certain textures. I wouldn't worry about autism unless they say something about it because a LOT of people have sensory issues and are not autistic. I was freaking out DS might be autistic as that's what they wanted to evaluate him for, but they've stated he's not. He's just sensitive, stubborn and independent is what they've said.

Quoting Reise's Mommy:" DS will be 2 in April and is also in the First Steps program and has been for quite some time now. Almost ... [snip!] ... wanted to evaluate him for, but they've stated he's not. He's just sensitive, stubborn and independent is what they've said."

You are due on my bday!  lol

Anyhow, did you ever get a second opinion? I hear so many things about kids commonly being misdiagnosed and being treated for the wrong thing and it screwing them up in the long run. A friend of mine does first steps with her little boy and he was diagnosed with something similar but she asked to be refered to a developmental specialist. Turns out, he has a lot more problems.
I worry about her being worse off than what they think or her just being a little behind and its not as bad as they think. Im just not sure what to think about all of this.

My son does not have autism, but he does have SPD.

I buy oral stimulation things from the site, fun and function. There are several things to chew on that are safe. There are also things called jigglers- but if you search those you will want to do a google search for Oral Motor Jigglers or you won't find them.

Z-vibe is a good tool to have also.

And if you get a chewy tube- red was the good texture for my LO's. the blue is really, really hard.

Also, my other son is still very oral at age 5. We encourage small bites. Otherwise he stuffs.


Anyway those are a few things with the oral stuff that has helped us.

As far as SPD... Every kid is different. For us, we have to meet our son where he is at and every day is typically very rough. But he's making progress (:

Like the other ladies have sad, lots of people have sensory issues and are not autistic. My son is 2 and is in early intervention for speech and OT. he was evaluated for autism and they said he definitely does not have it.

since starting speech and OT a few months ago, he's doing so much better and seems like a much happier kiddo!

Quoting BrandyJ#3:" You are due on my bday!  lol Anyhow, did you ever get a second opinion? I hear so many things about ... [snip!] ... think or her just being a little behind and its not as bad as they think. Im just not sure what to think about all of this. "

Oh cool! haha

Nope. Never taken him anywhere else. His doctor thinks he's got temper issues, they think he's fine, all parties agree he's extremely intelligent for his age. I was so concerned at first that I cried for days, felt like I was a terrible parent and whatever issues he may have are my fault, etc. But then I guess I just realized at some point it doesn't matter that much. He's happy and that's all that matters to me. I do my best to make sure he's learning and to understand his needs because they're different than most kids, but I don't want to put him through doctors and specialists his whole life to figure out an exact diagnosis when I don't plan on putting him on medication. Right now he has a developmental interventionist and a speech therapist that both come on different days and if he acted like he didn't like it I would quit the program. He enjoys it so I'm okay with it.

He's unique, there's no doubt about that but he's perfectly capable of functioning, learning and taking care of himself already. I won't push for any kind of treatment because he's fine the way he is. The not talking is the only thing he's really having any issues with and he uses sign language now, so that's good enough for me. He'll start talking when he's ready to and everyone that works with him has said when he does start talking he's going to go from no words at all to full sentences right off the bat and he's going to know a lot of things we never would have thought he knew.

Now that I have sufficiently rambled on... lol. Basically, I wouldn't let anyone push you into thinking there's something wrong with your little girl or that you even need to treat her. If she's having a hard time and would be happier then go for it, but don't let them push you into any kind of treatment to make her "normal." She's still really young and it's hard to tell much at this age.

Quoting ♫ boobook ♫:" My son does not have autism, but he does have SPD. I buy oral stimulation things from the site, fun ... [snip!] ... is different. For us, we have to meet our son where he is at and every day is typically very rough. But he's making progress (:"

Thanks! I did come across that site with the Chewlery stuff when I was trying to look things up. I was going to ask about that but totally forgot.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Reise's Mommy:</b>" Oh cool! haha Nope. Never taken him anywhere else. His doctor thinks he's got temper issues, they think ... [snip!] ... them push you into any kind of treatment to make her "normal." She's still really young and it's hard to tell much at this age."</blockquote>



How do they know he will start talking from not at all to full sentences? Does he have words and make sounds? Because that's a very big guess and I've never heard a SLP say something like that. Ever.

Quoting ♫ boobook ♫:" <blockquote><b>Quoting Reise's Mommy:</b>" Oh cool! haha Nope. Never taken him anywhere ... [snip!] ... Does he have words and make sounds? Because that's a very big guess and I've never heard a SLP say something like that. Ever."

He CAN say words and goes on and on and on all day long but it's never English, it's just noise. Occasionally he will whisper words like bath, wow, juice and bye, but he says it so quietly you can barely hear him. Any other time he's yelling as loud as he can. She didn't say it as a fact, she stated she bets that's what happens. It's very obvious he understand every word we say, he just doesn't feel the need to talk back to us because he does everything for himself and doesn't want our help. She said in most children she's worked with like him they go from not saying at all to suddenly telling you colors, saying their ABC's and counting in a matter of days, but they're usually close to 3 before they say anything. If you ask him if he wants to take a bath he turns, whispers bath and goes off down the hallway, gets into the linen cabinet, gets himself a towel and wash rag, dumps his bath toys in the tub, climbs in and turns the water on, then puts the plug in. He neglects to take his clothes off before he does it, but he's close lol. He also picks up any new sign you show him as soon as you show it to him. It takes one time and he remembers it from there on. He sometimes puts his own spin on them, but he's up to over 20 signs now and is signing 3 word sentences.

Quoting Reise's Mommy:" Oh cool! haha Nope. Never taken him anywhere else. His doctor thinks he's got temper issues, they think ... [snip!] ... them push you into any kind of treatment to make her "normal." She's still really young and it's hard to tell much at this age."

See part of me thinks i shouldnt push her like you said but then part of me says i am the parent and she is the child and if i dont make her then im neglecting her (its not about what she wants but its about what she needs). Im so on the fence about it all because at the end of the day there is no hand book to perfect parenting, there are so many different methods, and there really isnt a right or wrong. I have never had to deal with such problems.
They are teaching her sign language too. So far they have shown her "more"and "please". she picked up on "please"in two days!i was so excited for her and proud. I called my mom to tell her the news and she bashed me saying she isnt mute and that they are supposed to teach her to talk. "She would look stupid and kids will talk about her when she gets older if she does sign language instead of/while speaking."I was hurt and confused. She not only signed it but she tried to say it at the same time. I would love for all my childrem to learn how to sign. It doesnt hurt.

Our oldest will be 4 in May and she has gone to First Step since she was 1. She has been in the preschool there for almost a year now. She has speech, occupational and physical therapy..she had early intervention until she didn't quality for it any longer. She is believed to have sensory issues, that's what the therapists would tell me when she started there. She wouldn't touch her feet to the ground to stand, she kept her legs bent like the floor was cold water or something. We would use a scrub brush like what doctors and surgeons use to scrub their hands when washing.

We used it up and down her arms and legs and pressed firmly so it wouldn't tickle. She to this day acts funny about things like certain clothing..for whatever reason she prefers jeans but sometimes a softer fabric. She does this thing where she puts her nose and mouth to her three month old sister's head/hair and kind of kisses her but seems like she's sniffing her hair..maybe because it tickles her nose?

I dunno but she gets beside herself and shakes and she will push on her teeth with her fingers and shake her head back and forth a little like she's spazzing out. It keeps me on edge and I don't know what to do to help her with it, I guess I need to talk to her therapists. Wow sorry for the novel! Meant to add that she hasn't been diagnosed with Autism but has been diagnosed with microdeletion 15 13.3q. A tiny piece of a chromosome in pair 15 is missing there for causing her delays.

Quoting BrandyJ#3:" See part of me thinks i shouldnt push her like you said but then part of me says i am the parent and ... [snip!] ... signed it but she tried to say it at the same time. I would love for all my childrem to learn how to sign. It doesnt hurt. "

I don't want to sound rude but your mother is ignorant if she said that. Baby sign language very much promotes earlier speech in children that start it at a young age. Tell her to look it up on youtube. There are kids who before they turn 2 years old can sign AND say the entire alphabet and sign and SAY 20-30 words. That's HUGE. On average a 15 month old should be saying 8-10 words. To be able to sign AND say 20-30 at that age is monumental.

DS had a very hard time at first with signs because he didn't WANT to communicate. He was very antisocial, wanted no attention from anyone, didn't want to be loved on, didn't want anything from anyone. He wanted to do it himself and if you tried to interfere with that he would hit you and scream and cry. They started coming twice a week and it took him 2 or 3 visits before he would finally sign "more." During the week we would sign "more" before letting him have something and he would yell like he was frustrated and didn't want to deal with the signs, run his hands down his face like he was tired of us signing, them he would sigh and do it with this really bad attitude. He KNEW how to do the sign he just didn't want to. Once he figured out if he did it he got what he wanted right away he started picking them up much faster.

People do look at him funny in stores when he signs and any little hand motion or movement he makes people ask me "what's that mean?" and that is kind of annoying because most of the time he's just scratching his head or pulling his ear, but now that he's communicating with us and can express himself we're all a lot happier.

Quoting Reise's Mommy:" I don't want to sound rude but your mother is ignorant if she said that. Baby sign language very much ... [snip!] ... his head or pulling his ear, but now that he's communicating with us and can express himself we're all a lot happier."

She is very ignorant for saying that. She is so old fashion that she believes there is nothing wrong with any child but then just being hard headed or plan misbahaving because they are spoiled brats. Unforunately she is the only person i really talk to. lol which is why im asking so much from experienced parents. I agree that it helped. She never tried to say it but now that she signs it, she is trying to speak it.

Thank you all. I just need some happy thoughts i guess about all of this. I am uneducated, unexperienced, and not well supported when it comes to this.