You know you’re an SPD Parent when…
…your child licks the step of an exam table right in front of the doctor.
…the child leaves everything in at school and explodes right when they get home.
…you change your whole routine just to see them smile.
…you have a routine chart set and you don’t dare change it for the day, no matter what.
…meltdowns turn into hours of screaming and you can’t remember why they started.
…you consider a good day being able to go into ‘public’ without having a stranger give you “the look” following your child having a meltdown.
…being able to keep clothes on her while in town running errands, oh the joys of trying to eat out and get a child to keep her clothes on.
…you pay for full swimming lessons that involve no swimming and barely any water.
…your child’s clothes are both too tight and too loose at the same time.
…your child eats chicken fingers 6 days in a row then declares them gross on day 7.
… you want to eat multiple foods but none of them can touch anything else except Ranch, Ranch touches everything.
…you make 5 different dinners and they all taste wrong.
…your kid uses your boobs as a safe place
All these things seem very funny to most and very trivial, but honestly, this is our day to day life with a child with Sensory process disorder. There are many, many good days but there are just as many bad days to follow. SPD is a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses.
Some people with sensory processing disorder are oversensitive to things in their environment. Common sounds may be painful or overwhelming. The light touch of a shirt may hurt them.
Others with sensory processing disorder may:
Be uncoordinated
Bump into things
Be unable to tell where their limbs are in space
Be hard to engage in conversation or play
SPD affects everyone differently.
Special thanks to the moms who helped give me some great answers to what their children do.
Arwyn Homles
Krystal Ranshaw
Brittany Pavey
Jill Wimmers