If a family’s healthcare provider isn’t familiar with SPD, the clues that triggered the parents’ alarm may be overlooked, misinterpreted, or dismissed.
The parents may be scolded for over-reacting or they may be offered assurances that their child is “just a little delayed” or “going through a phase” or “showing his personality.” Parents are the adults in the best position to know when their child has a sensory problem but, too often, their observations are discounted because they are “just the parents.”
The child may be misdiagnosed and even treated for another disorder that is already familiar to the doctor rather than for the real culprit: Sensory Processing Disorder.
By the time I meet families through the SPD Foundation, at the STAR Center in Denver, or in one of the workshops I teach, the parents are often near despair because they have tried and failed to convince somebody that red flag symptoms exist and are disrupting their child’s life in basic ways. . . . (They) know something isn’t right but they are intimidated, frustrated, or downright discouraged because nobody believes them.
Infants and toddlers
- Problems eating or sleeping
- Refuses to go to anyone but me
- Irritable when being dressed; uncomfortable in clothes
- Rarely plays with toys
- Resists cuddling, arches away when held
- Cannot calm self
- Floppy or stiff body, motor delays
Pre-schoolers
- Over-sensitive to touch, noises, smells, other people
- Difficulty making friends
- Difficulty dressing, eating, sleeping, and/or toilet training
- Clumsy; poor motor skills; weak
- In constant motion; in everyone else’s face and space
- Frequent or long temper tantrums
Grade schoolers
- Over-sensitive to touch, noise, smells, other people
- Easily distracted, fidgety, craves movement; aggressive
- Easily overwhelmed
- Difficulty with handwriting or motor activities
- Difficulty making friends
- Unaware of pain and/or other people
Adolescents and adults
- Over-sensitive to touch, noise, smells, and other people
- Poor self-esteem; afraid of failing at new tasks
- Lethargic and slow
- Always on the go; impulsive; distractible
- Leaves tasks uncompleted
- Clumsy, slow, poor motor skills or handwriting
- Difficulty staying focused
- Difficulty staying focused at work and in meetings
