My 6 year old diagnosed with SPD

by Charisma
(Myrtle Beach, SC)

Hello All! My 6 year old son was just diagnosed with SPD. He was born at 31 1/2 weeks gestation. He had OT and PT until he was 23 months old. From then, I was concerned about him because he still struggled with catching a ball and standing on one foot. He couldn't run like the other kids and didn't want to participate in physical activities. I tried different things knowing he still had issues with gross motor skills like Gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do, but he still didn't seem to develop.

He was diagnosed with ADD about 6 months ago after he poked another child with a pencil at school which shocked everyone including his teacher. His teacher also noted impulsivity, talking out of turn, and falling out of his chair in class. He has been on two different medications since then, but it still doesn't really control all of his symptom or behaviors.

I decided to take my son to a therapist to have him evaluated to see if he was at age appropriate behaviors. After taking a Vineland questionnaire from his therapist, she decided to refer us to an Occupational Therapist. I am now wondering if he was misdiagnosed with ADD and, now, since the diagnoses of SPD has come up, I'm wanting to take him off of medication. It can't believe it took doing my own referring and getting in touch with my own intuition and feelings as a mom to find out something was wrong...by the way, I had asked my Pediatrician about my son's development and his inabilities, he just passed it off. So, for you parents who struggle with knowing what to do or if your child really has SPD, take the time and the money to do an evaluation. Or your child could end up on medication that really isn't needed.