Occupational Therapy

by Tammy
(Denton, TX)

My son is 6 years old and has recently been diagnosed with SPD. His main issues are being too rough, not understanding "stranger danger", social problems and having no fears. His eating and being touched aren't major problems. I'm just wondering if anyone has had their child in therapy and it hasn't worked. I know he will have this for the rest of his life but if I'm paying for therapy, I would like to see a difference in him.



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Mar 08, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		OT will help
by: Anonymous

Tammy,

We also live in Denton. My daughters (2 and 4) both have SPD and are in Occupational Therapy. We can see a difference. Sometimes the difference is hard to see because the children cycle through their progress. As one area improves another may regress and so the improvements made in therapy might be taken for granted.

The one way to tell if therapy is making a difference - start therapy and then stop- that is when the impact of therapy will be very visible. We interrupted therapy when we moved from one city to another. The 2 months without OT were all it will ever take for me to know that the therapy works.

Since you are in Denton - feel free to email me
carroncollier@gmail.com
Aug 28, 2008
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starstarstarstarstar 		My Advice
by: Amy

Hi Tammy. I will give you my comments and you can use them as food for thought. My son is 8 1/2 and we noticed his "symptoms" when he was around 2-3. He's the middle child of 3 boys so we weren't sure if that's just how boys are but as time went on the social interactions (disruptions) he had caused us to act. He had problems in kindergarten---age 6 was very hard for us--- keeping hands to himself, respecting personal space and has always been sensory seeking. I was called to pick him up several times. He doesn't have much fear and "barges" into situations. He is very functional just intense and "more". We tried counseling which didn't seem to do much then we discovered information about SPD.

I would highly recommend the book "The Out-of-Sync Child" and "The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun". We incorporated many of the ideas and it helped us understand what his body needs and that his behaviors aren't intentional more of a response to his needs. He has been in OT once a week for 1 year now. We have seen an improvement over the year (stopped bed wetting, less physical outbursts) but not sure if it's just the fact that he's maturing more now. We also noticed he regresses at times (dark winter months in Alaska, birthdays, end of school, etc). He really enjoys OT which is why we've continued and it's helping us learn more about him and what works for him.

Your son is at the age where he could start recognizing what feels good to him and making a routine of that. My son responds to his shoulders being squeezed with all of my weight on him, small, dark places and heavy work. He has learned cooking and cake decorating as hobbies. He is a Cub Scout. Loved swimming lessons last year and household chores. Does better at school and socially one on one or very small groups. Prefers his brothers to friends although does have 1 good friend now. Things are better now than 3 years ago and as he matures it gets better too. It's constant work and not easy with him but I hope you'll keep working with your son to help him succeed. I would consider anything to help improve your situation so if OT is feasible then I'd suggest you get him assessed and try it, even for a few months. I hope this helps some. Good luck in your journey with him.

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