Reading this checklist helps make sense of unusual behaviors

by Ranette
(Kingsburg, Ca.)

This web site has been very helpful to me. This checklist helps explain some of the behaviors which we thought unusual in my granddaughter. She is 2 years old now, as of Dec. 22nd. I always thought it strange that she seemed to always be moving. I didn't remember my babies being so active when I held them. In her high chair and car seat she would constantly be raising and lowering her stiffened legs (both together). Ever since she could stand up in her crib, she has been banging her head either on the crib or on the wall. This draws often draws blood and she often has a big bump on her forehead or nose bridge. She doesn't seem to experience pain with it. She has always had difficulty getting to sleep. It doesn't work too well to leave her in her bed to cry, because she soon starts banging her head.

Another unusual thing she does is that she likes to lay on her kitten, whom she loves. She also likes to pull it by the tail. I wonder if she lays on the cat because she thinks this action would feel good if someone laid on her.

She likes to jump on the couch and off of the couch & onto the coffee table. (They now have a small trampoline which she enjoys jumping on, if she can get the zippered door zipped closed, which she insists on.)

She does not eat very many items. She likes spicy and sour items. She likes pickles and hot mexican food doesn't bother her.

She was seen by a speech therapist when she was about 20 months old because she still wasn't talking. The speech therapist thought something more was going on with her and suggested she be evaluated by an occupational therapist. Fortunately, this therapist is very knowledgeable about SPD and diagnosed her with this problem.

My daughter is a very busy mother of a very active 4 year old boy, the 2-year old girl, and a 5 month old girl. She feels like she never gets much done. She is a credentialed elementary school teacher, having taught 1st grade and some preschool classes until the 2nd baby came. Now she is a stay at home mom.

Since she is so busy, I (and her mother in law) have been researching this disorder. I made a weighted quilt (crib size) for the granddaughter, giving it to her at Christmas time. That was a major project. Lots of the work was figuring out what to make it out of and how to put it together. I ended up doing a flannel rag style quilt, starting with 6 inch blocks. So each block has 4 layers of flannel. The 2 inner layers are a separately sewed pouch of the plastic beads. The crib-sized quilt ended up weight about 5 pounds. I have tried to get my daughter to keep the house a little cooler at night so the children would stay covered better. Anyway, since using the weighted blanket, my granddaughter has been sleeping better, going to sleep easier, and not waking up so much throughout the night. There have been several times when she was pretty upset and not calming down and the weighted blanket was put on her and she settled down immediately. It is pretty amazing.

My granddaughter is now starting to talk more. She is putting several words together and adding lots more words to her vocabulary.