Katherine's Story

I'm 17 now, but was diagnosed with SPD when I was about 2 years old. I don't remember too much from when I was younger, although my mom told me that I would be playing with her and all of a sudden start screaming and eventually I started to sock her in the face. :(

Some SPD quirks that I can remember from when I was a bit younger are that whenever I would be on the swing outside, I was always afraid of swinging too high and I felt that if I went above a certain height I would get lost in space.

I would gag on the smell of pizza and could never go to birthday parties.

I was absolutely *terrified* of those Disneyland characters.

When I played with dolls, it would be the same scenario (soccer team or school lunchtime).

I always prefered to play by myself .

Now I'm volunteering with kids with Autism, which has definitely shown me just how much SPD is still a part of my life.

I cannot tolerate certain bizarre noises like when someone drums their fingers, makes a clucking noise with their mouth, scratches facial hair stubble.

I hate sudden, unexpected noises like when the dogs bark or the phone rings.

I can't concentrate with faint background noise, it either has to be completely silent or really loud.

I bite my nails and cuticles *constantly* and absolutely love how it feels.

I play with my hair all the time.

I hate certain textures against my skin.

Sometimes I crave deep pressure.

I can't balance *at all* and I walk into walls a lot. I'm really uncoordinated.

I can only eat certain foods prepared in certain ways. Different foods can't be touching, ideally are on separate plates, and I cannot eat certain foods with certain other foods. i.e. I love bread and I love ham, but I could never eat a ham sandwich.