Our Journey To Discovery....

by Lara Taylor
(Hanover, MA)

Our son Bryan was the BEST boy anyone could wish for. He was our third child and was so easy to tote around with us everywhere.....UNTIL he turned 18 months. Our world turned upside down. Everything became difficult. Breakfast in the morning, getting dressed to get out the door, getting him to bed at night. You see, Bryan would whip his plate of waffles on the floor (syrup too) because they were too crispy.....freak out at the feeling of his clothes, socks shoes......and need to be lain down beside or (GASP!) driven around for hours. These reactions coupled with the fact that Bryan had serious speech delays (for which he was picked up at our local school for Early Intervention).

This behavior went on....we made accommodations....he had his own toaster set to the correct setting so his waffles would always be the same, he wore Crocs with no socks even in the winter for over three years and I slept with him for the same length of time.

We put him on a hockey team and every time he got bumped he would freak out. Clearly, a non-contact sport would be the best thing for him, we thought. We kept saying "oh, its just the terrible twos" which turned into the terrible threes and then continued on to the frightening fours. Frightening for us because there seemed to be no end in sight for this "phase".

The beginning of our "Aha!" moment began when we were on vacation at Point Sebago with a number of families from our town. Another mom came up to me after witnessing some of Bryan's "episodes" and asked me if I had ever considered if Bryan may have Sensory Issues....I said "Um, no. Any by the way what the heck is that?" She suggested that I read the Out of Sync Child and see if any of it resonated with me. Well, I never got the book....heck Bryan will grow out of it right?

Fast forward a few months and another woman called me up out of the blue and told me her story....urging me to read the Out of Sync Child. So now I am thinking "Why have two seemingly random women asked me the same thing???" This time I went out and bought the book.

My son was jumping off the pages at me. I was having AHA moments left and right. Bryan was evaluated and diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, predominately tactile with some auditory issues. He receives OT services every week and I have recently started the brushing at home. The differences are unbelievable! Is he the same child? I cried a few months ago when he put socks and sneakers on for the first time! He is now a very good hockey player and loves to "check". He now reacts appropriately (for the most part) to food cooked too little or too much.....even though he will only eat 5 or 6 things. As for the sleeping? We are still working on that. We pawned him off on his brother about 9 months ago and recently bought him a vibrating body pillow......we will have to see if it helps. Bryan only has one good friend and often times prefers to play alone. I hope that as he becomes more comfortable with himself this will change.

He is off to kindergarten in the Fall and it is our hope to have him in his own bed by then. Wish him luck!