Since Presley was six months old, when we first started to notice problems, everything we’ve done since has been a fight, either a fight with doctors, the insurance company or with my family.
Most people do not know what Sensory Processing disorder is, let alone have even HEARD of it. I know I hadn’t, until my daughters OT casually mentioned it one day. I started to research it, I found that it fit her so well and that there are different treatments and therapies that can help her.
One of the problems with Sensory Processing disorder is that, again, it’s unknown. Children have been getting “diagnosed” since the 1970’s but there is not enough adequate research to give a FORMAL diagnosis. With more children having Sensory Processing difficulties and not fitting the “ADHD” or ”Autism” label, there has been slightly more information out there.
According to a TIME magazine article, which they interviewed members of the STAR center (a center that offers therapy for children with SPD), “SPD is not listed in medical texts or in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM), the bible of psychiatric disorders. Doctors acknowledge sensory issues as a common feature of autism and a frequent feature of ADHD but not as a stand-alone disorder.” With the official medical diagnoses going undefined it leaves parents, children, doctors and therapist with little to do. There is power in a official medical diagnoses, if children get the official diagnoses “SPD added to the next edition of the DSM, the fifth, due out in 2012. Earning a spot in the DSM V would make it easier for researchers to win grants, kids to get accommodations at school and families to be reimbursed for a course of treatment.” If SPD gets added to the DSM, there is more funding for research and thus a better understanding of what is going on in my daughter’s magnificent little brain. However, one of the biggest issues is that if SPD does get a validation, SPD could have a shot at being included in the DSM VI--due out somewhere around 2025. Presley would be: 19, a staggering thought.
That’s why it important for all of us to have a better understanding of Sensory Processing disorder. It’s important for parents/teachers/therapists to get the word out and spread information.
DSM- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Wallis, C (2007). The next attention deficit disorder? Time Magazine. Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1689216,00.html
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
yell
Presley’s speech is starting to grow more and more. Some of you may remember that she recently started to actually speak. She started school August 2009 and her speech “jumped” off around December 2009. I accredited much of that to school, as well as the intensive speech therapy she had from age 1 until she started school.
Generally children start to talk around age 1. They know at least one or two words. Presley had none. She screamed, a lot. Speech wasn’t even on my list of “concerns” with Presley. I was more worried about her lack of motor skills and screaming, more than anything. When we had her early intervention evaluation the subject of speech came up. They asked me general questions about her language abilities, and then it hit me: she had none!
According to Parenting.com common reasons for speech delays, include, but are not limited to: boys often develop speech later than girls, preemies have hard time hitting those “normal” milestones on time, multiples (twins) are usually premature or have low birth rates-so they have the milestone problems, children with chronic ear infections: most likely have poor hearing-so a delay in speech and kids who are focused on other skills.
Presley had none of those common problems. She did have a lower than average birth weight, but not anything for concern and she was not technically premature (I had her the day I turned 38 weeks pregnant).
Parenting.com believes the best time to get professional help is when your child is around 2 ½, the age that late bloomers usually catch up. I disagree; you should get professional help as soon as possible. The earlier the better, your child has the best chance to succeed.
With that being said, Presley is now starting to say three to four word sentences. One of her favorites is: “I can’t reach it.” Though her speech is not where it should be, we are very happy and proud of the progress she has made.
I think I’ll end this entry with a small list of famous late bloomers in the field of speech: Gary Becker, Nobel prize-winning economist, Albert Einstein, Julia Robinson (the first women president of the American mathematical society!) and Edward Teller, physicist and nuclear power pioneer.
The editors of Parenting magazine (2010) Parenting Magazine Retrieved March 15, 2010 from: http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Development/Speech-Delays
Generally children start to talk around age 1. They know at least one or two words. Presley had none. She screamed, a lot. Speech wasn’t even on my list of “concerns” with Presley. I was more worried about her lack of motor skills and screaming, more than anything. When we had her early intervention evaluation the subject of speech came up. They asked me general questions about her language abilities, and then it hit me: she had none!
According to Parenting.com common reasons for speech delays, include, but are not limited to: boys often develop speech later than girls, preemies have hard time hitting those “normal” milestones on time, multiples (twins) are usually premature or have low birth rates-so they have the milestone problems, children with chronic ear infections: most likely have poor hearing-so a delay in speech and kids who are focused on other skills.
Presley had none of those common problems. She did have a lower than average birth weight, but not anything for concern and she was not technically premature (I had her the day I turned 38 weeks pregnant).
Parenting.com believes the best time to get professional help is when your child is around 2 ½, the age that late bloomers usually catch up. I disagree; you should get professional help as soon as possible. The earlier the better, your child has the best chance to succeed.
With that being said, Presley is now starting to say three to four word sentences. One of her favorites is: “I can’t reach it.” Though her speech is not where it should be, we are very happy and proud of the progress she has made.
I think I’ll end this entry with a small list of famous late bloomers in the field of speech: Gary Becker, Nobel prize-winning economist, Albert Einstein, Julia Robinson (the first women president of the American mathematical society!) and Edward Teller, physicist and nuclear power pioneer.
The editors of Parenting magazine (2010) Parenting Magazine Retrieved March 15, 2010 from: http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Development/Speech-Delays
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