Ways to Cope with SPD

One thing I haven't really touched on yet is how we try to handle Carson's sensory processing disorder.  I have to admit, in the beginning anything that we could've done wrong, we did.  For one, we didn't know in the beginning exactly what we were dealing with so we took him to roller derby games with loud music and announcers, little kids' birthday parties, crowded malls and anything else you can possibly think of that would be torture.  But again, we didn't KNOW.  He would cry and squirm and fuss and we just thought it was a phase that he was going through or that maybe it was just too loud with his ears being so sensitive. 

It wasn't until we were having one of our bi-weekly sessions with one of our Early Intervention Specialists in our home and she saw him go to the corner and place his head down on the floor that we even heard the term "SPD".  She described it as when Carson is overstimulated or overwhelmed he tries to 'center' himself with deep pressure.  If we are home he has the option to just go to him room and chill out.  For this reason if we are having family get-togethers with my dad's side of the family they always come to our house.  This makes him more comfortable.

We were shown ways to center Carson for him if we are in a situation where he is unable to do it himself.  One way is to lace our fingers together and place our palms down on the top of his head.  We gently apply pressure down onto the top of his head.  With this you have to be careful not to squish his brain out his ears but we have had great success with this.  We can also use this same concept on other parts of his body; we were shown how to apply pressure to his hips elbows and shoulders as well as his hands and feet.  If we are having a rough night getting him to settle down this is one approach that I have to bring him back down.  Sometimes it may take a little while for it to work, but it does.

Last year I was given this neat little thing:

 

This is a therapy brush and probably one of the greatest little things ever invented.  The bristles are very fine and very soft.  The idea is to brush firmly in a downward fashion on the arms, legs, back, palms of hands and soles of feet.  The two major rules are to NEVER brush on the face or stomach and NEVER let it tickle.  I can't really tell you the reasons this little bugger works, but it does.  If the deep pressure doesn't work this is always my second choice.  Carson has even gotten to a point where he will lay on his back and hold it up in the air with both hands and then rub his feet back and forth across the bristles.

 

Vibration is another idea that seems to work.  I picked up something in the dollar bin at Target last Christmas that is a handheld rocket ship with a Santa Claus inside clear plastic at the top of it.  When you press a button on the side it lights up and Santa spins.  Carson will press the button and then put the Santa end in his mouth.  He also likes a back massager that has 4 ball feet that he has figured out how to turn on himself and lay on his side to get it on his back.

Lately Carson has also been very oral sensory-seeking.  Anything and everything ends up in his mouth.  I found these on an autism support web-site and they are wonderful.

These are called Chewelry.  They come in a few different varieties.  You can get just a medallion on a break-away cord or bracelets or even cuffs that you can wear on your wrists to chew on.  He can stretch them and chew them and everything in between.  The one downside is when it's in his mouth and he stretches it too far it can come flying out of his mouth and spit flings everywhere.

Until today I thought I was a genius when it came to clothing.  Since he loves to be naked and can easily get out his regular clothing I started buying footie pajamas with the little snap that goes over the zipper.  I cut the feet off of them since that is a major issue for him.  But now he will sit and chew on the zipper until he pops it open just a bit and then pull it apart until he can sneak out of them.  Then off goes the diaper and he's naked running through the house again.  A little too cold for that now seeing as we have about 8 inches of snow on the ground outside.  Even with the chewing it still took him a few hours to escape so I was just happy to keep him covered that long.  Today, however, he finally figured out how to make a zipper work.  I stood in disbelief as he used his cute little fingers to try and try again to grasp the little tag.  Once he had it he had to figure out that you had to hold the other side for leverage.  He put his iPad between his knees and tried again.  This time success!  He unzipped it half way down and then did his little dance to get out of them.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  It's great because he has now learned to so something new but at the same time I'm now completely out of ideas unless I try to find some old-fashioned long johns that have the hatch on the bottom.  Oh well.  I'll figure out something :)

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