Sensory diet...oct '07

I had a little meeting with some of your therapists. And we decided that it would be the best to try you on a little sensory "diet" We are just going to try it out for a few weeks and see what happends. Here is a little bit about it. This is taken from a website I go to quite a bit. http://www.kid-power.org/sid.html

Sensory Integration Dysfunction is the inability of the brain to correctly process information brought in by the senses. Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID/DSI) or sensory processing deficits can come in many different forms. No two children will be affected in the same ways. SID/DSI was first noticed in children with autism or who had autistic traits but is also seen in children with other disabilities such as cerebral palsy or ADD/ADHD

Here are also a few "signs" that told us that you had this and it was something to look into.

-- Loves to spin, swing and jump--this will seem to calm them down after several minutes

-- Oversensitivity to sounds--will frequently cover ears. Or undersensivity.

-- May have an exceptionally high pain tolerance

-- Unusually high or low activity level

-- Resists new situations

-- Problems with muscle tone, coordination, motor planning

-- Can be very impulsive or distractible.

-- Persistently walks on toes to avoid sensory input from the bottom of the feet.

Now a lot of this stuff is similar to autism and ADHD. I found out that sometimes kids have sensory disorders and they get misdiagnosed as ADHD. So we are hoping that is your case. So in this diet you are supposed to do some sensory activity every half hour all day. So I figured I had to redo our schedule so that we could fit it in. Now they are going to work with you at therapy and thats where you are at the majority of the day. So when you are home, all we are goign to do is sensory activities. Here is our schedule

5:20am-8am

Wake up

Rub feet, hands, and back to wake up

Listen to calming CD in car when taking daddy to work

play on sit-n-spin

play with playdoh

eat crunchy breakfast with fruit

brush teeth with vibrating toothbrush

let you pick out what to wear for the day

8:30-3 Therapy

3-6pm

Playground for 30 min

Push Tyler in stroller for 30 min

mini tramp. excersizes

massage feet

wheelbarrow walk

oral work

6-8 pm

Help with cooking dinner

help set table

crunch/chewy food to snack on

family time-coloring or playdoh

Warm bath with bubbles and aroma therapy

massage for bedtime

Ok, so this is a lot I will post again tomorrow or in the near future why we have to do the things we are doing. A lot of this just looks like playing and having fun. But its basically therapy for you and I can not believe how much it helps. We started it tonight after you got home from respite and we did everything right on this schedule and you were out by 7. This NEVER happends. You had your bath and I was rubbing your back and you fell asleep while I was massaging you. I really hope this is going to be a start of something great!! I have been so overwhelmed at all this info and what to do but I really feel like im doing something good for you.