Severe Sensory Integration Disorder.....?I'm not sure where to begin, but I'll start with saying I have 2.5 year old boy/girl twins who were born 3 months premature. (The boy, Evan, is on the spectrum as high-functioning Autism, but I'll get to that later.) They were always lagging in development through the years, but we always assumed it was because of their prematurity. They received therapy of all sorts since 6 months. Around the age of 18 months to now, we noticed peculiar autistic-like behaviors coming from Evan such as poor eye contact, no-to-little speech development, extreme tantrums when the littlest 'thing' was out of place, obsessed with opening and closing doors, stacking, and now finally aggressive behavior towards pretty much anyone. This post isn't so much about Evan, but what I am seeing in my daughter, Leah, too. It has already been confirmed Evan is autistic, and Leah has always shown signs of severe sensory integration disorder since she was about 3 months old. I am wondering the possibility of Leah being on the spectrum, although her only symptoms relate to sensory integration disorder. She has wonderful eye contact, no aggression at all, nothing like Evan at all....The thing is...With her sensory issues being so severe...And her being a little behind in speech as well (though not as bad as Evan at all...She really likes and attempts to communicate a lot.) The biggest thing is socialization for her since she was tiny. She is always, and has always been, TERRIFIED of people...Notice how I didn't say strangers. She is terrified of any and everyone, even her father sometimes and all her therapists. She hates therapy and we are getting no where with her because all she does is cry when anyone touches her or even attempts to begin a therapy session. She is obsessed with me and extremely attached to me. I mean, it is EXTREME. We've had therapists that she's known for even a year and she is still scared of them. Anyone that comes and makes the slightest inclination of having me leave the room, or grab my attention from her, she immediately 'hates'. Whenever her environment changes (like seasons, for example), she goes through this phase of being even MORE attached to me than before - if that's even possible. For example, last spring, just after winter ended, she had a freak out from the change of temperature and the leaves growing on trees that everyday for 3 weeks she would have to sit on my lap all day and half the time dig her head into my chest because she was so thrown from the change in environment. I am seeing similar behaviors since winter began. Not as extreme, but definitely noticable. She used to LOVE going outside with daddy and playing....Now she only will if I am there and if I god forbid leave her with daddy out there she freaks out screaming at the top of her lungs and cries. It's things like this that concern me. She is very hyper sensitive to her surroundings and very scared of people from people she sees everyday to of course strangers. Especially if they have loud voices, and if they come into her environment (house) or anything....I am even more concerned that therapy is pointless and futile since she is just so scared of them. She wasn't always...When we began with a new set of therapists in September, she was good for a few weeks for the most part but for the past two months it has been screaming and crying the whole time and no one can figure our how to stop this. Everyone says, that for sensory integration disorder, all you can do it therapy, therapy, therapy but what if the child is scared of the therapist??? It doesn't matter to change therapists. We've had many and it's always the same. She is scared of everyone. There was even a time when we moved when she was a year old, and for one month she was so scared of the change of environment that she was even scared of ME! She used to sit in her crib allll day and if I even approached her she'd screech at me and cry. It's been that bad in the past....I don't know how she'd be if we moved now...I know this post is all over the place, but I just wanted to convey the seriousness of her sensory integration disorder. Her concerns are all hypersensitive-related to environment and socialization/people and tactile (she is afraid of sand, shaving cream, etc. and so is Evan) I also wanted to say that from time-to-time she can be very social and happy with people. She is actual very social, but then something gets a hold of her and she melts down and it lasts for weeks to months. I think it is linked to whenever her environment changes/season changes. I can never tell....But I was also thinking that maybe she is on the spectrum too somewhere. Or it really is just sensory integration disorder by itself. Because when the sensory issues subside (rarely, but it does happen for short spurts) she is very social, happy, and extremely talkative. I should also add, never at any time does she exhibit repetitive movements like her brother. I know for an Autism diagnosis the child must exhibit all 3 behaviors of speech/communication issues, repetitive movements, and socialization issues. I am curious to know if any of the spectrum children here exhibit this extreme fear of people and extreme separation anxiety....And how does it go with therapy if the child is afraid of the therapist in the first place....? Sorry this is so long....Any help would be appreciated!  If it's SID only, it's the most severe case i have ever heard of. She sounds like a lot more work than your boy with autism. Bless your heart! The things that came to mind as I was reading: has she been checked for food allergies and intolerances? Have you looked into other disorders like childhood bipolar? If your son is doing biomedical treatments for autism, your girl would benefit as well. My girl wouldnt cooperate with any therapists until she felt physically better. [QUOTE=micropreemiemom]I am having some concerns about my daughter's behavior, and was wondering if anyone here can offer their thoughts, suggestions, or advice.I'm not sure where to begin, but I'll start with saying I have 2.5 year old boy/girl twins who were born 3 months premature. (The boy, Evan, is on the spectrum as high-functioning Autism, but I'll get to that later.) They were always lagging in development through the years, but we always assumed it was because of their prematurity. They received therapy of all sorts since 6 months. Around the age of 18 months to now, we noticed peculiar autistic-like behaviors coming from Evan such as poor eye contact, no-to-little speech development, extreme tantrums when the littlest 'thing' was out of place, obsessed with opening and closing doors, stacking, and now finally aggressive behavior towards pretty much anyone. i to was dx with the most severe case they had ever seen were i went for help .i still freak out with fire alerm i am afried of certin vaccum cleeners .only like deep persures some stores i cant go to becuse the floursnt lighting is so bad .i start getting adjited an if i hear it biuzzing then forget it .i struggle with smells an im still a picky eater .but your baby young so maybe iut can be less as your child get older from therhy . This post isn't so much about Evan, but what I am seeing in my daughter, Leah, too. It has already been confirmed Evan is autistic, and Leah has always shown signs of severe sensory integration disorder since she was about 3 months old. I am wondering the possibility of Leah being on the spectrum, although her only symptoms relate to sensory integration disorder. She has wonderful eye contact, no aggression at all, nothing like Evan at all....The thing is...With her sensory issues being so severe...And her being a little behind in speech as well (though not as bad as Evan at all...She really likes and attempts to communicate a lot.) The biggest thing is socialization for her since she was tiny. She is always, and has always been, TERRIFIED of people...Notice how I didn't say strangers. She is terrified of any and everyone, even her father sometimes and all her therapists. She hates therapy and we are getting no where with her because all she does is cry when anyone touches her or even attempts to begin a therapy session. She is obsessed with me and extremely attached to me. I mean, it is EXTREME. We've had therapists that she's known for even a year and she is still scared of them. Anyone that comes and makes the slightest inclination of having me leave the room, or grab my attention from her, she immediately 'hates'. Whenever her environment changes (like seasons, for example), she goes through this phase of being even MORE attached to me than before - if that's even possible. For example, last spring, just after winter ended, she had a freak out from the change of temperature and the leaves growing on trees that everyday for 3 weeks she would have to sit on my lap all day and half the time dig her head into my chest because she was so thrown from the change in environment. I am seeing similar behaviors since winter began. Not as extreme, but definitely noticable. She used to LOVE going outside with daddy and playing....Now she only will if I am there and if I god forbid leave her with daddy out there she freaks out screaming at the top of her lungs and cries. It's things like this that concern me. She is very hyper sensitive to her surroundings and very scared of people from people she sees everyday to of course strangers. Especially if they have loud voices, and if they come into her environment (house) or anything....I am even more concerned that therapy is pointless and futile since she is just so scared of them. She wasn't always...When we began with a new set of therapists in September, she was good for a few weeks for the most part but for the past two months it has been screaming and crying the whole time and no one can figure our how to stop this. Everyone says, that for sensory integration disorder, all you can do it therapy, therapy, therapy but what if the child is scared of the therapist??? It doesn't matter to change therapists. We've had many and it's always the same. She is scared of everyone. There was even a time when we moved when she was a year old, and for one month she was so scared of the change of environment that she was even scared of ME! She used to sit in her crib allll day and if I even approached her she'd screech at me and cry. It's been that bad in the past....I don't know how she'd be if we moved now...I know this post is all over the place, but I just wanted to convey the seriousness of her sensory integration disorder. Her concerns are all hypersensitive-related to environment and socialization/people and tactile (she is afraid of sand, shaving cream, etc. and so is Evan) I also wanted to say that from time-to-time she can be very social and happy with people. She is actual very social, but then something gets a hold of her and she melts down and it lasts for weeks to months. I think it is linked to whenever her environment changes/season changes. I can never tell....But I was also thinking that maybe she is on the spectrum too somewhere. Or it really is just sensory integration disorder by itself. Because when the sensory issues subside (rarely, but it does happen for short spurts) she is very social, happy, and extremely talkative. I should also add, never at any time does she exhibit repetitive movements like her brother. I know for an Autism diagnosis the child must exhibit all 3 behaviors of speech/communication issues, repetitive movements, and socialization issues. I am curious to know if any of the spectrum children here exhibit this extreme fear of people and extreme separation anxiety....And how does it go with therapy if the child is afraid of the therapist in the first place....? Sorry this is so long....Any help would be appreciated! [/QUOTE] Yes! Yes! Yes!!! I think you just wrote about my DD!!! This is the first time I've read/listened to someone/something that made me feel like I'm not alone. It's HORRIBLE! My DD is exactly like this! The separation anxiety is beyond severe. There aren't even words to describe what I go through every day. We can't go anywhere. We can't even go to holiday dinners cuz she just clings her tallons into my side and screams like a mad person. She is terrified of everything, especially loud sounds (vacuum, doorbell, etc) She is much better when I'm not around. Still not 'typical' but much better. The thing is, is that she too is talking and not showing repetitive actions. It's all sensory and separation anxiety. Half the time, Mimi can't even sit in her carseat being 2 feet away from me without freaking out. I have to get back to work so I can't post much more right now. But you can search through my old posts and maybe it will make you feel like you're not alone. But this place, this place we're in...can be very lonely I know!! How's your DD's sleeping??? This is the worst thing for Mimi. She still gets up 3-5 times a night screaming for me. About 2 months ago I couldn't take it any more, so I forced my DH to start taking care of all bedtime stuff for her. She has drastically improved since cuz she's realized I wont go in. Before it was hours and hours of screaming!! Even if I would go in and try to rock her she would just claw at my face and do what I call is 'crocodile rock' in my arms. The way I describe it is that it's like she's wants me, she wants me to hold her, but yet she hates to be touched. I always joke and tell her to just crawl back into the womb!! BonBon mentioned bipolar. This is what my current theory is with Mimi. Do some research and you'll find the 2 big signs of early bipolar is separation anxiety and sleep issues. Especially if you're noticing a definite difference in seasons. Do you have bipolar in the family? It is very very heritary. My DH, my FIL, and 2 BIL's have it. I've had her evaled twice and both times they said no Autism, but severe anxiety. They both told me it's too early to determine bipolar. From what I've read it seems they wont even start looking at it being bipolar until 4-5 years old. Mimi's not even 2 yet (in March). The last neuro we saw told me that she's never seen such a severe case of anxiety in a child so young. She told me she's never even thought to medicate a child her age, but that if that's something I felt was necessary that she would consider it. A year ago I would've said 'No Way!' But what kind of quality of life is she living being anxious all the time?? Well, you can PM any time to chat offline. Just go to the button below the post that says 'PM'. And still around here!! This place is my saving grace. I'd be happy to give you my contact info as well. I sooo know how you feel. Finally....HUGE (((((HUGS))))) Do you stay home with your DD? Mine go to a special needs daycare. She had problems there for about 2 months and got better. But the slightest change in her routine at school and they see who I see at home. I'm learning that structure is of the utmost importance with her. We just started using picture schedules and seeing a bit of a difference. May be an idea...micromom: My wonderful daughter, now 9, preemie, birth injury, born in India and adopted, was a loving and sweet kid, still is, no aggressive behaviors, OCB not evident until later, even her reactions to SID were relatively mild! So ... she eluded diagnosis until age 6, which meant I delayed educating myself until then ...ANYHOW, if you get Girls Under the Umbrella or another "Girl" book on Autism, you will discover that girls, indeed, manifest more subtly than boys, and I strongly recommend reading several (I think there are 3?) books on Girls, specifically. |
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