"The Out-Of-Sync Child"

In the end of July Milo had another well child visit to his pediatrician. He is growing and gaining weight! Although he is still small for his age he is 35.5" inches tall and 29 pounds. I expressed some concern about Milo's behavior (mainly his temper tantrums) and the pediatrician suggested that we have Milo tested for Sensory Processing Disorder. He is definitely high risk for SPD (high stress during pregnancy, birth trauma-not breathing for him, early surgery, lengthy hospitalization). Milo will have tantrums out of the blue with no rhyme or reason, he can't seem to recover from these by himself. He has no fear when climbing on things and he climbs on everything, very frustrating for me. He is always on the move, he never stops! Circle time was the worst for him at school. I've taken him to story time at the library and as long as I'm in very close proximity to him or have a hand on his leg he will sit otherwise he would be up running around. He also throws everything, sometimes out of frustration and sometimes because it's "fun" and today was a day of throwing EVERYTHING he could get his hands on. He wakes up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep on his own. I've watched him on the video monitor trying to go back to sleep for an hour before getting up and coming to my room. He changes position, bangs his foot on the mattress, etc. If he lays down with me he wants my arm over him and falls right to sleep. I moved him into a full size bed from a toddler bed and it has nearly eliminated him coming to my bed but he flops around all night long and takes advantage of every square inch of his "big boy" bed and I know he wake up frequently. Some days he is so wound up that I put him in the car and go for a drive. I don't know if it's the confining carseat, the motion of the vehicle or both but it calms him down. Chasing him all day is exhausting and not much gets accomplished around the house.

While doing some internet research on SPD I came across a book called "The Out-Of-Sync Child" by Carol Stock Kranowitz. I looked for it at the library but there was a fairly long wait list for it so I ended up buying it and it was definitely worth the price. I read the whole thing in less than two days! While reading the book and watching him I could see some red flags and while I don't think he has a severe form I really hope some Sensory Integration therapy can help. His pediatrician gave us a prescription for an Occupational Therapy (OT) evaluation including sensory and luckily we were able to schedule the eval pretty quickly and I received the official report the end of last week. At the end of the assessment the OT wasn't gung-ho on the sensory diagnosis but sounded more confident in the written report and has recommended therapy both regular OT and sensory therapy. The catch is that Children's Hospital has at least 4-6 week waiting list for therapy especially at the main hospital and 4 days a week of preschool limits our availability too. The outlying clinics could probably get him in sooner but they are all at least a 45 min drive. A friend of mine has recommended another facility that provides therapy so I will check into that option soon. "The Out-Of-Sync Child" (and it's sequel) has examples of helpful activities and exercises to help SPD kids but there is such wide range of sensory issues I think he needs formal therapy and then we can integrate some activities into our daily routine. I guess adding OT will not be the end of the world if it helps him in the long run.

So that's what's been going on at our household the last few weeks along with some fun outings, road trips, house guests & getting ready for school. Milo starts preschool again next week already...where DID summer go?