A mother talks about her 5-year-old daughter who suffers from “Sensory Processing Disorder”, a condition resulting when sensory signals are received but not interpreted normally by the nervous system, she says:
“My 5-year-old daughter’s problem focuses mainly with the touch… Her brain misinterprets certain feelings and temperature as pain or she just does not feel the pain. When she was two, her clothing hurt her; she could not be touched; even brushing up on her just walking by would frustrate her to the point of tears. She could not stand the feeling or temperature of the water at bath time.”
SPD can come in two types, either hypersensitive (over responsive to sensory stimulation) or hypersensitive (under-responsive to sensory experiences) and sometimes it can be both!
For infants and toddlers, the symptoms can be as follows:
- Problem eating.
- Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep.
- Seems uncomfortable in clothes.
- Rarely plays with toys.
- Doesn’t notice pain or is slow to respond when hurt.
- Resists cuddling.
- Poor balance.
- Delayed in crawling, standing, walking or running.
- Sometimes parents have to pay a little more attention to their child details, to be able to notice signs that are maybe hard to see!
