Understanding a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder

Lauren Saccone and her husband Jason struggled for three years, wondering what was wrong with their firstborn baby girl. Finally, Sadie was diagnosed as having ‘Sensory Processing Disorder’.

- Christel Geralyn Gomes

Too many childhood disorders are dismissed as “behavioral problems” with parents blamed for raising children who are labeled “spoilt” or “difficult” or “lacking discipline”.

This was exactly the case for Lauren and Jason who faced more than their fair share of shaming. “We were having a lot of trouble getting teachers and our school district to recognise Sadie’s needs. It was hard believing that her issues weren’t our fault because we were being judged so harshly while she had multiple meltdowns a day. I was tired of my daughter being misunderstood and my husband and I blamed for her behaviour,” said Lauren.

What is SPD?

According to WebMD, “Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. […] Common sounds may be painful or overwhelming. The light touch of a shirt may chafe the skin.”

Lauren, mother of now seven-year old Sadie, describes the condition as “a traffic jam of information”.

“My daughter is a combination: She can be over-responsive to sound and touch but under-responsive to bodily stimuli like motion, and equilibrium,” said Lauren.

Symptoms

There are many symptoms, and according to WebMD, these include being uncoordinated, bumping regularly into things or being hard to engage with in conversation or play.

In Sadie’s case, “as a toddler, her reactions manifested itself in extreme behaviours like meltdowns, screaming or fleeing a noisy environment. When she becomes over-stimulated, she may get hyper, crash into things, talk excessively and have trouble with personal space boundaries. She also has the tendency to put objects in her mouth when she is seeking sensory input”.