Traveling with an SPD Kid

In the years we've had with R, we've had to travel quite a bit, whether it's out of town or overseas.  And even before the SPD diagnosis, we had discovered a few little things about him that made traveling a bit difficult.  R was exhibiting vestibular seeking methods even as early as a year old, when he would always want to go out no matter how tired we were.  He was also quite picky over a lot of foods and we needed to make an effort to seek out the food that he would actually eat.

The SPD diagnosis made a few things clearer to us in terms of his behaviors, and we did learn to adjust to his needs when traveling.  Not saying we're experts, but we've had a few experiences of R having a meltdown while we were overseas or out of town.  Needless to say, it's hard because when you're not in familiar environment, you need to get really creative.

I found a few posts online with tips for traveling with SPD.  You can read them at:

• Travel Tips for Parents of Children with Sensory Integration Issues
• Traveling with a Sensory Seeking Child
• 8 Tips for Flying with a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder
• Travel tips for kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

As for me, here are my tips for traveling with an SPD Kid.

SPD, the Interoceptive Sense and Toileting

Just when I thought I had nothing more to say about SPD, somehow R ends up manifesting this in yet another way.

It all started when we took R out for a day and ended up having a major meltdown in the mall.  The trigger, the toilet flush.

Now, R has been relatively easy to potty train considering he has SPD.  I've read of many parents who had such a hard time with this, even without the sensory issues.  But in R's case, his love for the toilet flushing and his dislike of wet clothes actually ended up stimulating him to use the toilet more and the diapers less.

But let's go back to the very beginning in terms of his toilet habits, shall we?  And no, please don't think I'm shaming him.  I actually want this to be a teaching moment, for me and my hubby, for R, and for anyone going through something similar.

So, let's discuss!

Little Victories

And so it's official, we are enrolled as a homeschooling family with TMA Homeschool.

UPDATE 11/4/2016: TMA Homeschool is now known as Homeschool Global.

I went and attended Curriculum Day today, and listened to a short talk by Joy Tan-chi Mendoza on how to choose books and material that will be customized for the needs of the kids.  I liked how flexible it was, and with R counted as a special needs kid, it gives me a whole lot more leeway on how to teach him, considering he's not really speaking yet.

And some of the slides shown are the following:

When will my Child be Normal?

R and I have been sick for past few weeks, and just started to recover.  After our visit to ChildFind (who gave us the go ahead to homeschool for 2 years, YAY!), he got a cold, which I also caught.  We recovered in time, or so we thought, for our family vacation to Japan, which was awesome.  But coming home, R went down with bad ear pain, and got otitis media (middle ear infection).

He was put on antibiotics, but the sleepless nights of caring for him got to me and I succumbed.  I'm on the mend now, still not 100% but getting there.

I did do a lot of thinking time while I was recovering, and encountered a couple of posts that were comforting.

Be Kind

Yesterday I read this article published by The Age newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia.

It got me thinking.

Last year, when R was recently diagnosed, I struggled with the question, "Does this mean I have a special needs child?"

I was also asked that of several well-meaning people, although at the time it was hard to answer.  Because R seemed so normal aside from his speech delay, it was really hard to come to terms with whether or not he was a special needs kid.

Admittedly, I as a parent would not have actively chosen to have a kid who has special needs.  I realized that while I am taking this journey with R.  But for reasons I have yet to fully understand, God has blessed us with this little boy, SPD and all.

And by His grace, I know that there are others in worse situations than us.

I am in several Facebook groups.  In one of them, I read of a little guy named Caleb Munn.  As of this posting he is eight months old, and is recovering from a liver transplant.

Yes you read that right.

Caleb was diagnosed at two months old with a severe liver disease called Biliary Atresia.

SPD and Weaning

When I was pregnant, a good friend of ours who happened to be a doctor advised me to breastfeed my baby.  Hubby and I were naturally agreeable to that, and I spent many weeks during that time studying and learning everything I can about it.

I read up and watched everything I could get.  From Dr. Jack Newman's breastfeeding videos, to On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo.  I will comment on the latter some other day as it's really long and might cause controversy.  Suffice to say that by the time R was born, it wasn't really of much help to me.

SPD and Bullying

Last week, I came across this amazing post shared by Dayna of Lemon Lime Adventures.  It was written anonymously by a mother who also lives with SPD while raising her three daughters who were also diagnosed with the same.

A lot of it rang true for me.  Living with SPD, albeit unknowingly for so many years, was not easy.  And it wasn't helpful to grow up with bullying that comes due to misinformation and misunderstandings.  I was labelled "weird", "clumsy", "uncoordinated" (this despite the fact that I liked to dance), and was oftentimes excluded from many activities from my peers due to this.

And now I am a mother of a boy who exhibits many of the same characteristics I had growing up-  the running, the jumping, the bumping into things, the habit of looking back while I walked forward, the spinning, and so on.  I want to protect him from the bullying and disdain I had experienced growing up, and the best way to combat this is through raising awareness.

And this got me thinking about another topic I am equally passionate about- child abuse.

SPD and Sleep Issues

It's common knowledge that having a child will result in less sleep for the parents, especially during the newborn stage.  The demands of a little bundle can be quite taxing, and one of the usual questions I got when R was a baby was, "Are you sleeping well enough?"

Usually the nights get better as the baby gets older.  But if you were to ask my mother, that was not the case with me.  She told me that at six or seven months old, when I learned to crawl, I would spend the evenings playing with my toys on the floor, while my poor exhausted parents dimmed the bedroom lights in efforts to get me to sleep.  All that was in vain as the dark didn't bother me at all and I continued to play into the night.

Fast forward some twenty something years, and R came into our lives.  I wouldn't say R wasn't a good sleeper, but he did go to bed later than most other babies I knew.  And so with his case of SPD came some sleep issues.

SPD and Homeschooling

You're planning to do WHAT?!

Yep, we've decided to homeschool R.  We've even gone to seminars with TMA Homeschool and hubby and I are ready to jump in.

UPDATE 11/4/2016: TMA Homeschool is now known as Homeschool Global.

But it's not totally final yet.

The SPD Kid in School

This post was featured in The Sensory Spectrum on March 26, 2016.

How does SPD affect a child's behavior in school?

As I used to teach elementary and pre-school, I've seen many behaviors that are quickly labelled as "naughty" or "disobedient".  This is an unfair label due to the fact that SPD kids cannot control themselves when they are overloaded with sensory inputs and having a sensory meltdown.  As such, I feel that many of these kids go through their school years with a reputation that no one really likes to carry.

In my experience growing up unknowingly with SPD, it was very common for my classmates and teachers to label me as "weird" due to my little quirks.  I would be the girl everyone would see walking all over the school during recess and/or lunch.

I'm not kidding when I said all over the school, I really mean all over the school.

There were times I didn't just walk.  I ran.

SPD and Oral Motor Problems

You also mentioned that R has aversions to certain food textures due to SPD.  Could that be related to his speech delay?

If you were to ask R's speech language pathologist (SLP), the answer is a resounding yes.  One of the red flags of SPD is language delay as well as feeding problems.  We had R assessed by an SLP around the same time as the OT, then another assessment with the SLP a few months after consistent OT sessions.

Language works in two ways- expressive and receptive.  Receptive language basically is how we understand words.  It's the ability to understand language.  This is how we learn to associate words with items and contexts.  Expressive language is the use of words, sentences and basically language.

The Seven Senses and Sensory Diets

We have more than 5 senses?!

Five Senses by Hi-5 © 2011-2012

As kids we were taught that we have five senses - sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell.  That's pretty standard, and quite well known, even made into a song by the famous group Hi-5.

But we don't have just five senses.  Not even seven.  We actually have around 14 to 20 senses, depending on which expert you speak to.  But for the purpose of SPD, the senses are usually classified to seven.

So what are the seven senses?

Tantrum and Meltdown Examples

Can you share how you learned to differentiate a tantrum from a meltdown with R?

R is quite an expressive kid, and even with his speech delay, he will let you know if he's upset.  We were able to tell the difference between a tantrum and a meltdown really by finding out the source of his distress.

Tantrums vs Sensory Meltdowns

Okay, so you mentioned about how children respond when overwhelmed with sensory issues.  How is that different from normal toddler tantrums?

That is an excellent question that hubby and I also at one point asked R's OT.  True, toddlers, and even pre-school aged children throw tantrums when they don't get their way.  Both look very similar because both involve an upset child.

SPD vs Sensory Preferences

I've heard of many kids who have aversions to many things, especially during toddlerhood.  How do you know this is SPD and not just a matter of preference?

My husband asked our son's OT the very same question.  She explained that we all have sensory preferences.  For instance, some people don't like how clay feels on their fingers.  Others don't like the sensation of lace on their skin.  Some others just don't like certain foods because of they way they feel going down their digestive tract.

Sensory preferences are just that, preferences.  But if you were to ask these same people, and if they do not have SPD, to tolerate said sensations for a short while, they will and won't make a huge fuss about it.  They can cope with the sensations no matter how unpleasant it is.

SPD vs ASD vs ADD

What makes SPD different from Autism and Attention Deficit Disorder?

As I stated in my previous post, sometimes SPD gets mistaken for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  When R turned 15 months, our regular pediatrician was definitely concerned at his fleeting eye contact, hand flapping, his lack of imitation skills and non-existent pretend play.  She was worried he could be autistic, and his constant need of motion suggested ADD.  The developmental pediatrician and OT, however, assured us that R is perfectly normal, and that SPD is actually very common and not a huge cause for concern with early intervention.

The SPD Foundation has an informational page on how to distinguish between SPD, ASD and ADD.  Basically, all kids who have ASD or ADD also have SPD.  But not all kids with SPD have ASD or ADD. 

SPD Signs and Next Steps

What are the signs that I or my child might have SPD?

Sensory Processing Disorder is a spectrum, meaning one could range from being very mild to very severe.  No two cases of SPD is the same, which is what makes diagnosing it so complicated.  Some are wrongly diagnosed as having autism or attention deficit disorder, because the behavior patterns are quite similar.

As such, I can only share my experience with my son R.  He was born a month premature and spent some time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  He had also been back a few times due to jaundice and after that, developed normally as he could.

Our Little Introduction

Why a blog about SPD?

There's not a lot of people in my country, the Philippines, who know well enough about Sensory Processing Disorder.  At least, that's what it feels like to me.

My name's Lyn.  I most probably have SPD, and was never diagnosed.

I spent most of my life wondering why I behaved the way I did, especially as a child.  Little things, like my constant need of motion.  My almost irresistible craving for crunchy foods.  My total aversion to carbonated drinks.  My dislike of how certain food textures felt against my teeth.

Then I got married and had a baby.  And we worried because he had turned 18 months, and he didn't speak, would be in constant motion, and often bumped into things.  My mother would tell me that I was exactly like that when I was his age, in an effort to reassure me and assuage my worries.

We took him to the developmental pediatrician.  At age 2, my son R was diagnosed with a mild form of SPD.

And I had absolutely no clue what that was.