Sensory Processing Disorder

Bree had her initial evaluation for Sensory Processing Disorder today with Children’s Hospital. Greg took the morning off so we could both attend while Karen came over to watch Adrianna and Cate for the morning.

As I have been convinced for awhile, Bree does have sensory processing disorder. This explains her strong aversion to loud or unexpected noises, smells, crowds, new or busy situations and why she has more screaming fits or tantrums (or general crankiness and lashing out) in those instances due to sensory overload. This includes when we have company over or are away from home in unfamiliar situations, too.

The doctor actually looked at more than just her sensory difficulties since we also had indicated concern regarding social/behavioral difficulties. (E.g. wanting to play with other children but not sure how, not always answering questions or understanding questions, general delay in speech/conversation compared to her peers, etc.) The doctor agreed with us in our concern based on her initial evaluation. These are common in children who have sensory processing disorder.

The doctor also thinks she has some motor difficulties (both fine motor skills and gross motor skills) and low muscle tone. This was not something I was prepared for. It has been recommended that we have her evaluated by a physical therapist. This was based on Bree’s posture and some other things the doctor noticed (e.g. rolling in of feet and general floppiness). Bree was also a late walker, which can also be an indicator. Incidentally, the doctor mentioned that this can be genetic and sadly Bree’s mother has “the flattest feet I’ve ever seen” (per my physical therapist in high school) that also roll in, I have poor posture due to locking my knees and also had poor muscle tone as a baby and was a late walker. Bummer.

Lastly, the doctor did recommend that we continue to remain on the waiting list for Children’s Hospital to get a full autism / spectrum disorder evaluation. She said that many of the things we are seeing with Bree are common with kids on the spectrum (not saying that she HAS autism at this point). She also said that even though Bree does make good eye contact and can play imaginatively that sometimes the spectrum disorders display differently in girls than boys and that she could have learned to compensate in some areas. And even so, she isn’t the first person evaluating Bree that has mentioned the possibility to me.

So at this point, it looks like we will be pursuing occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy at some point in the near future. And more evaluations to come.

We have a follow-up evaluation in 2 weeks, at which point we will get the “official” paperwork/report from today and find out how to proceed with the different therapies. Thankfully, our insurance does cover up to 60 therapy visits per year.

We dearly love our Breezy girl and are glad that we will be able to get some assistance and advice on how we can continue to help her grow and overcome these difficulties.