Sensory Processing Issues

To someone outside of our family, they may look at things like biting or chewy on everything as a "phase". Or they may respond to certain behaviors and think our child needs to "suck up" and get over it. Or they may even think we aren't good parents because we cannot stop our child from exhibiting certain behaviors that are viewed as less than desirable like biting.

I wish it were that easy, that it WAS just a phase. That I could be a better parent and figure it all out for Ramsey. I wish when I tried to explain to people that R has some sensory processing issues that they didn't look at me like I had three heads. People don't get it unless their child has them or they are an OT/PT/SLP or child mental health specialist. Even doctors don't always get it.

That is what has made getting to this point, 2 months in to OT with R, so challenging. We had to piece things together ourselves starting with being kicked out of a daycare for biting. No one helped us there. No one told us there could be a greater problem that required some therapeutic intervention. We had to seek out answers for ourselves.

As parents, we knew our child. We knew that R was overly sensitive. We knew she often cried a lot and we didn't know why and nothing seemed to console her. We knew she reacted a certain way to diaper changing, hair brushing, teeth brushing, etc. that left us perplexed and frustrated. We knew if she got anything on her hands she wanted it cleaned off IMMEDIATELY. We knew that her biting was beyond just typical toddler teething of things. We knew she was super smart and witty and funny. We knew she could hug you like she was squeezing the life out of you and would just as quickly hit you just as hard.

But we didn't know where to go from there.

So on our path to get where we are today, we went through the following:

• Multiple pediatrician calls and visits trying to understand and stop her biting.
• Changing schools after being kicked out of one to find another more fabulous school that was more willing to help us help R.
• Completed the First Steps evaluation after being referred by a friend who experienced similar behaviors with her son.
• Got denied First Steps but referred to an early childhood mental health specialist.
• Got referred by the pediatrician to a child psychologist and had a visit with one.
• Did two on-site visits at R's school with the early childhood mental health specialist for an assessment.
• Called the insurance company multiple times to see what they would pay for.
• Got referred by both the child psychologist and early childhood mental health specialist to OT.
• Googled sensory issues
• Bought multiple "chewy" toys online to help ward off biting.
• Completed multiple assessments for more than one OT facility in an attempt to get treatment for R.
• Got put on a wait list for one and the other never called us back.
• Finally got in to see OT and did assessment on-site with her.

We are now going weekly to have OT. We have a basket of "therapy" items in our home that include a sensory brush, nuks, puff balls, straws, etc. We work nightly with R doing joint compression, brushing, face and mouth exercises and other heavy play activities.

We are seeing some progress.

More later...