Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder and a Therapy Swing

I am about to share with you something that has always made me nervous. Of all the things that i have discovered along my autism journey and discovering my son, Sensory Processing disorder was the one i have been the most skeptical of, and the hardest to accept. I, to be honest do not know why. Looking back now, its obviously a medical issue.But at the time of living in the craziness and honestly the emotional and physical strain this dis order can have on a family, i guess its hard to step out side of the situation. I want to include this in our learning about Autism month because allot of autistic's have this dis order..you can also have this order and not be autistic. I am not a doctor, but i will try to explain this to you in the best way i can, but please if you do have any questions or anything, please ask, or talk to a professional. My experiences is with my Autistic son, Elijah mostly and with the many Moms i have talked to whose children have this dis order. And i say many many times...Every Child is different, because we all process differently. So if you have a child or know a child with this, and not agree with something i say, that would not surprise me, we are all created differently.

   I did not know Elijah was having sensory issues originally. At the time of Elijah's very first evaluation, it was recommended to me to have an Occupational Therapist evaluate Elijah, because they saw the obvious signs. I just knew Elijah could never eat anything hot, hated baths, hair cuts, wearing clothes, he would freak out if he got dirty and freak out if i tried to clean him, he could not sit on a toilet, he couldn't be held up side down, he ate super sharp cheddar cheese, loved holding ice, and swinging on swings , didnt feel pain typically... long list so i will stop there. But in the craziness of just trying to survive the every day, i never stepped back and said wait, this is wrong. So when Elijah had the evaluation and flew through with flying colors in needing the therapy i was a little surprised. Until the first week he started, and i saw an immediate change in him. He became calmer more relaxed and more productive. 

  What exactly is this disorder? Well as humans we all have senses, touch, taste, feel, seeing, hearing. Elijah's sensory system is over developed in some areas and under developed in others. He isn't balanced like a person with a typical system is. Sure we all have sensory things we react to. I hate the feel of wool, the sounds of screaming chalk on the chalk board, and the taste of fish. But Elijah's sensory system dysfunctions to the point that he feels thing we don't, and his body will have un controllable reactions to sensory input. Sounds hurt his ears, Lights blind him, touch hurts him, being held up side down..he forgets to breath,  he has uncontrollable eye movements in certain situations, he tantrums and gets extreamly aggressive as an out put. All of these reactions are his body's way of dealing with the stress his sensory system is feeling at that moment. Try functioning a normal life in labor, that's kinda how a dysfunctional sensory system is like..your in pain and cant control it. 

  I want to show you how we help Elijah cope with this. It has taken us a year in some situations to help him regulate things...but allot of times you can de sensitize the system and have him get used to the feeling his body produces. He may never feel things like a typical person, but he can get used to what he feels and learn to control himself. Its allot to ask of a 4 year old. But he is getting there. This is called de sensitization. This will be a series, this is the first of it. 

Meet Elijah's therapy swing! He is not pictured here because he is, oddly enough in occupational therapy right now..lol. My typical kids love this too! Because we all have sensory systems, allot of Elijah's therapy stuff we do my non sensory kids love too! Its allot of fun! In therapy we are discovering what calms Elijah and what excites him, we stay far away from the exciters and cling to the calmers. The swing is a calmer. He could fall asleep in this. When he is having a hard time with dealing, we send him to the swing and make him swing away...and then, sometimes, its a pirate ship..and He and Julia are sailing through crocodile infested waters! LOL, its win win ;) And what kid wouldn't love a swing in their room? See therapy can be fun!

Our therapy Swing

Autism therapy sing