Difficulty In Diagnosis Of SPD

by Laurie
(South Africa)

My 3 yr old was born premature (32 wks), in ICU for 3 months, underwent a 5 hour surgery at 24 hours. Ventilated for 2 weeks, tube fed for about 2 months.

By the grace of God, when I go thru the SPD checklist the only symptom I find is his lateness in talking clearly. This frustration makes him fairly aggressive at times and TV has had a huge negative influence (once omitted the aggression virtually stops). Strangely enough he mostly shows aggression towards peers when Mom is around & this even goes for his dad.

He has been diagnosed by a speech therapist as having weak tongue tipping muscles, hence his poor articulation of words (he has a huge vocab & understands perfectly). Do you think by some miracle this is his problem or do you think he has slight SPD? I am also not sure how to treat a SPD in this area (as explained above), as Carol Stock's book is still being shipped to me & I haven't found an area which explains therapy treatments for parents on children with SPD. I am from South Africa and find this subject absolutely fascinating.

Please help.

Kindest regards,
Laurie P.
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Hi Laurie.

Thanks for your interest and questions all the way from South Africa! It IS a global issue, isn't it!

My goodness, poor kid has been through a LOT! I am actually surprised that he does not have more severe defensiveness, especially oral defensiveness given his rough start, tube feeding, etc. Sounds like you are too?

If you have filled out the SPD Checklist and/or the Infant/Toddler SPD Checklist and he only comes up with speech delays, then that may indeed be all that is going on with him... like you said, by the grace of God! Just make sure it is the only signs of delay he is showing. Also, check the Developmental Checklist, just to be sure, ok?

So... as to whether he has SPD? I can't really say, but use the checklists as your guide. Ask his speech therapist what she thinks, as to whether she feels there is an underlying sensory processing disorder. One thing to consider? The tv makes things worse... he may be overstimulated by it, and that is why his behavior ebbs and flows with tv usage. But, it is hard to know with minimal details. You are doing the right things by reading, questioning, and making sure. Keep this momentum until you know, or get it ruled out.

If you do suspect SPD... then you need to get him to an Occupational Therapist for an evaluation and potential treatment. It is not really something you can tackle on your own, in case that was what you were implying/asking. He would need OT.

What I would also suggest is to let us know which items you checked off on any of the checklists. Maybe we can help you determine if SPD is a concern. At this point, from what you have told me, it doesn't "feel" like it. Given what he went through, consider him lucky! But, keep up with the speech therapy. That is great that he is receiving that!