Ethan's SPD Story

by Elise
(Cleveland)

I felt from birth that something was up with my son.

He would cry and fight for his life during baths and still has a hard time. I just figured out that it is the way that soap feels on his skin, he also hates to wash his hands.

He was very hard to nurse and is still a very picky eater, no vegetables only three fruits and nothing soupy or saucy (ex. yogurt, apple sauce, spaghetti, condiments).

He hates getting his hair or teeth brushed, he cries and fights and has ever split my lip trying to get away. My husband has to hold him in a tight bear hug while I pry his mouth open every morning to brush his teeth.

He refused to go down stairs would just stand at the top and cry, he will only go down stairs now if I hold his hand and we go very slowly.

He will only sleep 4 hours at a time which means if his falls asleep at 8pm he is back up at midnight and wide awake, I have been able to solve this problem by forcing him to wake up during the day if he falls asleep and pushing his bed time back to 11pm and ever then I have to hold him until he falls asleep.

Any object that moves on its own freaks him out and has him covering his eyes and cowering in tears (ex. all flying insects, bubbles, remote control toys, falling leaves caught in the wind) I have to carry him to the car every day so he can hide his face from leaves in the fall or seed pods from trees in the spring.

He is very hard to potty train he is 4 yrs. old now and we are still working on it I just figured out part of the problem is that he is terrified at the thought of getting any pee or poop on his hands. He has a minor nervous breakdown any time he gets anything on his hands.

The only things that seem to help him cope are routines and his love for animals, so I bought him 5 sets of miniature animals that he can take with him anywhere. If I break any routine in the slightest way he will just fall apart on me. Even if I change something like my purse or if I decide to drive instead of my husband when we go out as a family or if I don't get the mail before I go in the house he will get very upset.

I could go on and on but I am very happy to say that he has progressed very well since he was diagnosed at 2 yrs. old he is now 4 1/2 and he is finding his own little ways to cope. He has a speech delay but his speech has improved enough that he is finally able to express himself and tell me how he feels and that helps me help him.