I am a mother of a son with SPD.

by Shayla and Zak
(Superior,Wisconsin,United States)

I gave birth to a set of twin boys at 31 weeks in 2004. I had been in a state of constant labor since week 24 so I had been well informed, and chose to further educate myself on premature babies.

My son who has been diagnosed with this disorder was the second born and endured the most trauma during delivery. His cord was wrapped around his throat causing a full two minutes of strangulation from his brother coming out first pulling the cords tighter; and from there a brain bleed started building blood pools on his brain.

At only three days old and still in the NICU, he was diagnosed with "Hydracephalus." This is caused by a blockage in the spinal cord in the base of the cerebral cortex, most likely a genetic defect, it causes spinal fluid build up that causes the brain to swell which can lead to brain damage on many levels.

So here we are, at five years old now, nine surgeries, survival of MRSA and several severe bacterial infections later, as healthy as he can be. He has been graduated off of his need for OT and PT while continuing only speech therapy; moreover, we are only expecting two to three more surgeries then finally no more!

There are many factors concluded to have caused his Sensory Processing Disorder, I've listed a few suspects. He is a survivor none the less and has had 75% of the problems on the checklist; however, there have been drastic to subtle "switches" as I call them since he was two years old.

I could never bath him and he passionately hated extreme temperature changes. He would scream so loud the neighbors would walk outside to check out what was going on only to see me trying to get him to stand or sit in the grass. It was terribly embarrassing for me, especially simple trips to the grocery store.

He has a tendency to be a picky eater. He didn't learn to walk until he had two ear surgeries and after he turned three. His list goes on and on.

I hope that this tidbit of my experience can help other mothers and fathers feel they are not alone, unlike how I've felt until two years ago when I discovered the books by Carol Kranowitz. She saved my sanity and opened up doors for me when I was honestly ready to give up. Thank you!