Momoftaz


(New Mexico)

I am so confused and the more I research the more confused I get. My son was diagnosed with SPD, but his OT now a year later says ADHD, and his pediatrician says high functioning autism. He is very smart, has a huge vocabulary, has been talking since he was 5 months old. He is very aggressive, seems angry and unable to control any impulses. He constantly moves his shoulders up and down and grinds his teeth. after a few months of huge improvement, he is now into about 6 weeks of regression. I've also heard of a dyspraxia diagnosis.




What is all of this and how does SPD fit in? Is it part of a larger problem, is it considered a spectrum or on a spectrum of disorders? You can see how a diagnosis of SPD can be so hard to understand. I am ready to try Feingold diet, gluten free and detox of heavy metal poisoning, chelation and other things (not all at once of course) but I'm not going to delay trying things due to lack of consensus by his dr. and therapists.



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Oct 10, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		to be continued....
by: Anonymous

so you may want to look into brainlink too. it's a natural way of helping the brain function. it's amino acid based and has helped with anxiety, ability to focus and many other things for my son. we had to play around with it a little bit to find the right amount, because too much made bowel movements loose, but in the end it proved effective. and a much safer way than medicating for attention/energy issues.

at any rate, keep plucking away. you're on the right path. don't give up until you have the answers that satisfy you and that can help your son. and maybe if you aren't getting anywhere with the docs you have now, maybe you've outdone their resources and it's time to move on. we had to do that twice. :) good luck mom!
Oct 10, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Chin up.
by: Anonymous

i feel for you as i read this post. in can indeed be such a confusing, draining, frustrating journey to be on. but the good news is you're working on it, you're educating yourself, your seeking out resources to try to find help and advocate for your son. that's so much more than so many children are getting (for various reasons), sad as it is.

it can be so difficult in the beginning to know who to talk to, what to try, who to believe, etc. (how old is your son? old enough to verbalize much to you, or still very young, because as was posted previously, it can be tough to accurately diagnose in the younger years?)

have you done the symptoms/signs checklist on this website to see how you feel he fits into the spd scheme of things? do you feel that it's something more than spd? in the beginning i knew something was different about my son. it took me a couple of years to begin to figure out what he was dealing with. which turned out to be a mild spd diagnosis.

for a long time i worried about his inability to focus or pay attention and his high energy and activity levels concerned me. he had melt downs about seemingly trivial things and was impulsive and didn't always understand the boundaries.

but in time and after working with an occupational therapist for 3 years now, we have been able to implement many tools at home and in school to help him cope effectively/successfully with the situations that can be an issue for him.

do you see and occupational therapist? they can be such a wealth of knowledge and ideas. and there are so many resources online and in print.

to answer your question about being on the autism spectrum. it is my understanding that sensory processing disorder does not mean a child is on the autism spectrum. but they can be, but it's not a given.

on the other hand, if a child is on the autism spectrum, they most definitely will have some type of sensory processing issue(s). make sense? both spd and autism are neurological disorders so it makes perfect sense that there are many misdiagnoses and many cross over symptoms/signs.

i absolutely second the advice of forgoing the chelation. please, if you are considering it, do A LOT of reading and educating yourself about what it actually does to the body and of how dangerous it can be for different individuals. have you even had his heavy metal levels tested? hair analysis? at any rate, for me that would be a last resort, because there are so many other things to try first as was mentioned. i put my son (who now has mild spd)on a gluten free diet and it helped tremendously. he even grew several more inches quite quickly without all additives/preservatives/sugar in his diet. also we do daily probiotic to fend of illnesses and keep immunity high and he has tried this product that came recommended to us from a naturopath, it's called brain link.

http://www.painstresscenter.com/mall/Brainlink.html

to be continued...
Oct 10, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Taz?
by: Anonymous

Sorry that you feel that way! I was there a few years ago myself. Do not delay getting help. My children are all 3 on a GF/CF diet-a little more restricted though. Our doctor told us not to feed our kids anything that we didn't Pick, Pluck, Milk, or Shoot! In other words-NO PRESERVATIVES. I guess that it is really good that I grow a garden, hunt, was raised on a farm, and home can our own food. Please, do not chelate your child. That is very, very dangerous (from what our doctors told us). We do a type of macrobiotic thing-Yogurt 3x a day for 3 days, then 2x a day for 3 days, then once a day for 3 months. After that we start over with the 3x a day thing. But, they said that it had to contain active & live cultures. We also use weighted blankets and vests! They are like little miracles for us. They even help with my ADHD children. Two of my five have been diagnosed with Aspergers and two of my kids have SPD. Try reading the books "The Out-of-Sync Child" and "The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun". Good Luck. And, you can look on Autism Speaks page for resources. They have a lot of them listed for each state. I love your name, too.
Oct 09, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Time out
by: Emory Clark

Hi; Give yourself some relief and your child some pleasure with a Swring from www.swring.com. Proven to help kids with any form of sensory deprivation and/or mild to severe autism. It rapidly becomes the focal point in a child's life and takes everyone's mind off problems.
Recently the state of New Mexico approved the Swring as am approved therapeutic tool/toy and paid for a home installation.
Let us answer questions and help.
Oct 09, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Children and SPD
by: Anonymous

Hello I can tell you from personal experience, that when children are developing is difficult to make an accurate diagnosis. If it is in the autistic spectrum, means that there are some symptoms of autism or more. But it is not classic autism. Still needs to be monitored over time, and it is quite common in children with ASD, have periods when symptoms are more intense.

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