My struggle

by Jill
(Grand Rapids)

yes I now believe that SPD is very real and I'm dealing with it on a daily basis. I have a 4 year old who has many issues that we are dealing with. He has an extra helper at church just for him, and we have decided to try out preschool this year just to see what we will be up against and how much help we are going to need in the future.

It has been a rough year since we found out about it, and very challenging. Clothes are not right at times, too many people (like at at restaurant) make it extremely uncomfortable for our child, anytime anyone touches him, we never know how he'll react. I (mom) can usually rub his back or hug him without a problem, but even grandparents can accidently (without knowing) hurt him by hugging him. It's too loud in some public places which makes Nursery or preschool very challenging.

It's hard to not have much support and to try to explain it over and over to family members who just don't get it. Eating is a huge disaster. We are trying to find breakfast foods that he'll actually eat. Cereal with milk is not an option for him, because he will not eat it once it gets even a bit soggy. We've resorted to dry cereal and a cup of milk. Sometimes we just nibble on dry cereal and then just have a early lunch. It's very confusing and upsetting at times.