AP's Sense of Touch

Most people associate Sensory kids with this sense and the stereotypical idea that they all can't stand tags in their clothes. There are times this is true for AP but isn't it the case for all of us? We all have those sweaters with the tag that will itch like crazy! When the touch of a tag bothers him, AP will rip it out or ask for scissors. Mainly he just feels the need to touch everything. If he is reading a book, he needs to touch all the animals on the page. He likes his coats to be zipped up to the very top, not open a little; shirts with buttons can have one button undone. He likes to pat people, like running his hand on my side or my legs (even when they don't feel 100% smooth, too).

Another issue with AP's sense of touch is his need to feel closed in. He likes to sleep with a body pillow on one side, a huge elephant stuffed animal on the other with a book pillow on top of him. When he sits on the couch, he needs to sit on one side, never in the middle. He also like to have pillows near his feet so they are touching something.

AP's Sense of Sight

When in new situations, AP has trouble taking in too much visual information. When we took him to see The Wiggles the first time, he told me "I see too much." All the scenery, different people, stage props, movie screens, signs etcetera were too much for him to process. The second time we took him to see The Wiggles, we started at one end of the arena pointing out new things and made our way around the arena. It gave him a sort of "plan of attack," a way to organize all of the new input. The first time we went he stayed on our laps, mainly facing us but peeking at what was happening on the stage. The second time was another story. He was up dancing the whole time!

Just like many 5 year olds, he gets overstimulated when in a fun new place, like an indoor playground place. We just need to give him the tools to deal with the over stimulation.

AP's Sense of Hearing

AP has an odd sense of hearing. He likes to make loud obnoxious noises yet he tends to avoid loud obnoxious noises others make.

For example, he loves to strain his voice and scream, "pea-cawk" and will do it over and over again. He also likes to repeatedly hit the same audio buttons on his books with sound. On his Shrek book, I always hear, "Hey now, you're a - Hey now, you're a - Hey now, you're a." You get the picture.

On the other hand, he avoids loud noises like a firetruck's siren. A visit to the bowling alley was murder to him! There were to many noises and he was totally overwhelmed. Needless to say we had to leave. My mother in law has a beautiful voice and loves to sing to him like one would sing in the choir. Many times he'll say, "Mamaw, please stop. You are hurting my ears."

AP's Sense of Taste

Until pretty recently, AP has explored things using his mouth. As a baby, the boy was a pacifier junkie, he called them his "dohs." Anything that was near and able to fit in his mouth was in there. As other kids his age were done mouthing, Aiden did not let up at all. He would chew up his favorite animals and we just couldn't understand why? Now we know that mouthing was his way of checking things out.

Unbelievably, it was very easy for us to have him give up the doh. We put Lee & Perrins sauce and pepper on it and once was all it took. When we were moving houses, my husband and I found a bag of them that we'd hidden. Aiden disappeared for a while and I found him behind the couch with the bag savoring each and every one! Like a pacifier junkie on a binge!

Now he is 5 and things have gotten better, yet I still catch him trying to lick things and he's always stealing Liz's doh.

AP's sense of smell

AP doesn't have any adverse smell issues like other children I've read about. There are no smells that make him gag or go a little haywire.

However, he does like to smell everything lately. Some things are pleasant smells like those of books or candles or the crayons he is using. Some are not pleasant and deal with restroom issues that no one makes a point to smell.

The other week he was at my mother in law's home and she had just made him some bacon. AP walked over to the hot skillet to smell it. Before she could grab him he had stuck his nose on that hot skillet and burned his top lip pretty badly. He knows that skillet is hot (I'll go into his touch issues in another post) but couldn't process that over the fact that he wanted to smell it.



Sensory query: What are some ways to encourage the smelling yet keep it within reasonable parameters?

Why am I doing this?

I need to share the stories I've lived through and hopefully others will do the same. I'd love to hear what other families of kids with Sensory Integration Disorder have done that is both successful and unsuccessful.

Last Christmas Eve was the first time I truly realized that no one really understands what my husband and I go through on a daily basis. Of course we were running late, as usual. AP was running away from us as we were trying to get him dressed for the second time (after having a monstrous meltdown because he could sense our urgency which makes him anxious), the car loaded with food we were bringing (not to mention the presents) and get 5 month old baby Liz together. When we arrived 45 minutes later that we had agreed upon, a close relative very casually yet with a sting made this comment: "I guess we'll have to tell you all to be here one hour earlier than the rest of us just so you can make it on time." I was mentally exhausted from what had transpired already that day and that comment hit me hard. I never felt so alone as a parent, so misunderstood. At that second I realized that no one else can really "get it." And honestly, I wouldn't want to rehash everything to make them understand.

My job as AP's parent is to get his life as close to "normal" as possible. As I have seen patterns for certain behaviors I have been able to develop plans of attack for each situation. Most of those plans of attack requite quite a bit of front loading: packing as much as possible the night before, getting all clothes washed and ironed on Sunday that will be needed that week, bathing the night before, telling AP what is going to be happening the next day and even an hour by hour countdown if necessary, allowing AP to have choice as to what he is going to eat that week,strategic planning of naps, refusing to deviate from certain routines, etc. Some people think I am being anal but those dealing with a child with sensory issues know that is how it has to be.