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.