SPD

I have never blogged about this before, but now almost a year since we found out, I am finally starting to make sense of things.  We noticed some issues with Noah right before he turned three.  He was terrified of noises, blinking lights, movement, etc.  We had him evaluated by ECI and they diagnosed him with Sensory Processing Disorder.  This means that he does not process information the same way as other people.  He gets overstimulated with some things and under stimulated with others.  Once we learned more about SPD a lot of things that Noah did finally fell into place.  It all came together and made sense.  We were too close to his 3rd birthday to have ECI provide us services, so we started seeing an OT.  She is wonderful and he has made so much progress working with her.  In fact, yesterday, she told me that he is meeting all of his goals and we are going to phase out therapy.  I am excited that he is doing well, but I am sad to see therapy end.  It was so refreshing to have someone who understood what was going on.  I have met a lot of neat moms and kids at his appointments.  It is so great to see kids with many different issues making such amazing progress.  We feel very blessed that we found this place and our OT Schel.  It has been wonderful seeing Noah's progress.  He still has issues with some things, but nothing like before.  We have finally been able to potty train him, a major accomplishment since he does not have the same feelings in his body, and therefore does not know when he needs to go.  He is able to swing on swings now, something that we could not get him to do before.  He is able to write better, use his whole body more effectively, and is generally a happier child.  It is also made a difference in the way Toby and I deal with his behavior.  We have learned that some things that we were punishing him for were actually manifestations of his SPD.  We have read a lot of books and learned a lot about better ways to deal with him.  This has truly been an eye opening experience.   When you have a baby, you never imagine anything will be wrong.  We were not prepared for this journey, but we are better equipped now.  We are lucky to have a sensational kid!