SPD and Me, err Mini Boots

Mini Boots finally received another diagnosis. Sensory Processing Disorder, also known as Sensory Integration Disorder. We all experience most of life though our senses, taste, touch, smell, and so on. While Mini Boots' brain takes in the same sensory information we all get, he has abnormal responses to normal stimuli. Which essentially means he feels out of sync. All the time.

He craves certain things, and avoids others. He still cries when he hears thunder. Mini Boots will hide in his room while I run the vacuume even though I give him lots of notice. And in class every tiny little noise as small as a child moving a chair in another classroom, or his teacher dropping a pencil will distract him. He loves to move, he is constantly jumping, running, and feels the most comfortable and balanced on the playground, riding bikes or in our pool. But on the other hand? He wants to jump in class, he wants to run around the house, and will plow you down if you are in his way. There is a saying "He just doesn't know his own strength" and in his case, this is absolutely true. Because his mind doesn't experience touch the same way ours does, his physical play is often rough.

You know that feeling when you dream that you're falling? And you wake up startled that you didn't hit the ground? Imagine if you felt like that several times a day. If that feeling of uncertainty about where your body is in space, wondering if you were going to smack into the ground or simply wake up was "normal" for you? For him that feeling is experienced so often it is a slice of normal in his world. Mini Boots lives his life feeling like he is literally riding a roller coaster everyday, all day. And to be honest, I am not sure how he handles it as well as he does. Now that we know we are getting him some help, Occupational Therapy to be specific. We are discovering how to communicate with him about how his body feels, and searching for the best ways to help him level off. And when he climbs all over me or tackles his siblings, I don't get irritated anymore. I just pick him up, squeeze him really tight feeling so proud of his progress on this journey... and then blow up the bouncy house so he can jump till he feels like himself again.