#248 - Will My Child Grow Out of Sensory Processing Disorder?

Answering a listener question today - Will my child grow out of sensory processing disorder?

SPD is a neurological disorder that affects how your brain interprets  sensory information. SPD can affect one or more of the eight senses. You might be over-responsive to one type of input while simultaneously being under-responsive to another. Learn more about SPD HERE.

SPD can be lifelong, but there are strategies and modifications you can use to help. Things like environmental modifications, skills training, and sensory integration therapy can be helpful. We dive into these strategies and MORE in this episode!

Sensory Processing Disorder Training

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Links

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Blog - The Ultimate Guide to SPD
Book - Sensational Kids (Amazon)
Article: Sensory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Impact on Functioning - 2012

Transcript

Rachel: 0:00

Will my child grow out of sensory challenges? That is the question that we received on Instagram. And that is what we are going to talk about today. I'm Rachel.

Jessica: 0:14

And I'm Jessica. And this is all things sensory by Harkla.

Rachel: 0:17

We are both certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harkla. We are on a mission to empower parents, therapists and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities.

Jessica: 0:28

On this podcast, we chat about all things sensory, diving into special needs occupational therapy, parenting, self care, overall health and wellness, and so much more.

Rachel: 0:39

We're here to provide raw, honest and fun strategies, ideas and information for parents, therapists and educators as well as other professionals to implement into daily life.

Jessica: 0:50

Thank you so much for joining us.

Rachel: 0:54

Welcome back to another episode. We are so happy to have you today. I'm Rachel.

Jessica: 1:01

And I'm Jessica. Like Rachel already mentioned, we're going to talk about the question that we received on Instagram, will my child grow out of sensory challenges? We've had this question asked many times from parents. And I think it's an important question to talk about.

Rachel: 1:24

Yeah. And I think, too, we're saying sensory challenges. The real term is sensory processing disorder. It's not a diagnosis in the DSM five. But it is something that you can be diagnosed with. And I think that's also important to kind of explain upfront sensory challenges. Will my child grow out of sensory challenges? Or will they grow out of sensory processing disorder? And the answer is no, they won't grow out of sensory processing disorder. But things can change. And that's what we're going to talk about today. But I just wanted to kind of break down this sensory challenge, because I think, I think a kid can grow out of sensory challenges, or I like to say grow into them. But true sensory processing disorder, as is a neurological condition which they will not be growing out of.

Jessica: 2:16

So from here on out, we'll say, SPD, which is sensory processing disorder. And SPD is not like the clothes that you had as a child and you grew out of. SPD is lifelong. Because it is part of you, it's part of your brain and your nervous system. And we're going to just kind of dive into some examples really quickly.

Rachel: 2:44

If you're sensitive to auditory input, like me, you might always be that way. If you're sensitive to vestibular input, and you get carsick all the time, or you can't tolerate spinning, you might always be that way.

Jessica: 2:55

If you are a picky eater, and you can't let your food touch, you might always be like that.

Rachel: 3:04

However, if you do incorporate sensory integration activities and tools into your daily routine, your brain and your body can learn how to better process that input more efficiently, which can in turn help you tolerate that input more adaptively throughout the day.

Jessica: 3:26

If you do nothing with your challenges that you're struggling with, then nothing will change. Right? You're gonna struggle with that if you don't do anything to try to help. And it might even get worse, because your system is going to be continually overloaded. So we'll use auditory, for example... if you are auditorily sensitive, and you get overwhelmed by too much noise, by loud environments, by competing noises, and you don't do anything you just are always overwhelmed, it always causes you to go into a state of fight or flight, then that's going to build up and eventually you might have a breakdown, you might, you know, it's just going to continue to be a struggle if you don't ever take action to add strategies.

Rachel: 4:22

Yeah, you'll you'll probably just continue to stay in that fight or flight response, which is not healthy for anyone. And, you know, our goal here is to help our kids help you whoever's listening, live a happy, successful as independent pot as possible life and that looks different for everyone. Whether you have to SPD whether you have some sensory quirks or some sensory challenges. You want to feel good in your skin and it is our job to help you figure that out what you need in order to feel that way.

Jessica: 4:57

And we're not saying that we're curing anything, we're not saying you're growing out of anything. We don't really think that there's anything to cure. It's not like cancer. Yeah, where the cancer appears, suddenly grows, and then you get rid of it, and it's gone. Right? Sensory Processing Disorder is, has always been there since you were born. And it'll always be there. But you're gonna use strategies, therapy techniques to help your brain and body, your child's brain and body, learn how to process sensory information effectively and efficiently. So that you're not in fight or flight.

Rachel: 5:48

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Because, you know, in today's day and age, you never want to change a person. And I think that, you know, knowing me, you know, that our package deal with my little auditory quirk, right? My husband, he's learning that he needs to turn down the commercials before they come on. Otherwise, I'm going to give him a mean look. And I think, being able to have the ability to name it and tame it and claim it is really helpful, especially as an adult, especially as we're learning that the sensory processing challenges are very genetic. I think that the more you know about yourself as an adult, the more you can help your child thrive. And you can let them know that. Yeah, mom doesn't like loud noises, either. We've got that together. Now we can work on, we can do the listening program where we can do the safe and sound protocol together so we can better our brains and make them stronger.

Jessica: 6:54

Yeah. And when you're doing these things, you're not changing who you are. You're still, you know, the same spunky, rambunctious person that you've always been. So it's not that you're changing who you are. It's almost like you're giving yourself tools to be the best version of yourself by helping yourself through those sensory processing challenges.

Rachel: 7:30

I like that. It was good. Good words Jess.

Jessica: 7:34

From an occupational therapy standpoint, let's go there. Since we are both occupational therapy assistants, we work with children and even adults in order to make life easier, more enjoyable, more successful, all the things. And the goal of OT treatment for with children with SPD is to decrease the functional limitations that are caused by SPD. So we treat SPD just like we would any other neurological condition, and by providing strategies and tools, to the families and to the child for different situations.

Rachel: 8:11

Yep. And we're going to kind of outline the steps towards improving sensory processing disorder from like a therapy perspective. Like when we get a new kiddo on our caseload, this is what we this is kind of like the route that we go. So the first one, ideally, in any situation is early intervention, identifying these challenges as early on because the brain is more malleable at a young age. So how can we help them from the start? If you're recognizing some sensory challenges in your infant or your toddler, we want to step in and get therapy services as quickly as possible. If you're like me, and you're old, and you're like...

Jessica: 8:52

I don't like that you called yourself old because I'm older than you are.

Rachel: 8:57

If you are still young at heart. You've had two kids back to back and your sensory system is like what is going on? It's not too late. There's still hope. Don't worry.

Jessica: 9:09

No, it's never too late. But just like Rachel said, at a young age, children's brains are so much more malleable and that's why I always loved working with the Early Intervention kiddos the kiddos who were six months to three or four years those were that was my favorite population, because the progress that you see is incredible. It's they make huge leaps and bounds when they get intervention earlier.

Rachel: 9:40

Yep, from the book Sensational Kids by Lucy J. Miller. If you haven't read it, we highly recommend it. She says that a child's social emotional motor and or academic development can be impaired if they are not given timely assistance in overcoming and adapting to the disorder. So sensory processing disorder truly deprives the kid of experiencing what they need to experience in order to learn and develop. If a child is hesitant to touching, shaving cream, or the food on their plate, or, you know, getting messy as a six month old baby doing solids, it's going to ultimately deprive them of learning how to modulate tactile input. So that is why we opt for that early intervention.

Jessica: 10:27

Now, if you have an older child or older clients, and they're past the Early Intervention stage, we can still make really great positive gains with them as well.

Rachel: 10:40

We can, yes, so the next step here. So first is early intervention, number two, remediation. So we're going to remediate the underlying deficits related to sensory modulation disorders, and the OT is going to help integrate the child's sensory system, through response to those multisensory activities that gets more and more difficult as the child gets better and they gain skill.

Jessica: 11:06

Yeah, the treatment should be designed to involve active client participation. I think that's the key word active client participation in activities that provide enhanced sensation and require the child's adaptive response. That's the ultimate goal with sensory integration is to teach their brain and body how to have an adaptive response.

Rachel: 11:28

If you don't know what an adaptive response is, it's basically like we'll stick with the auditory system, if you hear a loud noise, or have you know, we'll just stick with hear a loud noise. In order to have an adaptive response, you are looking around seeing where the noise came from, and you're deciding if you need to be in fight or flight? Or do you need to cover your ears? Are you safe, I mean, your senses are designed to keep you safe. So having an appropriate adaptive response is designed to keep you safe. So if your child is losing their mind when there's a loud noise, that is not an appropriate adaptive response. So the next thing with our activities, they need to be client driven and support optimal arousal leading to the client's ability to self regulate during the experience. So we said, hear the loud noise, they need to be able to self regulate during that experience of sensation. And that motivation for participation is encouraged through the use of the therapeutic relationship. So we say build rapport with your clients. Having the child help you choose the activity, very child led and incorporate into play, which is the child's occupation or main occupation.

Jessica: 12:42

Yeah, you're setting the child up for success, and they are learning through these sensory experiences. The goal is for the child to learn how to respond appropriately adaptively, to a variety of sensory stimulation, because throughout their life, they're going to be bombarded with different sensory experiences, and they need to be able to understand how to regulate all that information in order to get through their day.

Rachel: 13:13

Okay, number three, the environmental modification, and tools for adaptation. So as therapists, we provide those recommendations for modifications to minimize the sensory challenges, and to capitalize on that child's specific strengths. So if a child with their auditory processing or auditory challenges, they have a hard time with engaging in typical routine activities, making just every day, you know, activities like going on a field trip difficult because there's going to be new noises, they have to ride the bus, there's going to be new environments. So keeping those environmental modifications in check is key.

Jessica: 13:57

One thing we love to do is create social stories or social sensory stories. And the goal is to ultimately decrease the stress and anxiety that comes with certain experiences. So you write a story describing what the child is going to experience in a certain situation like going to the grocery store, and then you are going to, inside the story offer different strategies for the child to be able to use to feel calm and regulated during the grocery shopping trip, and what maybe strategies they can use if the shopping trip becomes too overwhelming and the child has a sensory meltdown. So you're providing these tools for in the moment.

Rachel: 14:42

Number four is specific task practice. So after we've provided those remediation strategies and those environmental modifications, we are going to practice those specific tasks in order to help those skills develop.

Jessica: 14:57

We've been talking about auditory processing and not being able to tolerate the loud noises or the competing noises or loud busy environments. So a child with SPD, who is uncomfortable with those loud noises, they experience a lack of development in this area. So if they can't tolerate a loud, busy birthday party, they're gonna miss out on the experience of that birthday party. If they can't tolerate the noises or the smells of the lunchroom at school, they are going to miss out on the experiences in that school lunch room with their friends and with different foods, you know, so we have to think about this as a if we can help them practice these challenging activities and help their sensory system learn how to adapt properly, they're going to be able to experience so much more in life.

Rachel: 15:54

So that treatment of these sensory modulation disorders, sensory processing disorder, it requires that specific task practice. So things like zipping up your coat and tying your shoes, brushing your teeth, eating your breakfast, using a multisensory approach to increase the skills in those specific areas is huge. So incorporating music and movement and visual aids and really thinking about how you can incorporate multiple senses into one activity that you are working on with a child.

Jessica: 16:24

And finally, sensory integration treatment. That is what we love - sensory integration therapy. And there is research to back up the use of sensory integration therapy. I think this is a little off topic, but the trick with research sometimes is that it doesn't take into account the experience that we have with it, right? So for example, there's a little bit of research about sensory integration therapy. But we, Rachel and I, have personally professionally experienced the positive results of using sensory integration therapy over several years.

Rachel: 17:06

And the trick is, is there's no one size fits all with a sensory system. And that's probably why the research is so hard to make a research study that fits with everyone's unique nervous system. So anyways, I do want to share this one article, the conclusion of it just says that, you know, they there was a pilot randomized control with the treatment group participating in sensory integration and OT, and there was also a placebo group and a waitlist group. And so to keep the terms simple, it was a small study, but the O T sensory integration group was shown to achieve statistically significant improvement on a measure of goal attainment, and on a parental report measure of attention and social skills.

Jessica: 18:02

So we'll link that research article in the show notes so that you can read it for yourself.

Rachel: 18:08

It's just always fun to find those little gems of like,"Hey, this is good, let's, let's continue doing this and help." And you know, if you've been listening to our podcast for a while, I'm sure that there has been something that has stuck out that you've tried, that has made a difference in your life. And so that's what matters.

Jessica: 18:27

Let's bring it all back together. Everything that we just talked about, let's circle back, will my child grow out of sensory challenges? Will they grow out of SPD? We believe the answer is no. It's not something you grow out of. Instead, it's something that you can learn to live with.

Rachel: 18:45

Hence, you can grow into it.

Jessica: 18:47

Grow into it by using specific strategies, specific tools, practicing certain skills, exposure...

Rachel: 18:59

Yeah, but also on a lot of little side note, you can also experience this later in life as well. You can go through a traumatic experience, you can have a traumatic brain injury, you can you can have these things happen later in life, that all of a sudden you're dealing with sensory processing disorder, it's something that you've never dealt with before. So you have to learn to grow into it at that stage too, because it's not just going to magically go away or be cured. So keep on listening. We share all of the all the tips and tricks and strategies here on this podcast. Do take a moment to leave a review on iTunes. If you haven't already, or Spotify wherever you're listening. Those reviews help new listeners find us and just recognize that this is a helpful podcast if you feel that way.

Jessica: 19:48

If this episode was helpful, make sure you share it with a friend or a family member. You can also let us know what your thoughts are on this topic. We're on Instagram at all things sensory podcast We'd love to hear your thoughts on this, you know, do you think that your child is going to grow out of SPD? Or what strategies do you use to help your child learn how to live life and grow into their SPD?

Rachel: 20:14

And with that, we appreciate you spending your time with us. And we will chat to you next week.

Jessica: 20:21

Okay, bye. We will chat to you.

Rachel: 20:26

Thank you so much for listening to all things sensory by Harkla.

Jessica: 20:29

If you want more information on anything mentioned in the show, head over to harkla.co/podcast to get the shownotes.

Rachel: 20:37

If you have any follow up questions, the best place to ask those is in the comments on the show notes or message us on our Instagram account, which is at Harkla underscore family or at all things sensory podcast. If you just search Harkla You'll find us there.

Jessica: 20:54

Like we mentioned before our podcast, listeners get 10% off their first order at heart glad whether it's for one of our digital courses or one of our sensory swings, the discount code sensory, we'll get you 10% off.

Rachel: 21:12

Head to harkla.co/sensory to use that discount code right now.

Jessica: 21:17

We are so excited to work together to help create competent kids all over the world. While we make every effort to share correct information, we're still learning.

Rachel: 21:27

We will double check all of our facts but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art.

Jessica: 21:32

One doctor or therapist may have a different way of doing things from another.

Rachel: 21:36

We are simply presenting our views and opinions on how to address common sensory challenges health related difficulties, and what we have found to be beneficial that will be as evidence based as possible.

Jessica: 21:48

By listening to this podcast you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or your child.

Rachel: 21:56

Consult your child's pediatrician or therapist for any medical issues that he or she may be having.

Jessica: 22:02

This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast.

Rachel: 22:07

Thanks so much for listening