Todays crazy and strange events

Kari was kind enought to interpret Hunters very Professional language of his first referral. Thank you so much. I also found out today that where Hunter will be receiving OT will have to do another evaluation on him because they left out a few things in the original. But, I guess what the heck, It will be intersting to see how they compare. The first referral is from the only place in the town we live in and I decided that I'm going to do this the right way since it took me two years just to get the referral in the first place. So, I've decided to go 65 miles away to an actual childrens therapy center. Hopefully I will get in this next week to the same OT that works with my nephew that also has SID. As for how Hunter has been in the last 24 hours..... kind of weird. Last night he would not go to bed. I finally went to bed around 3:30am and he was still awake. Hunter has not done this for over 6 months. But the weird part of today was that he was actually really sweet. He had a couple minor meltdowns, but nothing that lasted long. Today was a preschool day for him also and he refused to take his boot and snowpants off, He told me he was going to go to sleep. I couldn't help but laugh. anyway when I went back to pick him up he was all smiles, extremely happy. He looked like a differnt kid almost. Usually on the way home is when he has his meltdowns and screams all the way home, there have even been times that I'd have to stop and buckle him back up. So today was really strange. The only thing that they did differnt was that they actually went outside and played in the snow. Wow, I'll have to make him do that tomarrow to, and see If I get the same response. As for going to bed tonight.... He's been asleep for over an hour. Hope he stays asleep. Well that's a recap for today, some good progress towards figuring out what this all means. I have tons of questions, but I'll post them another time when I don't have so much other information to talk about.


Hi Pam,
The language used in the SID report is definately "professional
language"! I volunteer to attend and interpret meetings with parents
to help them understand what the heck the drs and therapists are
saying. So, here we go...

The test results indicate that Hunter has a SID. In the context of the
test he showed difficulties with auditory, visual, vestibular (inner
ear), touch, oral as well as motor planning (gross motor-large
movements) and emotional regulation. These areas of "disregulation"
are affecting his emotional responses (over react/no reaction),
activity level (hyper/lethargic) and his social responses.

Good news...he showed no difficulties with fine motor skills (small
movements), sitting still (this is great, many children with SID can
not regulate even when they sitting still!) and sensory sensitivity
(not EVERYTHING is bothering him all at once).

A SID basically means that the senses are not working together
properly. AUDITORY: may hear things louder or softer than others.
Certain frequencies are "received" different. You may be talking,
assuming that because you are the main source of sound that he can hear
you, but actually, he can hear things we can not or do not pay
attention to and he can not "discriminate" between these sounds.
VESTIBULAR: the vibrations in your inner ear give signals to our
brains that control much more than sound. Receiving these signals
immproperly can cause full body difficulties. TOUCH: touch that may
be too firm or soft for most people can be soothing or irritating to a
person with "touch sensitivities" . Deep Pressure, Brush Therapy, etc
are often effective interventions. ORAL: certain textures or tastes
are intolerable to the child and there are often serious eating issues
(limited selection, etc). MOTOR PLANNING: "planning" what to do with
your body before you do it. Most of us do not consciously THINK before
we move. Most children with motor planning issues "over think" what
should be done next and often the autonomic response is not there due
to over thinking all of the possibilities. EMOTIONAL REGULATION: he
experiences emotional "over loads" and does not respond "typically" to
emotionally charged situations. This could include anxiety,
motivation, extreme tantrums, etc.

Our "sensory system" works together with the brain to send signals to
tell us what is going on, what to do with our bodies and how to adjust
to a situation. If these "signals" are not working cooperatively, the
messages get mixed up. To complicate the situation, it is not that the
sensory system is necessarily delayed or malfunctioning globally, but
rather some areas are "typical", some are "over-sensitive" or actually
connecting at higher frequencies and some are simply effected by the
lack of cooperative "connections" , creating scatter skills.

I hope this helps and did not cause more confusion! It probably
sparked more questions. OT: Love your blog...find every outlet for
release and support you can! Your dedication, support and love for your
child IS helping him!

Kari Christiansen
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