We get asked a lot about our Christian Daniel. People often aren't sure how to ask. I want to clear that up. The worst thing you can ask is, "What's wrong with him?" There's nothing wrong with our son. Better ways to ask include, "What's unique about Christian." "What are Christian's diagnoses?" or my all time favorite, which I thought was obvious, "How's Christian doing?" Please. Take the word wrong out of your vocabulary when it comes to talking about any sort of disorder.
Now that we have that out of the way, I'll update you on what Christian has been up to! The last blog post about his therapies can be seen
here. A lot has changed since then. Christian is now in Kindergarten at Dyersburg Primary School. He also attended Pre-K there last year. He did extremely well in his academics. His current teacher says that he's in the top 5 of the class. She says that he and 4 other students have to be pulled aside to work on reading whereas the other 15 in the class still are studying their alphabet. It isn't a secret, though, that Christian does have areas that he struggles with. He currently goes to Occupational Therapy (OT) every Friday for 30 minutes. Now, he will be also having a 30 minute session at school for OT. We haven't decided yet if it will replace the other therapy or just work with it. I'll try to update more regularly.
Christan has a feeding disorder, sensory integration syndrome (SIS)/ Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), as well as Developmental Coordination Disorder. I'll include links on all of these at the end of the post if you would like to learn more.
Feeding disorder, Sensory processing, and Sensory integration
One of the biggest misconceptions I've discovered along this path is that these aren't "real" problems. That this can somehow be changed with a different parenting approach. Wrong. That is a myth. It's important to understand that children with feeding disorders will starve themselves to the point of actual malnourishment before they would ever eat a food that doesn't meet their needs. And it definitely is just that, a need. Christian started feeding therapy when he was 3 but looking back, he had this issue since he started solid foods as a baby. In therapy, he learns to accept different textures. Eating affects all the senses. When you eat an apple, for example, you see the varying colors, you hear the crisp crunch, you smell the sweet smell, you taste maybe sour or sweet juice, and you feel the somewhat gritty texture on your tongue. All 5 senses are used in eating. For a child with SIS/SPD this is a sensory overload. They can not process all those senses at once. It causes a panicked feeling. That is why food has to be introduced to each sense slowly before it can be accepted. When Christian started therapy when he was 3 he could only eat dry and crunch (chips, granola, cereal, crackers). Now he can eat just about every fruit, french fries, yogurt, broccoli, and grilled chicken. We are ecstatic with his progress!
Sensory processing, Sensory integration, Developmental coordination
I've touch a bit on how senses overload a child with a sensory issue, but I want to go a bit more in depth with Christian specifically. It's important to know that all children are unique. Some things work for one child and be a disaster for the next child. We are grateful that his therapists understand his individual needs. Christian, other than feeding, has issues with sound and sight overload. When we get in an overcrowded place, there is so much to see and it's so loud! His little brain can't process this properly. It sends him into panic mode. He starts to shake and withdraw, sometimes. Other times, it causes him to act out. Basically, he knows that he's having a hard time and since he is just a child, he doesn't know how to process those feelings. He may shout or run at times that are inappropriate. This is just a way for him to try to make sense of what's going on around him. As far as his DCD, he has weak and stiff muscles throughout his arms and legs. This also includes hands, feet, ankles and wrists. They're worried that the weakness may become more stiff over time. He recently had an evaluation done that stated his motor skills were that of a 3 year old. He is 5 years 3 months old. His educational skills, however, were that of a 6 year old. His hands also have tremors. This is mostly because of the muscle weakness. He can not properly grip a pencil so because of this, his writing needs a bit of extra help. This is where therapy comes in. We are excited to watch him, and his skills, grow.
I'm glad I got this opportunity to update everyone. I hope I remember to continue to update on his progress but we all know how busy moms can be!
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