John Rosemond and SPD

gryp

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:08 am

saw50st8 wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

Be it a tag or a rough item of clothing, if it hurts there WILL be a mark on the skin. BTDT. Many people can't wear some things. When it becomes most or all things, there is either a disorder, or a drama. And I agree that disorders who only pop up in some circles are at best overdiagnosed.

Sleepiness or migraine definitely go with physical symptoms. BTDT again.

Totally false.

When clothing approaches my neckline, it often causes me to gag and eventually vomit. When I had to wear certain shirts as a kid, I would constantly be stretching my neckline to keep it away. There was no "line" and no one called this "SPD" (I have no idea if this really qualifies as a sensory issue).

This guy sounds like a quack.

Shirts with buttons don't leave marks either. And I know at least 3 children with SPD who refused to wear them.
My son has been wearing a "button shirt" for school uniform every day now for almost 3 years and puts it on every morning without flinching. The year before I knew he had to start wearing it, I started telling him that he will have to wear one when he starts Pre1A. And it was a smooth transition and we've never had an issue at all. But every single day when he comes home, the first thing he does is rip off his shirt.

Ruchel

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:12 am

saw50st8 wrote:

Of course its sensitivity to the cloth. Some materials are much worse than others, even if they don't leave a mark.

No, or the cloth would hurt the whole body. It's sensitivity to some types of materials THERE.
Buttons is the same issue. It's about the area.

saw50st8

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:13 am

grip, when I was in elementary school, I used to leave the top two buttons open as often as I could. At some point someone would usually tell me to button up, but there was absolutely NO WAY I would ever button the top button.

I also used to walk around my house in my underwear and undershirt a lot as a kid.

saw50st8

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:14 am

Ruchel wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

Of course its sensitivity to the cloth. Some materials are much worse than others, even if they don't leave a mark.

No, or the cloth would hurt the whole body. It's sensitivity to some types of materials THERE.
Buttons is the same issue. It's about the area.

I don't know about you, but I have less padding near my collarbone area than other places. Perhaps my fat lessens the sensation of certain fabrics.

Itchy wool? HECK NO, unless its over tights and a slip and I can't feel anything.

Ruchel

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:18 am

Itchy wool is itchy. Someone with sensitive skin cannot stand itchy because it itches. It's perfectly normal. In DH's school there were boys who got a heter not to wear tzitzis because at the time only wool was available, btw.

I have a very close relative who has the same thing about high neckline, turtleneck, top button... he is NOT the slim type, or the sensitive type AT ALL. He was told it is a survival instinct, the body does NOT want something so close and constricting to the neck. Interestingly this relative happens to have an extremely strong survival instict that saved him countless times during the war... nature is crazy!

gryp

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:26 am

saw50st8 wrote:

So did my son, when he was younger. Eventually I told him it's time he wears pants to be covered up better and he's been wearing pullover sweatshirts around the house this past winter. Not because I mind his undershirt, but because it's freezing in here, and because without a shirt his tzitzis are available for chewing, and let's just say we've been through a dozen pairs already this year.

Btw, do you mean the very top button on a collared shirt? Who wouldn't choke with that one buttoned? Since my collarbone was still covered with the top button open, of course I left it open, as did everyone else.

MaBelleVie

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:32 am

Does anyone else here feel extremely bothered when people make definitive statement that show a complete lack of education on the subject matter? I think I should stay out of this discussion to protect my blood pressure.

gryp

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:38 am

This kind of sensory disorder isn't so much about how material feels (although that is included in it) but about how it looks like it would feel. Or not so much about how food tastes but about how it looks like it might taste. The child has a strong aversion to the way something looks because that kind of look comes along with it's own kind of squeamish feeling.

I've been making coleslaw for years every Shabbos. My son loved it until about 3 years old. Then he refused it until about last year when he quietly told me: "I really do want coleslaw but I don't want the juice on my plate." So for about 3 years he made himself not eat a food he liked. Of course I started giving him the least amount of dressing possible in his coleslaw and he was fine most of the time. If I did give him too much dressing, he'd refuse to eat his whole plate. Now it's easier because he serves himself and can give himself exactly what he wants in the exact spot on the plate he needs it to be, because ch"v if the foods in his plate get too close.

Another example is when I serve beets. He likes beets but refuses them because they make his plate red. And that's the grossest thing in the world, everybody knows.

saw50st8

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:43 am

grip, have you tried giving him a seperate salad plate for foods that might bother his other food?

Oh and yes I was talking about the top button. The first time I met my SIL she had her top button buttoned. I thought I was going to choke just looking at her LOL. (I don't think it was a "frum" thing, just what she did)

gryp

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 10:49 am

I did do the multiple plates thing for a while. And sectioned-plates, which were created just for him. But I didn't want to give in to this. I wanted him to learn how to deal with it. And since he can serve himself by now it isn't much of an issue as it was. But boy did we have some eventful meals.

I think there might have been one girl in my high school who closed her top button, for extra tznius. The school here even makes an extra button below the top button on their uniform shirts so that the top ones don't have to be closed.

ETA: The shirts and foods are very superficial symptoms of SPD. This is the easy stuff, it goes much deeper. One of my son's major problems is his vestibular (un)awareness which is almost impossible for him to "just deal with" and there's no way I can expect him to.

gryp

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:16 am

MaBelleVie wrote:

That's what prompted this thread. Smile

MaBelleVie

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 11:58 am

grip wrote:

MaBelleVie wrote:

That's what prompted this thread. Smile

True. Since I have a weak spot when it come to tolerating others' resistance to learning, I'll leave the explaining to you guys. You're doing a great job, BTW Wink

gryp

Fri, Mar 18 2011, 9:03 am

Thanks, I know a lot of people on here are dealing with SPD too and I don't claim to know everything. In my first post my blood pressure was skyrocketing and I had to edit my post several times. Smile

My dream is to buy a house and create a sensory gym in the basement. And become an OT. One day. The lady who evaluated my son has been an OT for over 20 years and she told me I should be an OT since I already do informal OT with my son at home. Smile