Sensory Issues in 2 1/2 Year Old

I really would not lose sleep over mild fine motor delays etc. She is only
2 1/2. Give her some time.

I know it's so hard not to worry about your kids, but you are doing the very best possible for your son by realizing there's a problem and working to fix it. My daughter, now 4, has sensory issues too. She started with EI when she was 16 mos. old for feeding/speech & OT problems. They were nothing short of AMAZING with her. I sat through EVERY session they had with her & then worked with my daughter, as you are with your son. That is the most important thing. My daughter 'graduated' EI when she was 2. Now at 4, her sensory needs have resurfaced, although different then when she was younger. She goes to pre-school and gets services at school. YOU are doing the very best for your son by identifying a problem and getting it corrected. MANY kids outgrow these sensory issues, SOME do not. IF they do not, there are plenty of therapists that can help them and you to adapt with those issues. Please try not to worry, your son will be just fine & he's got an awesome Mommy that will make sure of it! :)

Kate,
I used to be an early intervention specialist and my youngest son had sensory issues and was hypotonal.
I had quit my job to stay home just before my son was born. I knew within 2 weeks he had sensory issues. The specialist I worked with laughed and said I was worrying too much and bring him in at one year if I was till concerned. I did and he was along with being speech delayed. We used a scrub brush technique with the kids I worked with and for my son. It works wonders.
Now at 17, he is a very accomplished artist and writer along with being athletic. He has already passed 3 AP exams for college credit.
So stop worrying, find the right therapist or program and I bet your DD will excel also!
Good luck and God bless.

You found out early and there is TONS you can do to help. Your therapist will give you things to do at home to help. I'd also google the issues she has to get more input. The more the better. She'll be okay. Try not to worry.

Diane G gave you excellent advice!

I agree w/her that it's great you are recognizing the areas that need a little fine tuning. :-) Forgive my less than clever analogy, but I also completely agree with Diane G that if you sit in on sessions and carry that on to home it can be the key to success!!

My son started early intervention @ 9 months old with OT, PT, SLT. He saw them for about 5 years. He had sensory issues, has Autism (PDDNOS), and he didn't walk/talk until he was 3. He did sign for a while, he had poor fine motor skills, he was low weight and had a feeding tube, and he also had low muscle tone (hypotonia). We went and I carried it on at home and now he is 6 and no longer needs any therapy. He never shuts up! He runs all over!!! He is such a great writer and his tube is coming out in a WEEK!!!!

Not every day will be sunshine and roses and don't feel bad to in a sense "grieve" that things may be a bit different. They somehow leave this part out in "What to Expect When You're Expecting!!!" :-) But... I always tried (and still do) to see the data as numbers. When my son would score low in an area I'd try to see it like this: Okay, this is what he CAN do, so now how can we teach him to do more? Just a measurement is all that it is and then you can chose a good goal!!!

Early Intervention can give such success and they CAN catch up!!! Good luck!!! You sound like a very good Mama!! :-)

Kate,
Please don't lose too much sleep. Are you starting early intervention immediately? My son had early intervention for OT and speech and it was the best decision I could have ever made for him. He is now in a pre-school where he gets services at the school and he is doing extremely well. What I would recommend to you is that I think you need to be as involved as possible with the therapist and make sure you're following through throughout the day. My son worked in his bedroom with the OT and I kept the monitor on so I listened to the whole session and then was able to take what I heard were problems and I worked on them with him. His therapists were very pleased with the significant improvement he made and were convinced it was because of my involvement.
Try not to worry, I'm sure she will be fine! Just do what you can to work with her throughout the day (but make it fun so she doesn't feel like she's working). Good luck!

Hi Kate. What is so great is that you actually have been working on finding out what is "off" here, and you have evaluations that point to sensory issues. That means you can start working with an OT to help her. OT is fun and interesting, and she will enjoy it. The OT will give you fun exercises to do at home as well. There should be brushing involved.

Mild fine motor delay and low upper body muscle tone can be worked on pretty easily. And since she is so young, it is easier to work through. Make sure your OT has experience with sensory integration disorder (it is a graduate level study and specialized, so don't just assume that your OT knows how to work on it), and go ahead and start the work.

My son had a lot of sensory issues. I was so grateful to his speech therapist because she saw the problems and asked us to have him evaluated. To her surprise, nothing showed up on the eval. She went and talked to the OT and asked her to work with him ANYWAY because she knew that something other than his speech was wrong. The OT trusted her colleague, and after working with him for one session, the OT came to me and apologized, saying that he indeed had problems, and he needed some help. I daresay that this experience changed the way she did her evaluations.

OT helped him a great deal. I later found another OT who specialized in working with children who needed help with handwriting, because my son had a weakness in his writing hand. I used her for group lessons, and it also helped him learn his alphabet. She would give the kids a break in another room and have them do some fun stuff, which was actually sensory work. Smart lady, knowing that a lot of these kids with problems writing actually had sensory issues!

I have always been so thankful for the OT my son had. He is 16 now, and occasionally asks me to massage his hands - he knows he needs something. I have considered finding an OT to talk to him about how to meet his own sensory needs at this point.

To answer your worry about the future, I would say as a mom and not an OT, that yes, it will always be part of her, but that doesn't mean it will hold her back. My son has played soccer, softball, been on the track team, and swam on swim teams for 9 years. Part of what I did during and after OT was put him in a gymnastics program, a tumbling program, and all of the little sports stuff kids do. The water in swimming was great for a sensory diet along with the other exercises the OT gives. It strengthened his muscles, and the different classes taught his muscles to do what he was supposed to do. Between the OT, and all the sports classes, and doing it all while his body grew, I believe he has outgrown this for the most part. While it is still a part of him, it no longer manifests itself and he does fine.

Hang in there, and think about the ideas I've presented.

Dawn

Your daughter will always be special--there will always be quirks that are just hers--but if you get her the help she needs to learn to manage, she can "manage" herself to the point that as she gets older, the only people who will know that she still is special are her parents and others who are close to her. To outsiders, she won't appear different.

I have an 11-year-old daughter who has SPD, and every year, she learns to manage herself better and better. In fact, most people compliment me on my daughter and how grown up she is and how well behaved. They don't live with her 24/7, though, and don't get to see what we see behind the scenes, or how much work and effort we put into helping our daughter as she learns how to help herself. But that is our goal; for others to see our daughter as normal and like all the other kids. All of our efforts behind the scenes goe into making sure she is able to fit into society and is able to interact with others without there being much "differentness" showing.

We started our daughter in speech when she was three, put her into Early Childhood when she was four (where they reevaluated her and discovered she had hypotonia and was put into OT/PT), plus we did a lot of other special programs ourselves. Our daughter has also been in dance class since she was four years old. Now 11 years old, she's in the 6th grade, plays tenor sax in band, takes jazz dance, is in pre-confirmation class, loves to read, knits, and has added sewing (right now, making quilts on the machine and doing hand embroidery) to her list of things she likes to do.

By getting your daughter evaluated early and getting her the help she needs, you'll be way ahead of the ballpark. Your daughter will thank you for all the help you've given her.

I agree that it's nothing to worry about. My daughter will be starting OT next week also. Here is a good website that I think you will find helpful in answering your questions:

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/

I also highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Out---Sync-Child-Recognizing-Proces...

Hope this helps.
Best wishes :)