Sensory Seekers

i find that to be true.....my son is a seeker when it comes to putting things in his mouth, feeling things on his skin, but he is an avoider when it comes to noise....and so the louder a room is, the more chaotic, the more noise, he can't handle it and so his way of dealing with it is by allowing his body to freak out. it is possible for a sensory child to be both a seeker and an avoider. as a matter of fact, a kid can be a seeker AND an avoider in the same area. my son is a seeker in that he likes to feel vibration on his skin, he likes to scratch his skin, he likes soft things on his skin, and bumpy things like dryer balls.....BUT he does not like certain fabrics, tags on shirts, anything touching his feet (even the floor), or other people touching him. the more you watch your child you will start to see the things they crave and the things that trigger them and what calms them down. [/QUOTE] well...it would probably overwhelm him....but that doesn't mean he wouldn't enjoy it. i'd probably make him take a rest before hand and a calm day before, followed by a calm evening after. we still do things that overwhelm our kid. the movies are a horrible experience for him, but he likes movies.....so we have figured out what his triggers are and have met them head on one by one. he wears a fitted sweater with a hood and long pants...which makes him feel safer in a big dark room, and sound reducing ear phones, which just makes the movie not be so loud. with these 2 things, going to the movies are now an enjoyable experience. :)

Well, I just had my family (parents and sibs) over to my house for Mother's Day because going out to a restaurant with a Sensory Seeking 2 year old is not relaxing to me. Does that answer your question? For the most part, my DD tends to act out in chaos. However, there are times that she will sit back and just watch. When she does that, all he_ _ breaks loose as soon as we hit the car. From what I can tell she is mad at me for taking her into that environment. Then the tantrums come and it takes a while to calm her down. I am frustrated for you because the observation didn't show what the worker needed to see so that your daughter can get help. People thought I was crazy because I would say things about DD but she wouldn't act that way around others. However, the Therapist & Behavior Specialist who came out for DD's eval from ECI are both very skilled and nailed the problem on the first visit. Is there someone else who can come out for an observation to get a 2nd opinion?

This was just the observation, thank god. We had the same person come out to our house for the intake (2nd time around; we described her behavior a year earlier and she was released because she was so developmentally advanced and we didn't know about SPDs), and she wanted to see her in as close to a learning environment as possible. She asked if she could come to this activity, which my dd has only been to once before. She has seen my child only on the best behavior all 3 times. The OT friend who did the unoficial diagnosis saw my dd, and immediately said she thinks she is a sensory seeker. She did do the whole evaluation, but we can't use it because she did it as advice to friends. We still have the whole evaluation at their center, where they will do a full evaluation, meaning intelligence, developmental screening, speech, psychological (because of bipolar in her birthmother, seems strange to do on a 2.5 year old), and an OT. I really just want an official diagnosis for her, so that I know for sure. I keep saying that she has some characteristics of sensory seekers, but definitely not the worst ones. She does not have melt-downs, she is easy-going, and she is very rational. She does not get wound up if she is getting the input that she needs. But, if she's not, she will get wound up. Anyway, I was bummed that she didn't see my dd how she normally is. But at least we have the evaluation in about a month.

Oh yes, now I remember your situation. I am glad you followed your Mommy gut and are having her checked out. Like you, I would want her diagnosed so that I know for sure what is going on. How else could you help your little girl? I am glad it was only an observance and not the official eval. For the record, my DD will be on her best behavior for people as well. It took several ECI visits before DD felt comfortable enough to show her "real behaviors" to her OT. The first time it happened I said, "Okay, people tell me this is normal 2 year old behavior! Am I crazy or is something off here?" The OT told me in some ways it is 2 year old behavior but that DD takes it to the extreme. She was glad she finally saw the real DD so she can help her. Please keep us posted on how the eval goes. Good luck! I hope you find the help your daughter needs.

I am now considering cancelling the evaluation. I am starting to question myself now. And I wonder whether my dd will be on her best behavior for that as well. Today, at music class, she was definitely the Katie that I know. She ran in circles, bounced all over, walked on her toes all over the room, spun around, put everything in her mouth, etc. But she wasn't disruptive to anyone else. I'm just considering waiting until she starts preschool, to see whether she is having any issues there. I go back and forth.

have you ever video taped her doing these things?

That's a good point and probably what I need to do with my 2 yr old. We finally got someone to help with behavior and she came in and played with her the whole time! How is that OBSERVING????? She said before she left: "Well, I am just not seeing the behaviors that you are talking about." urrrrr Of course she is an angel when she has someone playing with her one on one and is not asked to do anything that she does not want to do!

I agree! I did that with my DD when she started spinning last Fall. I figured no one was going to believe me. So, I videotaped her. Who can spin for 30 minutes without falling down? Now I know it is sensory issues. If you know what triggers the behaviors, then I would do what I could to make those behaviors come out while the therapist is "playing" with her. ECI asked me what triggers my DD. I said "being at Daycare". So, they come after daycare. Once they started doing that, ECI started seeing the behaviors they needed to see to really work with her.

Well, I think that that's part of it. The woman we've been dealing with from CDS does not play with my dd. She basically ignores her and talks with me. She is very calm, so my dd just does her own thing. I could videotape her. I think if the therapist at the evaluation plays with her excitedly, my dd will definitely show her true self. I'll just go with it, and if they don't see anything wait until preschool. I just sort of want to be able to tell her preschool teacher that there's a reason that she wants to touch everything and put everything in her mouth, to watch her and not get mad at her :(.

My son did the same sort of thing. He got into ot because of preschool, daycare, and my reports, but then was the perfect kid who mouthed things (already diagnosed with pica) it wasn't until after about four ot sessions when they let him go into the ball pit and then expected him to be able to follow directions that they saw more of his typical behaviors.