An Overview of Sensory Processing Disorder

 

Happy Sensory Processing Awareness Month from the Strawberry Shifters

          Thank you, Wild Women Authors, for the opportunity to celebrate Sensory Processing Awareness Month with your readers.  Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is an umbrella term for not only SPD but also Sensory Integration Disorder, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD), and Sensory Discrimination Disorder (SDD).  The goal of the grouping is to have a single diagnosis recognized by insurance companies to help families have access to occupational and physical therapists.  While we have come a long way since I was diagnosed with “Eating Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified” for my limited diet in the 1990s, SPD hasn’t reached universal acceptance outside of the therapeutic community.

          In my debut novel, Strawberry Shifters Book 1: Bear with Me, Alison has the same classic sensory modulation disorder symptoms as myself.  Our experiences are just one example of how the disorder manifests itself in an individual.  Each of the seven senses (touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing, proprioception, and vestibular awareness) is regulated independently in the sensory cortex of the brain.  Each disregulation can be over-reactive, under-reactive, or seeking as well.  That is thirty-five different combinations without taking into account the severity of the reactivity or the motor response to the dysfunction.  Just like with any spectrum disorder, each person’s experience will be similar but not exactly like the experience of another.

As an adult with SPD, it is my opinion that kindergarten is the hardest period of life to have SPD.  In kindergarten, a child is introduced to learning in larger rooms with buzzing fluorescent lights, constant stimulation from large groups of children, increasing periods of required sitting still in a desk, while being asked to learn fine motor skills which have been a struggle due to my proprioception disregulation.  It was in kindergarten that I also met my nemesis – the cafeteria.  Cafeterias and food courts are a nightmare because of my over-responsive sense of smell.  My spouse teases me that I write about shifters to normalize my ability to identify restaurants while driving past them by smell alone.  As an adult, I have the option to avoid them or to sit by the door.  I control my food choices and the speed at which I eat.

It is not just over-responsivity that makes school especially difficult for someone with SPD.  Alison and I are under-responsive to touch.  It wasn’t until I was in sixth grade that someone told me it wasn’t normal to have to concentrate when putting your shoes on the correct feet.  I would get asked why they didn’t “feel wrong” when my shoes were backward.  My son’s occupational therapist (OT) cuts large stickers in half to put in shoes for a visual cue, but not every child is as fortunate to have an OT in their life.  In high school, I had to be vigilant of hallway PDA as I couldn’t concentrate on feeling a trailing hand on my back when I was walking in the overstimulating environment.

Now SPD has turned into my superpower.  I match each character with their own candle scent and each couple with their song to set a vastly different mood for each narrator.  Since I have heightened sensitivity to food textures and smells, I can replicate a dish after only a few bites.  Of course, I dissect my meals before I eat just like Alison does in “Bear with Me”.  A challenge for readers is to count the number of references to our food sorting habit throughout the series.  Will you find them all?  Being touch under-responsive allows me freedom in my fashion because itchy fabrics or heavy accessories do not bother me.  As a high school teacher, my students never whispered gossip.  I played a game with them on the first day of school to demonstrate SPD and how I could replay their whispered conversations from the far corners of the large laboratory classroom.  Alison uses her under-responsivity as the ultimate weapon in “Bear with Me” too, but I won’t give away spoilers.

Of the senses, proprioception and vestibular awareness are the least understood but most important for helping someone you know with SPD.  Vestibular awareness is measured in the inner ear and balances your orientation in space.  Are you right-side-up or upside-down, spinning or stationary?  Little kids love to test their vestibular senses by climbing on the furniture or hanging upside down on playground equipment.  I found my outlet in dance classes and have random dance parties in my kitchen if I need input.  Guests and visitors are caught off guard but always join in the fun after a small explanation.  My autistic son loves to spin, spin objects, ride rollercoasters, and perform daredevil stunts to get the amount of vestibular work his body seeks.  Our living room has no furniture but instead has a sensory swing for spinning breaks in our sensory diet.

Proprioception also measures where you are in relation to your environment or the orientation of our limbs to our bodies.  Is your arm bent or straight?  Are you sitting up tall or slouched?  It is hypothesized that hand-flapping and repetitive motions are calming measures when the individual is under-responsive to proprioceptive input.  This has been my experience, as I dance-in-place less when I’m wearing tight socks to remind my body of the placement and orientation of my legs.  I also wear heavy bracelets and thumb rings when I write to encourage communication between my brain and my hands.  These seemingly simple accommodations were suggestions of my physical therapist, but not everyone is fortunate enough to have access to a physical therapist.

In conclusion, I appreciate the opportunity to spread awareness of sensory processing disorder.  I have been fortunate to have occupational therapists, physical therapists, chiropractors, and holistic healers in my life to create my sensory diet.  A sensory diet is not necessarily about food choices but rather activity choices to regulate sensory seeking behaviors.  With the millions of resources on the internet, it is much easier for parents today to design accommodations and sensory diets for their children.  However, having a professional therapist to build a plan of therapy to aid in skill development such as posture building, penmanship, sensory self-regulation, and healthy sleep habits is crucial.  It is my hope that the more people who are aware of the disorder, the closer we will get to insurance coverage of those therapists our kids truly need.