There's been a lot going on in our family this past year. I'll try to explain it as concisely as possible...but this is pretty lengthy. There's a good surprise at the end...so keep reading. (:
Our Mason has always been hilarious, unique, spirited, and strong willed. We started to get concerned about his speech and other areas, so we called Early On in March 2014. Mason was diagnosed with pervasive development delays. They found him to be delayed in every area, but the most severe were receptive communication, expressive communication, emotional regulation, and social skills. His receptive communication was diagnosed at a 9 month level in March. Try explaining anything to a 9 month old that you would explain to a 2 1/2 year old...it's not been easy. Thankfully, he has grown a lot in that area in the last 6 months. Obviously, this was hard to take in as you want and do everything to keep your child to develop on track. It was apparent as we started speech therapy that it wasn't just speech therapy that he needed. He had trouble regulating himself enough to focus on the social interactions and threw a lot of tantrums, so there seemed to be something more going on. When I say tantrums, I mean BIG tantrums over many things. He can go from 0 to 100 without warning, especially when it is something outside of his usual routine.
Our Mason has always been hilarious, unique, spirited, and strong willed. We started to get concerned about his speech and other areas, so we called Early On in March 2014. Mason was diagnosed with pervasive development delays. They found him to be delayed in every area, but the most severe were receptive communication, expressive communication, emotional regulation, and social skills. His receptive communication was diagnosed at a 9 month level in March. Try explaining anything to a 9 month old that you would explain to a 2 1/2 year old...it's not been easy. Thankfully, he has grown a lot in that area in the last 6 months. Obviously, this was hard to take in as you want and do everything to keep your child to develop on track. It was apparent as we started speech therapy that it wasn't just speech therapy that he needed. He had trouble regulating himself enough to focus on the social interactions and threw a lot of tantrums, so there seemed to be something more going on. When I say tantrums, I mean BIG tantrums over many things. He can go from 0 to 100 without warning, especially when it is something outside of his usual routine.
In working with our Early On, we learned a lot about sensory processing disorder or sensory integration issues. They saw a lot of behaviors in Mason that they described as "sensory seeking" behaviors. He seeks out behaviors that gives his body more input. He toe walks, hand flaps, spins, could live in a swing, chews on many things, love rough housing, likes putting his head on the ground/somersaults, etc. Now some of these behaviors can be really normal for a two and a half year old, but Mason does this (and everything) to the extreme.
I have a really hard time explaining this as it is quite complex and completely different for each kid. Everyone has sensory preferences (I don't like certain sounds or food textures), but for Mason it is not just a preference. His cannot process normal things because his brain and body are not working well together. It is so severe that it is obviously affecting his development. Many people may have heard about sensory issues because most people with autism have sensory integration issues (you may have heard of weighted vests, swings, etc.). Since Mason is quite delayed socially/emotionally and with communication, we did have a discussion about an autism diagnosis with our Early On people. Even though he is delayed in those areas, he does not seem to be delayed/lacking those skills enough to get an autism diagnosis at this time. He hasn't been formally diagnosed with anything. Sensory Processing Disorder seems to fit him the most. He has been going to Occupational Therapy to help him get his body regulated, so he can develop. Here is a link explaining SPD much better than I can: http://spdfoundation.net/about-sensory-processing-disorder.html
Mason is really a happy, funny boy that brings us more joy than ever thought possible. It's important to me that people know that. He also can have insane tantrums that bring so much frustration and tears. We decided to explain this to people for a few reasons. We want you to understand him and what he is going through. It must be so tough for his body to be under stress all the time and not be able to make sense of the world. We also find that we have a hard time explaining everything when we get together with friends/family, so this is a way we can explain this as clearly as possible. I want you to know that if he connects to you and lets you into his world, you should feel privileged to experience the love he has to give.
I am not an expert by any means in sensory processing or developmental delays, I am just sharing what I have learned from my experience with Mason. There are so many more feelings and experiences I have to share about this, but if you have read this far, you probably want to be done reading. (:
Here is our other news: We are expecting a baby in February 2015. We are so excited!!! We are also apprehensive about the pregnancy (after our 20 week miscarriage last year) and the transition with Mason. It feels good to look forward to this. I am 13 weeks along and just had an ultrasound yesterday (see picture at very bottom).
Love you all,
Katie, Zach, and Mason
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