Some sounds hurt your ears. Some tastes are so repulsive, you can’t eat. Some smells make you want to run away. Visual clutter or movement is confusing. Certain touches make you jump back. Could you have sensory processing disorder?
You feel so many things as ultra-sensitive–some more than others. When I was a kid through adulthood, I was sent for hearing tests because sometimes I couldn’t understand what people were saying. It was like my head was in a spin and nothing made sense.
Now it does. I found out later in life that I have sensory processing disorder. The reason I wasn’t understanding people or didn’t “click in” to what was going on was because my senses were overloaded.
Just the feel of a scratchy tag in my clothes made me distracted enough that I couldn’t pay attention in class. At home, my mother would repeat things and say, “Are you listening?” Then it turned to, “Can you hear me?” I would look at her confused and the hearing tests started. It made perfect sense that I was sent for hearing tests because I wasn’t hearing what people were saying.
I would get confused and would get lost in stores when a second ago I had been following my mother. Even to this day, I hold my husband’s hand when were out doing our shopping. The store is so confusing in both visual and auditory that I start to feel panicked. We rarely ever do Wal-Mart because it’s loud, people are wandering willy-nilly because Wal-Mart’s new sales idea is to make things hard to find, and they have TVs with commercials for you to watch at checkout. I can’t even start to relax at the checkout line! All I can think about is concentrating on my breathing so I can get through it and get out of Dodge (if you remember that TV show).
Sensory processing disorder (SPD) was in its infancy when I was, so the diagnosis and treatment didn’t exist. Some years ago, my doctor wrote a prescription authorizing Sensory Integration Therapy, and I’m actively involved in the therapy with my occupational therapist.
It works! Maybe I should say, it has worked wonderfully for me. My medical insurance had a paperwork glitch for a few months (Are we surprised by that!), so I haven’t been to sessions for a few months, but I am definitely going back to continue the treatment.
That is why I invented The Cozy Calm Weighted BlanketTM, because I tried a less comfortable, but nicely heavy, weighted blanket that my occupational therapist put on me while I was in the ball pit. I never felt so good so I made it my life’s work.
If you are an adult and this post resonates with you, do read more on my blog, then check with an occupational therapist who specializes in sensory integration therapy to find out if you have it, so the therapy can help. Your doctor can then order the therapy.
I had avoided so many things in life because they assaulted my senses from choosing a job to making my (then) boyfriend change his laundry detergent. Life can be so much better for people with SPD.
Hi!
Great article–it is always informational to hear from adults with SPD. Having someone that can truly articulate what they are going through benefits everyone. Thank you.
My son has HFA and SPD, and I would love to know more about yoru weighted blanket. We currently have one that he has kind of grown out of using…he complains it is too hot (even in winter).
I would love to talk with you further about a promotional opportunity on my blog. Perhaps we could do an interview on you and your product.
Please check out my blog, and the other interviews I have done with members of the SPD community (links on left nav). I am scheduling interviews/giveaways for the coming year and would LOVE to include you!
Hope to hear from you,
Hartley
hartleysboys.com
hartleys@steinerigroup.com
I was recently diagnosed with Aspergers and once I got the diagnosis everything made sense. I have major SPD with food and I was so glad to hear others have the same issues. We are not freaks, just different. I found the link to this blog on CNN. So glad to have other voices to relate to!
Yes, we’re a community, and we’re wonderful!
Wow! My wife kinda diagnosed me with Asperger’s Syndrome a few years back and it made a lot of sense out of what had been, for me, a relatively senseless life (and this at 50). However, certain aspects of what I read in books did NOT resonate at all, i.e. all the references to engineering and math skills, etc. But now, it all makes sense. Did you like sitting in the dentist’s office when they put the lead jacket on for the xrays? I sure did! I still remember my first ballgame at Shea stadium when I was about 13. I thought my head would pop off. Guess I should find an OT, huh?
Brian,
The gradual exposure to the sensory input that we take in much too much can help. When I was first dating my husband, I couldn’t talk with him if music was on.
We tried with the music really low, then week by week, increased the volume to a pleasant level.
Now, we’ll listen to music on Pandora through our DVD player, and we have a good time exploring music together.
But yes, the Sensory Integration Therapy does help.
Eileen,
I had the pleasure of meeting you today at the Home and Garden show! I thought I was going there to get ideas for home improvements, find someone to fix our gutters and our driveway, but I found your booth and feel so blessed. I don’t know if you remember me, but I was the one with the daughter with ASD/PDD and she picked purple and red for her blanket colors. 🙂 I’m not sure if I should get a child size or a twin size and there isn’t a purple as a choice on your ordering page–I could definately use your help! (Thanks for thinking of her when I wanted to order it at the show, I know she would not have liked waiting for me.)
I also wanted to say that I am so happy I found your blog. Just the little I have read has left me in tears–any insite at all into how I can help my daughter by understanding her needs is so appreciated, I actually can’t thank you enough. The books I have read give an outside perspective, yours means so much more. In this issue I burst into tears when I read what you wrote about how you’d get lost just seconds after being with your mother in a store! All this time I thought she was just being “absent minded” or not listening to me when I tell her to stay close but soon find myself going up and down the isles looking for her . I never thought she might be having a sensory overload! I’m looking forward to reading the rest of your blog entries.
Thanks again!
Emilie