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OT for sensory needs alone?


kathkath
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My ds4 was recently evaluated by an OT for sensory issues, and here is a short list of what they found:

 

probable difference and/or definite difference in the following areas (scores varied based on home or school form)

 

registration (reaction to stimuli, more than others)

touch processing

sensory seeking something

vestibular processing

auditory processing

visual processing

 

He is a sweet loving boy and is very bright, so none of this affects his academics currently (He learned to read last year and attends preschool 4 mornings/wk). He has poor impulse control and tends to bump into others a lot. He seems to have a poor awareness of his body position in space. He is social and makes friends easily despite being overly silly. His teachers are concerned, however, that as he gets older it will affect him socially in that he may be perceived as annoying or aggressive.

 

The OT recommends weekly services. Is this really necessary?

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You just described my ds when he was that age. We did both occupational and physical therapy for about 2 years starting at 8 yrs old. He's not "cured" by any means, but he functions better than before therapy. If I'm correct, the nervous systems matures a bit as these kids develop so they tend to outgrow some of the sensitivities and associated behaviors. I still advise you go ahead with the therapy, though.

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our OT has been invaluable for helping us deal with DD's sensory issues. She's 4, too. I'd definitely do it. It can really help.

 

For us, we've been doing OT off and on since she was one. At this point, we are down to every three months because we have the tools we need to work on everything at home, but going weekly was very helpful at first.

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With ds, we couldn't afford weekly sessions, and we were upfront about that. We did as many sessions as we could afford in the beginning, and the therapist came up with a sensory diet that we would do at home. We then went every month to check progress, make any necessary changes, etc. Our therapist was great and didn't pressure us to come every week. They made so much money from the local schools anyway, so they were very easy going with non-school clients. We were nice time fillers I think.:001_smile:

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My ds4 was recently evaluated by an OT for sensory issues, and here is a short list of what they found:

 

probable difference and/or definite difference in the following areas (scores varied based on home or school form)

 

registration (reaction to stimuli, more than others)

touch processing

sensory seeking something

vestibular processing

auditory processing

visual processing

 

He is a sweet loving boy and is very bright, so none of this affects his academics currently (He learned to read last year and attends preschool 4 mornings/wk). He has poor impulse control and tends to bump into others a lot. He seems to have a poor awareness of his body position in space. He is social and makes friends easily despite being overly silly. His teachers are concerned, however, that as he gets older it will affect him socially in that he may be perceived as annoying or aggressive.

 

The OT recommends weekly services. Is this really necessary?

Necessary? That depeond on how ou define it. Will it improve the quality of his life? My opinion is Absolutely, Yes! I am another parent that wishes she had begun intervention at earlier ages. While it is expensive, it will take shorter commitments at age 4 than it does at 6 or later. I bolded the issues that will seriously impair his learning in the future. I would recommend working with an OT first. Then if it doesn't work, look into vision issues that could cause that.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree that it is necessary. My son did a couple of years sensory integration and for a while we were going five days a week. Those intenisve sessions were very helpful. We ended up buying a lot of equipment, so we could do the therapy with him at home, so he didn't need to go to the clinic so often.

All that therapy has really made a huge difference for him.

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Kathkath, I'll be a bit more emphatic, since we just got our OT "findings" today with a lot of the same terms, same issues. Let's just say if you DON'T treat those things now you WILL find them impacting your school work later and it WON'T be pretty. The visual processing and visual memory affect how he retains spelling words, math facts, all sorts of things you aren't anticipating now, because you're only thinking in terms of a 4 yo. Think about him being that far behind on visual memory when he's a 7th grader. How will you feel about it then? THAT's what we're faced with, and it's not pretty. I have an 11 yo who still prefers to be rocked to sleep. You don't see where it's going, because your dc is only 4. *I* wish I had the chance to turn back the clock and get her therapy at 4. I know I wouldn't have been any more convinced than you are, but I can tell you that by 11 you won't need any more convincing. Just do it.

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