Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Down Syndrome, ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder

For over a month now I've had a half finished blog post titled "Down syndrome and ADHD" waiting for me to find the time to complete. Goldie was diagnosed with ADHD last month. I pursued the diagnosis for her so she would have access to treatments that I can't provide on my own.

Until recently, Goldie didn't have a consistent OT. I've inquired to her current and old OT about trying Therapeutic Listening or a weighted vest to help with her lack of focus and attention. I was beginning to think they were blowing me off, but I politely persisted.

Goldie's OT provided me with a sensory inventory to complete. I knew she would have differences in a couple areas, but the inventory revealed her sensory needs are much greater than we had realized. Her OT and Speech Therapist admitted that they had never observed behaviors that would indicate Goldie has a sensory processing disorder. We had a long and productive conversation where I was able to give the Occupational Therapist insight into her behaviors at home. Together we came up with some ideas to help Goldie.

Initially, it will mean more work on my part. My thoughts are that it can't be worse than redirecting her every two minutes! We already do a lot of sensory activities with Goldie like swinging and sensory tubs (probably why her behaviors weren't more obvious). Overall, I am relieved to know that this isn't just a "DS thing" and there is more that we can do for her. So when I'm not brushing, compressing joints and trying to keep the headphones on, I'll be working on some posts about these new diagnosis. If any of these are things you are already dealing with, I would love to know your favorite resources, books, etc...

5 comments:

Sasha@ Blyssfulhealth said...

Wow you sound busy. We have had some sensory issues with Wysdom and still do. It has seemed to calm down a bit. We do go to a couple of OT's with him. I don't have any big info to share as I am navigating the info myself. Will keep you posted if I find some books that I like.

Becca said...

I'll be very interested in hearing how the Therapeutic Listening is going for her. I've heard conflicting results about this. We're in the process of researching some sensory stuff for Samantha, but think we may have ruled TL out.

Beverly said...

looking forward to hearing more and how things are working. we also did the brushing and joint compressing when Noah was around 2 and 3 years old. I some times will do it now if I remember.

Jennifer said...

I'm interested in hearing more about this if you feel like sharing on your blog. I'm curious about waht prompted the ADHD diagnosis, etc. Sometimes it's hard to know what's Ds and what might be something else, you know? Thanks for sharing!

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