The Truth About Sensory Processing Disorder

 Welcome to the Connected and Capable podcast. You are here with Alisha Grogan. I am a pediatric occupational therapist and I am also a mom. And today we are talking all about sensory processing disorder. This diagnosis, maybe I should say that in quote is important and there are some really important facets to it.

You’ll sometimes hear it referenced as SPD in an acronym. But it is tricky. It is tricky. Why? Because sensory processing disorder is not an official diagnosis. We’re gonna get more into that. Plus common signs of if your child is struggling with sensory processing, does it qualify DI as a diagnosis? Why is it not a diagnosis?

What to do if you think that your child is having significant sensory processing struggles. What does it mean? How do you get help? And some other diagnoses that are important for us to consider that sensory processing challenges overlap with. I’m so grateful that you are here, that you are here listening because there’s a lot of confusion around sensory processing and, but we’ve gotten a lot better.

When I first started the blog Your Kids’ Table back in 2012, oh my gosh, I was one of the first people talking about this in a public way. There were so many times that I had to explain what sensory is, and I know if you’re listening right now and you’re like, I don’t really know what sensory is. If that’s okay, we do have an entire episode dedicated to.

Sensory processing, and I will link that up in the show notes so you can dive a little deeper there, but to make sure that we’re all on the same page. Sensory processing is a critical area of our brain, actually, multiple areas of our brain that are taking in input from our eight senses. That’s right.

There’s three hidden senses that are responsible for our movement, our body awareness, and our internal feelings. And. Has to make sense of those sensations all day long. In fact, sensory processing has to ignore a lot of the sensations that we experience so that we’re able to focus and attend to the things that we are doing, and sometimes for some kids and some adults.

Their sensory processing system is wired in a way that is making them pay attention far more to input than the average person, or it’s having them kind of crave or seek out sensations and sometimes even sensations are getting lost. You know, we do need a certain amount of stimulation to be able to attend and focus and do all of the things in our regular environment.

Our sensory processing never stops working even when we are sleeping. And to be clear, none of us has the same exact way of processing sensory input. Of course, we see trends and we see kind of common ways of handling things, but each one of us, because of the way our unique brain is wired, has certain preferences around certain types of sensory input.

Case in point. We all like, enjoy and dislike different types of food. Even the hugest foodie that has a very varied palate has some foods that they just don’t prefer. That is because of how their brain is wired. It is a result of their sensory processing. You also probably like certain types of sensory input.

There are probably things that you really respond to that you seek out, whether that’s rocking in a rocking chair or chewing gum to help you focus and pay attention or putting the window down because you love the feeling of the wind on your face while you’re driving. There are all sorts of examples.

You might love rollercoasters, you might hate rollercoasters. This is all within the realm of what we consider to be a range of typical sensory processing. Now, you may have one or two things, or a handful of things that are particularly hard for you that are outside of your kind of normal tolerance.

Maybe that’s the sound of nails down a chalkboard. It just pushes you over the edge, makes you feel really dysregulated, really uncomfortable. Maybe there are things that just, you know, if I go for a run for 20 minutes, man, I feel regulated, I feel good. Now, there’s a lot of things happening there, but you’re getting a lot of proprioceptive and vestibular input.

Those are two of those hidden senses that are just absolute powerhouses for our sensory system, and if you need that to stay regulated. To kind of pull, pull that back in if you don’t have that proprioceptive input. You love a weighted blanket, you love wearing that compression vest. I actually just showed that in our Instagram stories.

I went on a walk the other day. I was having a pretty dysregulated day. There was just, there was some stuff going on and I was frustrated. I was frustrated about it, and I was just really having a hard time focusing. I was pretty dysregulated. And so I went on a walk. ’cause walking is super regulating.

It’s a rhythmic activity and just all this great brain stuff going on, all this sensory input. And I’m wearing a 10 pound weighted vest for bone health, right? I feel like every, every mom in my neighborhood now has a weighted vest on and I am one of them. And I got back from the walk and I sat back down to the computer to do some work and I left that weighted vest on.

I just was like, this feels really good, and I was like, oh yeah, of course it does, because this is like a weighted vest, which is a common sensory tool, which is something that we often put on kids that are really seeking out that proprioceptive input or are struggling so much with dysregulation that we try this, this weighted vest on them, or a compression vest that’s kind of giving a tight squeeze instead of weight.

And we see if that helps a child feel more regulated because that proprioceptive input can be so calming. So does that mean that I have sensory processing disorder because I wore that weighted vest for a little while while I was feeling dysregulated? No, it does not. My point is that we all kind of have these fluctuations and we may have a couple of things that are kind of even, uh, on the outer limits.

Of what we would consider kind of in the typical range. Of course, once we know about sensory processing and we understand it, we’re aware of it, we can leverage these tools for ourselves as well. And so you may be thinking, oh yeah, wow. I didn’t realize how much that bothered me before. Now I am aware and I can use this sensory support like the weighted vest to kind of help me regulate.

So talking about sensory processing disorder, let’s talk about what the heck is going on with this diagnosis. Why is it a quote unquote diagnosis? Well, here’s the low down. You will often hear this regularly referenced. However, it is not in the DSM. That’s the diagnostic and statistical manual that doctors use, and perhaps more importantly, that insurance companies use to regulate what they’re willing to pay for in terms of treatment for certain diagnoses.

So, uh, because this diagnosis is not in that book, it is not a quote unquote official diagnosis. There has been, there have, there has been a push, uh, from occupational therapists and many other professionals that work with children for many years to help get this into the DSM. However, we have gone through two, this is the DSM five that we are on, and we have gone through two addition updates over the last several decades.

Despite a massive lobbying, lots of research and proof to this diagnosis being legitimate, it is not in that book, and so it’s not technically official. 20 years ago when I became an ot, doctors would often laugh at this diagnosis. Or really dismiss parents that even brought it up. Again, the parents that were fortunate enough to be aware of it, to hear it, to know about it.

I am very happy to say that that is often not the case anymore. We have such a wider awareness of sensory processing challenges in kids that many pediatricians, at least half, I would say, are.

Encouraging the diagnosis even though it isn’t official because it helps parents understand what is going on with their child, and so it’s not uncommon to hear it referenced. Your pediatrician may say it to you. The challenge is that it’s not gonna help you get services paid for. Because if your child does have sensory processing disorder, they would likely benefit from occupational therapy, particularly through a private practice or an outpatient setting with a therapist that specializes.

In sensory integration, which is a type of treatment that is specialized. So not all pediatric occupational therapists have this. They do have a baseline understanding of sensory processing, but sensory integration takes it a step further and is actually helping. The brain make new connections that process sensory input better, more efficiently so that the brain isn’t reacting in such a sensitive way.

That it’s not excessively seeking out to the point that it’s not able to focus. That it’s not able to function without, without that. Okay, so sensory processing disorder. What it’s really referring to, what should be in the DSM, in my opinion, and I know I’m an occupational therapist, so I’m biased, but the truth is I believe that because I have seen so many kids in my 22 years of being an occupational therapist, pediatric occupational therapist, I’ve seen so many kids.

That fit this criteria of having significant challenges with their sensory processing that impact their daily life so much that it makes it difficult for them to do things. Those things could be like going to the store because they are so overwhelmed by the sensations in the store, the lights, the sounds, people bumping into them.

Or going to a party or being at school for all of those reasons, or kids that are so excessively seeking out sensory input that they are unable to sit at school or sit at library time or sit at the table for dinner. And so of course, as we talked about in our other sensory episode. We always wanna support kids first.

The work of building new brain connections to help alleviate what is often a significant struggle in a child’s life when their sensory processing is impacted so greatly that it truly bleeds into every area of their life. And if you think about it, this makes sense. This makes sense because our brain is using sensory processing constantly.

Absolutely constantly, we have to be taking in and making sense of hundreds of different types of sensory input from our to hour, quite honestly. And if the brain is struggling to do that, then it is going to affect many, if not all, areas of a child’s life. From sleep to eating because if a child has all these sensory sensitivities, then they are likely not gonna be able to eat a wide variety of foods if, because they, everything feels grossed or tastes too strong or isn’t strong enough, some kids only want spicy or strong flavored foods.

We see very extreme picky eaters sometimes with sensory processing disorder. We also see struggles with transitions. Getting up in the morning, going to sleep at night, attending some kids. Again, they love to eat. They get food everywhere, all over the place, but they struggle to be able to sit still long enough to eat it.

This has a major impact on the quality of a child’s life as well as their families. Now there is a bit of overlap here. Okay. With other diagnoses, because we know that kids that have ADHD in particular, kids that have autism, kids that have anxiety diagnoses often also have struggles with sensory processing.

And so. While the research and the literature is pretty clear that these are separate challenges, and that’s important because I think sometimes we think, oh, if you have sensory quote unquote issues, which is what is often how it’s often referred to, I like to call them sensory needs, then you must have autism or a DH, adhd, maybe.

Oh, oh, they’re so weird about all those sensory things. They must be autistic. That’s not necessarily true. That’s where it gets murky because we do need to make sure, does a child have any of these other diagnoses? And this is a component of it because we know that those diagnoses often, almost always, especially autism, have significant sensory processing challenges as well.

Or is this sensory processing challenges? Kind of its own separate challenge in how significant is it So kids can have a diagnosis of autism, ADHD and sensory processing disorder, or they can have a diagnosis of sensory processing disorder and sensory processing disorder alone. I have seen many of these kiddos where it is truly.

The only area of their life that is impacted is primarily sensory processing disorder. Now again, the research shows us, and I also see in my work with, uh, with lots of kids that when kids have sensory processing challenges, they also have executive functioning challenges. And we just talked a ton about executive functioning in the previous episodes.

All of these different executive functioning struggles. We know those are very closely. Again, kids with ADHD almost always have executive functioning strategies struggles. What I tend to see, and this is just my experience, is that they are usually not as severe if ADHD is not present, but there is some impairment of executive functioning skills when there is sensory processing disorder typically.

So how do you know if your child might have this unofficial diagnosis? Maybe you are looking at your child and you’re like, gosh, something, just something feels just a little bit different. And there are just challenges in our life that, I don’t know, I just don’t send to see other kids having, or my other kids don’t have.

Is this related to, is this, is this all about their sensory processing? And it could be. It could be. And so that’s where I think that this unofficial diagnosis can be helpful. The unofficial diagnosis does come from a pediatric occupational therapist, and you can schedule that evaluation, but you do have to be aware of, while you can say that conversationally, and again doctors, some teachers are gonna recognize and understand that diagnosis, and it gives you a starting point of understanding your child.

It is not, it is not something that is going to be recognized by your insurance company to, to validate treatment sessions. And that is the rub. And if you ask me that is why it is not an official diagnosis because there are a lot of kids. That have pretty significant sensory processing challenges. Some research shows us as much as 11 to 16% of all kids are struggling with sensory processing in some way.

So if that 10% to 15% of kids is struggling and they get diagnoses, that’s that much more therapy that has to be covered from an insurance standpoint. But again, oh, I’m just sharing a lot of my personal opinion here today. So listen, it’s just, it’s been a lot of years of watching the sensory processing disorder diagnosis, and I know a diagnosis can be really helpful.

What I wanna say to you, really practically. Is that if you’re listening to this and you aren’t sure, I want you to go back and listen to our 10 sensory red flags episode. Listen to our, uh, if you think your child has Sensory issues episode, uh, because it’s gonna fill more in with what is going on with the sensory processing for today’s episode.

I want you to hear that if you see your child acting in extremes. On a regular basis, and it’s impacting your, their life. And when I say extremes, I do mean around sensations. And remember, those sensations can include movement and pressure. So like crashing into things, bumping, climbing, running, jumping, hitting.

All of those things are giving sensations and sensory input. You see your child avoiding lots of textures, avoiding avoiding smells, tastes, touch, getting overstimulated very easily, light sounds, movement. They don’t wanna go down a slide, they don’t wanna climb up a ladder, they don’t wanna roughhouse.

Those are signs that are kind of outside the typical range that we expect to see. ’cause remember, we all have these kind of preferences. We will lean certain ways. But when they are consistently extreme, they are consistently impacting a child’s life. I think that’s when we want to consider, is it gonna be helpful for me to have this unofficial diagnosis?

And more importantly, what? What do I need to do to first support my child? So remember sensory sensitivities, which is the thing that I think we tend to focus because they’re so bolden in our face, is when a cat, a kid is melting down because the noise is too loud or the toilet just flushed in the bathroom.

That’s pretty obvious. But remember, this is also kids seeking or not really getting the input that they need, and so they’re, they’re kind of lethargic and out of it. That one is really subtle. There’s kind of three main types of sensory processing challenges that a kid can have. It is supporting them with the sensory input that they need throughout the day so that they can be in a more regulated state and so they can function.

Okay. And there are lots of ways you can do that. That’s, you know, seeing an occupational therapist that is trained in that area, you can advocate for that and you should ask for it if that is an option for you. I know many of you that is not an option for, and so we do have a sensory toolkit. It’s free.

You can grab this. I’m linking it up in the show notes. It’s actually gonna give you a checklist of 21 signs, and it’s gonna give you sensory activities to get started with. For those of you that are in the connection eye, you know that we do this work and that even underneath the sensory processing, those retained primitive reflexes can be the thing that’s actually causing these sensory challenges, and so we might have to dig a little deeper and do that work in addressing those challenges as well.

Alright, you guys, it’s been so good to be with you. If you have questions about sensory processing disorder, please let us know. If you’re listening on Spotify or YouTube, you can drop those below. If you’re listening on Apple, just, you know, get, get that sensory toolkit and reply to one of our emails. We,

we are here for you, here to answer, here to listen. Um. Clarify anything about sensory processing disorder. I hope that this was helpful. I’ll see you next time.