My son doesn't like to be touched unless its on his terms......

My son has Sensory integration Disorder or S.I.D

For my son, his sensory integration doesnt work as it should. Due to this, a number of problems in learning, development, & behavior are evident .Although bright, he has difficulty using a pencil, playing with certain toys, or doing self-care tasks, like dressing and doing buttons. He cant handle thunder and lightening and will start screaming when it comes.... He hates the noise a back firing car makes... At times noises like us singing make him angry and lash out..... He is also uninhibited and overly active, often falling and running headlong into dangerous situations...climbing up our roof... scaling fences, running into traffic.... In each of these examples, sensory integrative disorder or SID is the problem. Its far-reaching effects interferes with learning, social skills, and alas our family life

There are many  commonly seen behaviors in children with SID

The signs of problems list (in normal text) are from the following link.....
http://www.incrediblehorizons.com/sensory-integration.htm

• An acute awareness of background noises...For us  its thunder, cars, planes, singing, people and music in the shopping centre's

• Fascination with lights, fans, water...cant handle fluro's at the shops, loves to drown all sisters toys in the bath tub, puts fingers in fans
  

• Hand flapping/repetitive movements..... hand flapping after a hard day at school, spinning when there are too many people around....

• Spinning items, taking things apart

• Walking on tip-toe........ ruins all his shoes at the front first.....

• Little awareness of pain or temperature...J dresses in warm clothes for 40c and shorts and singlets when its freezing

• Coordination problems.... falls down stairs, cant do two things at once, probs with motor skills

• Unusually high or low activity level........ from listless and zombie like to crazy manic hyper man

• Difficulty with transitions (doesn't "go with the flow")......... needs to be warned all the times when things are changing...countdowns

• Self-Injury or aggression..... wow..... yep have alot of self injury.... Do i need to say more?

• Fearful in space (on the swings, seesaw or heights)....alas don't have this problem...he is a dare devil...
  

• Striking out at someone who accidentally brushes by them....punches kids when they get too close...also punches mummy...Gravitational Insecurity is particularly a problem for any kid in school. If he is standing in line & somebody touches him, he feels like he is falling off the face of the earth. So he hits the kids next to him, usually without even realizing that he has done it.

• Avoidance of physical contact with people and with certain "textures," such as sand, paste and finger paints.

• The child may react strongly to stimuli on face, hands and feet......... cant handle alot of hugs, but likes his back tickled all the time to calm, feels he is being choked or cant breathe if he is touched when he doesn't want to be
  

• A child may have a very short attention span and become easily distracted.... he was just moved in class as he cant concentrate
  

• A strong dislike of certain grooming activities, such as brushing the teeth, washing the face, having the hair brushed or cut....hates teeth cleaning, wont brush hair,
  

• An unusual sensitivity to sounds and smells..... very sensitive with smells and is constantly anxious when he smells something in the air until he knows what it is
  

• A child may refuse to wear certain clothes or insist on wearing long sleeves/pants so that the skin is not exposed....has to be covered at all times... has to have all tags off clothes, wont use new bags, new shoes are out unless they are like the last pair exactly...socks have to be pulled up to knees

• Frequently adjusts clothing, pushing up sleeves and/or pant legs.... is always pulling at clothes and winging they hurt or scratch,
  

My son also has a prob with foods and look, taste, colour, texture etc...... He will eat no green one week...or  no white bread , no seeds in bread, he wont have red meat cause he feels for the animals, he wants healthy one week and then cries when he has it in front of him, sandwich is not allowed to be cut, and i could go on and on..... I hate cooking in our house cause more often then not he will not eat a thing

We don't shop as he cant cope with the people, noise, lights etc, he will have a meltdown or throw himself to the floor, he will pull things off the shelf to throw or will rearrange them for hours not being able to be moved..... we cant go to the park alot cause he cant cope with other kids.....or its too bright or too hot..... he likes absolute quiet one day in the car and the next he is yelling...... if he is watching TV you cant talk cause he cant hear (too much going on) ........

If you are having some of these then i advise you to take your child  to an Occupational Therapist ... The diagnosis has changed our lives as a family but i am sure it is helping my son.......

I totally recommend Jean Ayers' book, "Sensory Integration and the Child" and/or "The Out-of-Sync Child" by Carol Stock Kranowitz.  Ayers' book has a better description of the disorder, but the Kranowitz book is more readable.