Mattix, 5
Laura Willard is the SheKnows Parenting editor and a mom of two.
Mattix was 10 months old when we adopted him from Vietnam. I had a lot of time to read while we waited and I’m a tireless (obsessive) researcher — I was so well versed in Sensory Processing Disorder that the occupational therapist we later saw asked if I was an OT. Sensory processing issues are fairly common among children who are in orphanage settings that don’t offer enough stimulation. Unfortunately, my son received very little human interaction. So when I saw the first signs of SPD, I wasn’t surprised or fazed, and I actually prioritized it a bit lower down the “list” of things we needed to address.
He was sensory avoiding and certain triggers could turn our already difficult days upside down: the phone ringing, the dryer buzzer, the doorbell, the lights in Costco… Sometimes a particular noise while we were out in public — one that was just loud enough or the right tone — would set off hours screaming and crying. It was genuinely traumatic for him. When we were ready to begin OT, I met with his therapist and we went over our goals and plan. Occupational therapy was truly life altering. It was almost magical to watch the transformation. Activities and therapies that seemingly had nothing to do with his issues helped his brain develop in the ways it hadn’t while he was in the orphanage. I will be forever grateful for his therapist and the access to therapy. Without it, his life would be very, very different.
We’re so lucky now that at 5 years old, he has virtually no lingering sensory processing issues. Every once in a while, I will see something that only I would notice because I am his mom, but it’s always small and fleeting and nothing that will disrupt the quality of his life. One thing I learned through our experience was never to judge other children in public. Sure, they might be bratty kids who need some discipline — or they might just have something else going on that we don’t know about. They might look “typical” — but they might not be. You never know what families are facing.
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