The distinction gets even more confusing when it comes to ADHD. "We've found that about 40% of kids who have one, have the other, so there is overlap," says Dr. Miller. "But they are two separate diagnoses that coexist — they are not the same thing. A child with ADHD has an impulse control issue, and extra sensory information doesn't help. A sensory-seeking child calms down if you give them what their brain needs."
Here's an interesting finding: A study of 500 intellectually gifted kids over a two-year period revealed 35% had significant sensory processing issues. "I've heard many, many kids with SPD are very smart," says Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A., reknowned SPD expert and author of The Out-Of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder. "Which is confounding to adults who think, 'If he's so smart, why can't he tie his shoes?'"
Kranowitz says each SPD child faces a unique composition of challenges. Sensory under-responders tend not to notice signals that protect them from danger, like people or cars coming at them. On the other end of the spectrum, a loud door slam can send an over-responsive kid scrambling for cover under the nearest table.
Fine and gross motor skill delays are common, and simple everyday skills, like learning to button a shirt, become an ordeal. "Dressing, eating, doing homework, sleeping . . . these are the things SPD kids have problems with. A lot of our kids are terrible sleepers and eaters," says Dr. Miller.
The medical community has historically been somewhat dismissive of SPD.
With such a vast variety of symptoms that younger kids may or may not grow out of, and the absence of a standard test (the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test only addresses Sensory-Based Motor Disorder and Sensory Discrimination Disorder) to confirm the diagnosis, the medical community has historically been somewhat dismissive of SPD.
But Kranowitz says parents who suspect their kids have sensory issues should ask themselves two questions: "Is the child's problem getting in his way? And if not, then is it getting in everyone else's way?"
Brooklyn mom Christine Evans answered yes to both, and felt vindicated when her son was diagnosed with SPD at eight.
"I didn't know what it was," she says. "It manifested into a behavioral issue. He wouldn't wear underwear or socks, but we just thought that it was him being annoying. He'd hide under his desk to escape the way he was feeling, but couldn't articulate those feelings to anyone. It was a disaster."
After getting many calls from school about his behavior, she visited a neurologist, which was for naught. "For an older child, these evaluations are a bunch of crap," she explains. "Most testing, whether done in school or outside, is done in a very quiet setting. But what sets these kids off is school, with lots of kids, noise and people touching you."
A friend of Evans's advised her to have him tested for SPD. Today her son is in a special education class, receives OT and goes to a sensory gym once a week.
In essence, the sensory gym is a playroom, with stuff like writing utensils, ball pits, ladders and sand tables. How does such basic equipment help kids with fragile wiring?
