Need Information!!!

[mom2mykidos3]

I have posted some question about Miriam's head bobbing in the cranio chat page, but I was wondering if I could get some info from you ladies on sensory dysfunction. :pullhair
I was talking to my sister who teaches the special needs children in her school and she was the one who said it is some kind of sensory thing. Then I was looking and noticed some other syndromes that looked fimiliar. Asberger's (I don't know if that is how you spell it) and Austism. I was just wondering if there are any signs that show up this early.:banghead
Miriam really does seem to be fine. She acts fine to me. She did have a few of the sensory dysfuction signs. I would love any info.
Thanks:thankyou

[mayashekhina]

With autism there are key indicators to look for mainly being repetative behaviours such as head banging, hand waving, banging feet others include not meeting eye contact seeming to be in their own world some of these may be present to differing degrees and may mean something or may be nothing at all which is why doctors will hold off giving such a diagnosis until the children are about preschool age (I believe). This is limited knowledge based on my own experiences with Beth- Autism tendancies are common with her underlying condition. Your probably better off asking your paed and finding out what the standards are over there as I have noticed standards differ from country to country. Beth also shakes her head when she is bored or tired and I think when you can link such things directly with a cause it does not necessarily mean aspergers or autism but a way of communicating a message- I think it is probably going to be a waiting game here to see if it is going to continue or change.

[mom2mykidos3]

Can you tell I am a very impatient person. The Lord keeps trying to teach it to me. I guess I am failing. Thanks for the info.
I am kind of feeling that I am just going to have to wait and see. Thanks for the support.

[shorty203]

I am an Occupational Therapist and worked very closely with children from birth to high school. You said she had other signs of sensory dysfunction???? Have you researched sensory dysfunction?? Children with autism and asperger's have sensory dysfuntion as a criteria out of a few but it is not a single diagnostic criteria (a main criteria of autism and aspergers are social/communication delay). We all have sensory tendencies, ie chewing nails/hair, tapping fingers/feet, chewing gum, twirling hair, which are considered "acceptable" tendencies. It was once describe to me like this, A child or an adult who has a pencil in between his/her fingers and waving their hand is a fidgety person and a child or adult who is just waving their hand has autism.

If you are concerned, early intervention has the best results. Ask your doctor for an Occupational Therapy eval for sensory processing. Make sure you get a therapist that is experienced with sensory dysfunction, though!! Be careful, I personally feel doctors are throwing out the Autism and related spectrum card way too much. Children can have sensory dysfunction without autism! (Especially children adopted from overseas, in poor orhanages)

Have you had her ears checked too??

Hope this helps, if you need anymore info on SI (sensory integration) let me know.

Stacy

[mom2mykidos3]

I did have her ears checked. They are fine and always are. I am lucky enough that none of my children deal with ear infection.
Some of the other signs she has are only eating one kind of food, she eats mainly bread. She sleeps a lot, 17 hours a day. She has a high tolerance for pain, she doesn't cry when she gets shots. She has low muscle tone. She also bobs her head, mainly when she is just sitting or stops doing things, and it seems to be getting worse.
As far as the early intervention goes she didn't qualify. They came out and did a physical on her for physical therapy help. You have to be 70% or below and she was 73%. UGGGGGGG:banghead So, now I am just paying an arm and a leg for physical therapy, but they are wonderful.
Anyway, we have the MRI Thursday. She also has a lot of signs at Cerebal Palsy. Hopefully we will have more answers next week. I think I will wait and just see. I have a hard time believing they can diagnose a child correctly at the age of 1. She does seem to be very social so I don't think she has autism. If she does have a sensory dysfuction problem I think it is lack of sensory. What do you think????
Thanks

[mayashekhina]

I think the sleeping for 17 hours a day at 1 is cause for concern- what do her oxygen saturation levels usually sit at?

[craniomommynbaby]

Could her head bobbing have to do with the low muscle tone? When Simon was diagnosed with hypotonia, he had gone from holding up his head very well at 2-3 months of age to not being able to hold it steady at 8 months. With physical therapy, he gained quite a bit of strength in a short period of time. I can think about some of the exercises we did and tell you. The therapists taught me quite a bit, and much of the work was really done at home. Just PM me if you are interested.
Some of the other things you mentioned are things Simon has in common. He was a very high needs baby, and his senses were easily overloaded. I remember chatting with some moms on CAPPS about sensory disorders. He has always had an extremely high pain tolerance. (Our joke is that I had an affair with Superman so Simon is part Kryptonian.) As an infant, he could not handle situations with lots of lights and noise. Until he was about 1 year old, I had to carry him in the Snugli through Wal-Mart. The noises and lights bothered him, and he would scream his head off. In the Snugli with his ears covered and eyes shaded, he would fall asleep. From the first day, I could not put him down for anything. I learned to do lots of chores with him strapped on. At 1 year old, we were at Downtown Disney one night, and he could not handle the lights and noise with the shops and people. We had to leave as he was terrified. By the time he turned 2, he outgrew much of that. He is still easily startled and scared by some things. We have to be extra careful about screening movies. The Muppets sometimes can be a trigger for a shaking, screaming, crying fit.
Now, his behavior has been a source of concern. He is very social, but he throws numerous tantrums. These are the mother of all tantrums, too. He will throw himself backwards onto the floor, smacking his head repeatedly. Objects start flying, and he will punch and kick anything nearby. It is the littlest things that start him off. Some say that it is typical at this age, but his teachers have been telling us that it has been bad at school, too. He gets his mind set on what he wants, and he goes nuts if it does not go his way. I thought about autism, maybe at an end of the spectrum. (I have a cousin who is autistic, so it would not surprise me.) His good social skills are what keep me from pursuing that thought. I dunno. If you find any information, please pass it along; I will do the same.

[shorty203]

Good luck with the MRI. It definitely could be because of the low muscle tone too. Some early intervention programs are different, some require PT to be in first before OT, I don't know how yours is. To me it sounds like you could qualify for OT early intervention, with feeding difficulties, low muscle tone, and possible sensory, as long as you don't need PT to qualify.

Here are some books that I found very helpful in explaining SI
Sensory Intergration and the Child (Jean Ayers)
Out of Sync Child (Don't remember the author)

"Typical" children's sensory system aren't fully developed until I think about age 6. Before that, is the time to kind of "mold" their sensory needs to fit into that "acceptable habits" category.

It is kind of like a lack of sensory. You have the brain making all the demands, but you also have a gatekeeper that only allows the brain to get certain stimuli or too much of another. So with the head bobbing the brain could be looking for vestibular stimulus (feeling you get when you swing), but for some reason the gate keeper isn't allowing it through your typical ways. So the brain still wants that stimulus so it resorts to other methods, ie head bobbing. Have you ever seen any adults that sway when they stand (they are satisfying there vestibular stimulus)??? Hopefully that makes sense and helps out.

Goodluck with everything :)
Stacy

[mom2mykidos3]

I know a lot of people think the low muscle tone could do with the head bobbing, but I thought it was weird that my physical therapist didn't say that. She jumped right to sensory.
As far as the sleeping her neurologist said that as long as she is sleep and not waking up then sleeping and then waking up all night there is nothing to worry about. I have a sister who has a slight case of narcalepsy ( I have no clue how to spell that, you know the disorder where you sleep a lot) anyway and her neurologist knows about that. It will definaly be something we watch.
Thanks so much for all the info. I will let you all know what the MRI says.