Anxiety.....fear.... worries.....

Well Angie Voss, OTR is on a roll with another wonderful article about anxiety and SPD and tips to help manage it. She also gives a great clear explanation of anxiety in kids with sensory processing disorder..... and heck, adults too! My apples don't fall very far from this tree. But I love her professional opinion on the entire medication of these side effects, as she calls them, of SPD. I'm right with her. My son has been on the same meds for almost 2 years now, no changes- the only thing that actually helps him is the control of his environment he comes in contact to... that's why Paradise in a bubble ..... the meds he is on are important, we get that, especially one in particular, Clonodine- that is a really amazing medicine to help just calm him down... but no meds can replace what the control of the environment does.... and in our son's case, his system is also so fragile, sensitive, that the doses of certain meds he's on is all he can take because then there are side effects. So the proper doses can't even be taken by him, that's also why we are in this bubble world. Maybe if he could tolerate the proper doses it would help him deal with the outside environment better, but the simple answer is he can't at this point. So we get back to this bubble, with the combo of meds he does take, and the one thing that makes the biggest difference is controlling the environment. He is on the same meds he was on when he was in school, having hourly violent rages, running away, shut down, not eating, not sleeping. And yet almost 2 years later, same meds, we just now have complete control over his environment (or try to), since he doesn't attend school: and he eats, sleeps, plays, laughs, engages, smiles. Not that we don't have very tough days, of course we do, but it's not daily, it's not hourly, it's not dangerous (usually). You can't even believe the kid that once was when he attended school, and the kid today- this morning I told him my favorite part of the day now is taking the bike ride to school to drop off Sarah. He and I ride home, and laugh, and talk. Oliver hangs out in the basket we "made" for Ty's bike- it's been pretty ideal and perfect in my book.

Haven't gotten in the car once- I"m so proud of him- Before getting in the car, to take her or pick her up- well one word to describe it was HELL. The anxiety that came over him, the behaviors would start, the mean words, the anger, the object throwing while I'm driving. And we were only going less then a quarter mile. I dreaded these daily trips. But not getting into the car, riding bikes in the fresh air with Oliver is wonderful for him (and me). Now it's not like we haven't ever done bike riding before. We live in a town where bikes are the main transportation for many.. it's great. But we had lots and lots of experiences of riding bikes, and then Ty would literally stop, sit on the curb and say "I'm done" and not move. Hmm now what do we do? And that happened repeatedly. Or he even has ditched his bike and started running off. So with too many experiences like this, you just stop doing the activity. That's why this riding Sarah to school in the mornings and picking her up means so much to me. It's something we haven't been able to do- and it's been successful!! (well at least so far... it's only day 5 of the school year- but I"m optimistic). Baby steps baby steps, baby steps!!!! So these rides with Ty in the morning really are an awesome part of my day- because I know how difficult it is for him, and has been in the past. And he's doing it with great success! But Anxiety, and these side effects of SPD that Angie Voss, OTR, explains is real, and when you can take a minute to see the world through these lenses, the world is a pretty scary place from so many different points. That's why behavioral therapy only gets you so far- a good sensory diet is equally critical. Our behaviorists have embedded both behavioral therapy with the sensory diet and this is what helps Ty so much with everything!