Sensory Disorder

My son has some minor sensory processing issues too. He doesn't like to get dirty either and nail clipping is stressful. A sensory diet really helped him though. It really helped reduce his anxiety. Are you working with an OT? She will see what her issues are and prescribe activities. We do brushing once a day, swinging in a blanket, crunchy and chewy foods, lollipops and popsicles, as well as blowing instuments. He also wears tights in the winter to give him pressure. I also massage him before bed and a warm bath helps him too.

My son has SPD, too! We had a lot of difficulty with feeding. What kind of therapy is she in? OT's specialize in this, and feeding therapists are specially trained OT's. My son is 3.5, and he doesn't like to get dirty, and it took us a long time to get him to eat anything lumpy. What has worked wonders for us is Listening Therapy - it's a modulated music program that helps give the sensory system what it's craving. Our son's vestibular system is hyposensitive, and we have been working on this for about 2 years. After a few weeks with the Listening Therapy, we noticed a huge difference. You will need to find an OT trained in the Listening Therapy, and once you do you will be amazed! Best of luck, and if you need anything else, just message me!

ABC News, did an episode on something called "Food Neophobia."
Here is the link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Recipes/extremely-picky-e...

I hope this helps.

Hi M., My son, now 23, has a sensory disorder that involves food... among other things. We just learned to go with the flow and when we found something that worked, we held on to it and incorporated into other meals. For example, when my son was a little over a year old, he was still eating only baby cereal and food (the early very smooth stage). Everything else made him gag. One day he got a hold of a paper towel that fell on the floor. This kid, who wouldn't eat anything, tried to eat the paper towel. So I decided to clean my floor very well and rip up a piece of american cheese and drop it on the floor. He ate it. I was able to get him to eat the cheese off of the coffee table within a day and shortly after from a plate. The next step was to put torn up american cheese on everything, from yogurt to quaker maple & brown sugar oatmeal to you name it. The first time he ate a slice of banana, we started putting that on everything. At age 23 he has oatmeal with cheese (cheddar is his favorite) for most breakfasts and bananas & cheese with every dinner. You haven't seen anything until you've seen someone eat spaghetti & meatballs with sliced bananas on top. LOL This isn't a cure-all. He still won't eat crunchy foods, including cookies and most veggies, but he eats quite a bit. And we've gotten past the stage where I've had to cut off anything that could possibly be crunchy (like the brown spots on meat - every try to peel a hot dog?). Interestingly enough, he will chew vitamins. My point is, this is doable and your daughter will most likely eat a variety of foods. Just don't stress out, don't pressure her and ignore the comments and looks from other people. Do what works for your family.

Good luck,
C.

My son had/has SID. I say had because he is now almost 7 and he has overcome almost all issues he once had. We started speech therapy at 16 months and OT at 20 months. It is very important to get a therapist who works mostly with SID cases and has a good knowledge of what works best. It is also SO important that you attend the therapy sessions and incorporate what they do in therapy into your everyday life.
As for eating, at one point my son would eat nothing just by sight. He would just look at the food and say "I'm not eating it." While he is still picky and limited to what he eats, he has increased his choices over the years. Just make him what he can tolerate, and go with the flow. For years he ate chicken nuggets, and butter pasta only. Then one day he looked at broccoli and said he wanted some. Turns out he likes the stems only, who cares he ate a vegetable! At his special education preschool they would serve snack that was the same for all children. The kids were not forced to eat, but not given another choice. If they at least licked the item they got a sticker for it. We eat dinner as a family at the table together. My son gets his food, and we all eat the dinner that I prepared. Over time he would just look at what we were eating and ask if he could try it. Sometimes he spit it right out and I would just priase that he even asked to try some. Sometimes he would see that it wasn't so bad. The last trick I want to share is to relate food you want him to eat to food he does like as much as possible. I got him to eat baked ham by telling him it tasted like hot dog (which it kind of does) and I let him dunk it in ketchup. I did the same by relating breaded chicken cutlet to a chicken nugget. Don't stress too much about what they eat. My son has always had a limited diet, but he is strong, lean (not scrawny), and one of the tallest kids in his class. He is also almost never sick.

My Niece has SPD. Its a daily struggle to find what you can use and do to make their day and yours easier. She is only 4 , I can tell you with my normal 4 year old I cant really do or use a damn thing with her either LOL Its no different in my eyes. she wont eat most foods (except cookies)
Keep rotating till you find what she can handle. My niece is 6 now and getting better but I still see how my brother and his wife struggle.

Have you been to any website for SD? I know it growing more, you might be able to get some better help there.

My son's sensory does not involve food however one thing that was suggested in the event that it does occur was to have a small serving of 5 or more differently textured foods and for every bite of those foods he eats he gets a sticker or something to that effect.
Ex: Oatmeal (mushy/lumpy), Granola (crunchy), Jerkey/dried fruits (tough/chewy), Yogurt (liquidy/runny), Cottage Cheese (mushy/lumpy) There are tons of things you can try I suggest starting with that.