Tell me your brushing success stories

[blueridgewoman]

....because I really need to hear them. My daughter has now been formally diagnosed as having SPD and we began the brushing therapy today after an OT therapy session first thing this morning. And....I'm not sure if its coincidence or not, but today has been HELL ON EARTH with my daughter- constant tantrums and screaming and just a really terrible day.

DD responded well to the brushing this morning in the session and loved it, but told me that it "hurt" when we did it later. She loved it the first time or two this morning after we got home, but it seems like the more we did it (our OT recommended every 2 hours), she got more and more irritated. She does have eczema and I've been very careful not to brush the broken out areas, and the OT and I practiced quite a bit, so I know I'm doing it correctly.

Our OT warned us that it could get worse before it got better, but also says that she expects that we'll see good results in as little as four days. Is this really the case? I could really use your success stories right now. This is terrible for us because honestly, making it through the day with her on a NORMAL day is pretty hardcore difficult, so today was particularly intense. I'm thinking about calling the OT and asking her about it tomorrow but thought I'd see if there was feedback to be had here first.

[bdavis337]

We did brushing for a week before I noticed any improvement. Some days it was really beneifical and others not so much. I only use it now when thingsa re out of control and we need to find the balance again - like now.

[flitters]

I'm very interested in this thread as well. Our OT recommended (and made some unsuccessful attempts with) brushing for ds, but ds is SOOO against it we've really gotten nowhere. We do some general deep pressure and joint compression stuff, but not enough as he mostly recoils.

oh, and ds is 5.

[Kailey's mom]

After brushing, you HAVE to do the deep pressure massage. We personally didn't see huge changes, but it did help. If we did not do the deep massage, my child would be out of control. It wakes up all the nerves, so they are all going, but if you don't massage, they don't calm down. Ultimatly you end up with a very irritable kiddo.

[LynnS6]

We saw pretty big differences within about 2 weeks with ds. I agree with a pp that the deep pressure stuff afterward is key.

Ds went from having to wear long sleeves all the time, fighting new socks and new shoes and never ever going without socks to being able to change clothes easily with the weather, going barefoot and with sandals, and getting new shoes easily. I nearly cried the first time he tried on a pair of shoes and after the first pair said "These are fine."

I'd say it probably took 6-8 weeks for the full benefit to be seen, and we continued it for about 6 months.

My experience in talking to other parents is that the brushing seems to work well for some kids, and not much at all with others. My suspicion is that it works well with sensory seekers.

OP - hang in there. If she's reorganizing her system it's taking a lot of energy from her. In order for her to change, she has to go through a period of disequilibrium, and quite honestly, those periods are hard on everyone involved. (The 2 months before our dd learned to read were really tough. And she's neurotypical, as far as I can tell.)

[blueridgewoman]

Wait, massage? We do joint compressions butnot massage. ?? Sorry, write more later, irritable kiddo.

[LynnS6]

We did just joint compressions, not massage.

[APToddlerMama]

subbing so I can write more later...have to run now

[tenecwalker]

Are you doing the joint compression afterwards? That is important to bring them back down and is the calming portion. We did the brushing/joint compression with my son as soon as he started OT in the fall. It did not help his behavior, but it did get him to stop insisting on wearing my youngest son's clothing (size 0-6 months) and other way too small/too tight items. He also started wearing jeans again where he previously had boycotted them for months.

[earthmama369]

We generally do brushing and joint compression once a day, right before bed. We saw a pretty immediate effect. We started doing this a month ago and ds began sleeping through the night within a couple days, for the first time in nearly two years. And when he wakes up to pee now, he's a lot less upset and goes back to sleep easily, rather than needing to be rocked and walked for 20-45 minutes while screaming. He still has off nights, but the overall improvement has been tremendous.

[flitters]

When our OT recommended brushing (well, she still recommends it, we just can't figure out a way to do it with ds) she just recommended to do brushing followed by joint compressions. The deep massage came in because she said that is the point of the brushing and since ds is so opposed to the brush touching him, we are trying to do it with our hands, just like deep rubbing on his arms/legs/back, followed by joint compressions.