help me explain Heavy work vs "being tired"

[Momma Aimee]

DS1 is SPD. we are work though a ton of assessments and fighting BCBS on speech and stuff -- due to lack of medical dx. actually we have no offical dx at all ...only "pssible ADD to be determined w/ age" "profound artuclation (speech) delay" and "general brain immaturity" -- ie a lot of discriptions and no dx.

but the fact is the kid IS SPD --

we had a great OT assessment, and the OT is going to write some stuff up for us -- but still no dx and the place is not even goign to request OT for Ds1 cuz insurense as a blanket -- does not cover it ... OT for sensory is never approved.

anyway -- we travled 6 weeks at the beach and staying in hotels with pools --

i was trying to express to DH how great the heavy work of the ocean and the pools was calming to DS1. Dh agrees BUT feels it is jsut "well sure he played hard all day and is tired" ...

I am having a hard time really exmapling the differnce -- i SEE it, and i "get it" on a gut level ,... but i can't explain it to DH.

Anyone able to help me.

Heavy work -- sensory calming -- vs jsut wearing the child out.

??

TIA

Aimee

[JeanineTheOT]

Im gonna take a crack at this one, since I am an OT and work with many children and adults with sensory processing disorders.
So, heavy work is any type of muscle work that provides input to the muscles and joints. This type of input is calming and organizing to the nervous system. It releases calming and organizing neurotransmitters. Depending one what your child needs (sounds like intense deep tactile and proprioceptive input...since you are referring to swimming to "wear him out"). Yes, he would be tired after a long day of any type of intense activity...but the difference is that he has sensory needs. Any child will get tired from movement activities. Those children may enjoy those activities and naturally get tired from them. For him, his body requires movement and intense input to stay calm and in control. During they day he may need sensory "meals" such as an intense activity, such as swimming, jumping, crashing, swinging, etc to get his "cup filled" with enough of these neurotransmitters so that he would feel calm, in control of himself, and be better able to participate in whatever activity he is required to participate in afterwards (sitting at dinner, going shopping, sitting in school, etc).
I dont know your child, but just based on what you said in your post, this is the best fitting explaination.

It is confusing to people if they are just being introduced to the concepts. just think that we all have sensory diets...you may need a hot shower and coffee to wake up, bite on your pen to stay awake in a meeting, tap your foot, chew gum, take a walk to the water cooler, listen to music, go to the gym, etc. All these things are part of our "sensory diets"...even though technically we dont have SPD. So, our SPD kids just need more intense input to feel ok. And, they dont know how to do it for themselves, so we have to help set up the activities for them until they can do it for themselves.

HTH

[Momma Aimee]

Originally Posted by JeanineTheOT

Im gonna take a crack at this one, since I am an OT and work with many children and adults with sensory processing disorders.
So, heavy work is any type of muscle work that provides input to the muscles and joints. This type of input is calming and organizing to the nervous system. It releases calming and organizing neurotransmitters. Depending one what your child needs (sounds like intense deep tactile and proprioceptive input...since you are referring to swimming to "wear him out"). Yes, he would be tired after a long day of any type of intense activity...but the difference is that he has sensory needs. Any child will get tired from movement activities. Those children may enjoy those activities and naturally get tired from them. For him, his body requires movement and intense input to stay calm and in control. During they day he may need sensory "meals" such as an intense activity, such as swimming, jumping, crashing, swinging, etc to get his "cup filled" with enough of these neurotransmitters so that he would feel calm, in control of himself, and be better able to participate in whatever activity he is required to participate in afterwards (sitting at dinner, going shopping, sitting in school, etc).
I dont know your child, but just based on what you said in your post, this is the best fitting explaination.

It is confusing to people if they are just being introduced to the concepts. just think that we all have sensory diets...you may need a hot shower and coffee to wake up, bite on your pen to stay awake in a meeting, tap your foot, chew gum, take a walk to the water cooler, listen to music, go to the gym, etc. All these things are part of our "sensory diets"...even though technically we dont have SPD. So, our SPD kids just need more intense input to feel ok. And, they dont know how to do it for themselves, so we have to help set up the activities for them until they can do it for themselves.

HTH

awsome!!

thanks