What does a sensory processing evaluation entail?

[RoadBuddy]

My DS just turned 3 and in a great preschool. They recommended he get evaluated for potential sensory processing issues. The teacher said something about him not seeming to know where he is in space and possibly having trouble focusing because of this?

I have some sensory issues myself, but mainly around noise and touch, so this more spatial piece is new to me.

Anyway, we have him on a waiting list for an evaluation with an OT. Has anyone been through a sensory evaluation? What do they do in the evaluation?

[RoadBuddy]

I want to add that he has an expressive language delay and is in a preschool focused on language issues, where some of the kids have sensory diagnoses or autsim spectrum disorders as well. The OT clinic they referred us to is experienced in this area, which I understand is quite important as some OTs aren't as familar with sensory problems?

[laurata]

I don't know, but when my son goes in to get his speech therapy on Thursday, I plan to ask. My son was referred to a specific clinic to get a sensory evaluation, but I didn't follow up because 1) I didn't want to make that drive while having to put my other kids in other-care and 2) They had a really long waiting list, whereas a local clinic had a much shorter wait list. I guess I should at least get the eval done at the farther clinic, but being pregnant and swamped with everything else, its just not at the top of my list of things to do.

[Nature]

At that young an age, the only evals that are done (in my state anyway) are just observation, parent reports, and parent questionnaires. There are other types of evaluations that they do, but usually its done when the children are older.

My dd is turning 7 next month and they only now are referring her to get this more hands on type of evaluation, even though she has been in evaluations since she was 3 years old, transitioned from Early Intervention to special education in school and finally officially dx'd a few weeks ago.

I didn't know what this new eval would entail so I asked your exact question a few days ago. My sons OT told me that they do a lot of actual physical things to test how well they tolerate things, their body space, their willingness or unwillingness to participate in certain things involving textures, sounds, lights, movement, etc.

My son is 2 1/2 and at this stage its still observation and a questionnaire they go on to determine that yes he does have definite differences on his sensory profile.

[LynnS6]

Our ds was evaluated at 4 years 11 months - the evaluation consisted of:

Forms for dh and me to fill out
Forms for ds' preschool teacher to fill out
A 60 minute evaluation where she observed his reaction to various stimuli, his ability to perform certain tasks (he couldn't, for example lay on his tummy and raise his arms and legs), and his tolerance for various stimuli (swings, somersaults, walking without socks, etc.)
A 30 minute discussion following the eval, and then a write up a week or so later.

We had taken him in because of fine motor delays and because of extreme aversions to loud noises and textures. She did diagnose issues in this area, but also noted that he didn't have a good sense of where his body was in space, and as a result, he used his eyes to orient himself. When he wasn't able to do that (in the dark, or with loud noises), he freaked out. The vestibular issues made a lot of sense once the OT explained how they were linked to ds' fear of the dark, fear of loud noises (and on the 4th of July, those things were combined!), fear of putting his head back or forward (washing hair was a nightmare).

[Kristine233]

When we started the process my son was 2 years old and we lived in WI. In WI they are huge on home based stuff, everything comes to you. A team of 3 came to our house from the birth to three program and spent a lot of time "playing" with him where they tested different abilities ranging from speech, gross motor, fine motor and intelligence type stuff. An OT was on that team doing a lot of the motor related stuff. I had a ton of paperwork to do as well. After that the OT came back to do another sort of eval that was just more fine and gross motor stuff. She essentially just played with him. When it was determined he had sensory issues we came up with a OT plan and services began 3 times a week in our home (or she'd take him to the pool for OT or to a social playgroup).

My assumption is that it would be similar but without the additional intelligence related parts and at the OT place rather than at home. When we moved to Northern MN we did have to redo a lot of the stuff and we went directly to the OT for a new eval there. He was much older by that time though (5 years). It still just included games and activities with the OT while I filled out a questionaire that we went over together afterwards. (this was all for just the sensory and motor issues)