dh and i suspect that our almost 5 yo dd may have SPD. she has always been "high-need" since the day she was born. as she's gotten older, she has developed some behaviors that are, may i say, spastic and infuriating. 
here's a description of some of her behaviors and personality. it's a bit stream-of-consciousness though:
she is highly intelligent, very intuitive and energetic. she stopped napping at 8 months old. she chews on everything. she chewed the ends of her long hair off and i had to cut it. she has almost zero impulse control when it comes to certain things. on the other hand, she is very trustworthy and can be the greatest joy! she is a fantastic artist. seriously. her drawings are amazing. i can say that tim burton would love them. but she falls apart if she can't get something to look right or find the right color. she is sensitive to seams, tags etc.,. she makes animal noises. like grunting and babbling. she talks to herself all.day.long. she screams bloody murder way too often. she is so twitchy. she was never a cuddly baby. she is very sensitive in ways that it would take me so long to explain in this post. yet, she tells everyone everyday many times that she loves us. her memory is uncanny. but so is her timing, without fail she almost always does THE WORST thing at THE WORST time. example: she's laying on the floor for 15 min drawing. i walk by with a huge load of laundry. she chooses that moment to POP up, bonk her head and scatter my clean laundry all over, while running on the laundry into another room and then running back to lay down and draw. so she popped up FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER and caused a huge mess and commotion. happens all.day.long. she cries constantly. just completely falls apart. what works one time for a situation won't work next time for the same exact situation.
here's a quick rundown of outside influences: our days are rhythmic, she is healthy, we eat well, mostly organic, NO junk. lots of pure water. no chemicals in our home or clothing. we live in the mountains, very little pollution here. no vaxes. she was homebirthed joyfully. breastfed for almost 3 years. we read everyday, play everyday. we un-school. she is "ahead" academically, like i said she is HIGHLY intelligent, possibly gifted, but she hasn't been evaluated, as we don't feel it's been necessary yet. we do time-outs, natural consequences, discussion. baths and stories/cuddling when she gets out of control of herself. we have firm/strict boundaries, and fair expectations, but we also have mostly happy fun days. no abuse has happened - we are EXTREMELY careful with our kids and she has only been away from us a handful of times with 2 select people we trust explicitly. i don't know what else................
where can we start? what should i know? books to read? i have looked on the SPD website, and found some things of help, but i'm not really sure about this.......it's all new territory. i've read highly sensitive child and highly spirited child and they helped some, but there really never is a "cure-all" you know? anything you have to give will be helpful at this point! thank you
here's a description of some of her behaviors and personality. it's a bit stream-of-consciousness though:
she is highly intelligent, very intuitive and energetic. she stopped napping at 8 months old. she chews on everything. she chewed the ends of her long hair off and i had to cut it. she has almost zero impulse control when it comes to certain things. on the other hand, she is very trustworthy and can be the greatest joy! she is a fantastic artist. seriously. her drawings are amazing. i can say that tim burton would love them. but she falls apart if she can't get something to look right or find the right color. she is sensitive to seams, tags etc.,. she makes animal noises. like grunting and babbling. she talks to herself all.day.long. she screams bloody murder way too often. she is so twitchy. she was never a cuddly baby. she is very sensitive in ways that it would take me so long to explain in this post. yet, she tells everyone everyday many times that she loves us. her memory is uncanny. but so is her timing, without fail she almost always does THE WORST thing at THE WORST time. example: she's laying on the floor for 15 min drawing. i walk by with a huge load of laundry. she chooses that moment to POP up, bonk her head and scatter my clean laundry all over, while running on the laundry into another room and then running back to lay down and draw. so she popped up FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER and caused a huge mess and commotion. happens all.day.long. she cries constantly. just completely falls apart. what works one time for a situation won't work next time for the same exact situation.
here's a quick rundown of outside influences: our days are rhythmic, she is healthy, we eat well, mostly organic, NO junk. lots of pure water. no chemicals in our home or clothing. we live in the mountains, very little pollution here. no vaxes. she was homebirthed joyfully. breastfed for almost 3 years. we read everyday, play everyday. we un-school. she is "ahead" academically, like i said she is HIGHLY intelligent, possibly gifted, but she hasn't been evaluated, as we don't feel it's been necessary yet. we do time-outs, natural consequences, discussion. baths and stories/cuddling when she gets out of control of herself. we have firm/strict boundaries, and fair expectations, but we also have mostly happy fun days. no abuse has happened - we are EXTREMELY careful with our kids and she has only been away from us a handful of times with 2 select people we trust explicitly. i don't know what else................
where can we start? what should i know? books to read? i have looked on the SPD website, and found some things of help, but i'm not really sure about this.......it's all new territory. i've read highly sensitive child and highly spirited child and they helped some, but there really never is a "cure-all" you know? anything you have to give will be helpful at this point! thank you
