SID is when a person's response (or under response) to every day sensory stimuli is dysfunctional to the point that it interferes with every day life and functioning.
Everyone has some sensory issues to a degree, when it becomes
dysfunction is when the abnormal response impedes normal functioning and everyday life severely.
Links for a good definition and examples:
http://www.out-of-sync-child.com/introduction.htmlhttp://www.out-of-sync-child.com/examples.htmlhttp://www.incrediblehorizons.com/se...ntegration.htm
I knew what SID was because my sister did early intervention therapy for years. One of the very first signs (although I didn't know it until his dx) in my son was colic. According to OT's who treat SID, colic is one of the earliest signs.
My son was (still is) a very difficult sleeper. He would not, cannot, fall asleep without some sort of assistance from us or from a mechanical device (car). He must be rocked or nursed to sleep. As an infant, he would only sleep for 1-1.5 hr. stretches until he was about 9 mos. old. He also refused to touch sand, refused to touch grass, freaked out when we washed and/or combed his hair, became very distressed with things like clipping nails. He crawled with his hands in fists (so he wouldn't have to touch whatever surface with the palm of his hands), and when he mastered walking, he would frequently walk on his tip toes...especially in new/stressful situations. Transitions were EXTREMELY rough for him. Definitely not a "go with the flow" child. When we started trying to feed him solids, the signs got more and more obvious. He screamed, cried, gagged and vomited at the SIGHT of anything green. No green food. At ALL. You couldn't even have it on the TABLE where he could SEE it. He gagged and vomited on anything with texture. Refused to even
touch certain foods like bananas, peaches, etc.. Refused to eat most things that weren't beige in color or pureed. He wouldn't play with certain toys or even TOUCH certain toys. He would cry and cling and have a fight/flight reaction to most new situations/people/toys. A green, bumpy ball they tried to get him to play with in the evaluation nearly sent him over the edge. Loud noises completely freaked him out. He could not tolerate riding in a stroller or carseat unless it was moving. Restaurants were out of the question, as the noisy atmosphere sent him into a huge meltdown, even as young as 5 months of age. Baby sitters were out of the question, the first time we left him with someone, my best friend, for 3 hours, so we could go out for my birthday, he cried
the entire time. He refused to take ebm from a bottle and they were unable to soothe him. He was 5 mos. old at that time and had a seemingly good relationship with my friend, would smile at her and let her hold him, etc..
The feeding issues are what finally got my dh and pediatrician to listen and to get an evaluation from an occupational therapist and speech language path..
Whew. What a novel.
