Welcome to Parent Soup's Sensory Integration Dysfunction Resource Page

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You know those days when you can read something over and over and it just doesn't "register", or everything just looks kind of weird? That's a problem with visual processing. And those days when you drop everything you pick up? That's a tactile processing problem. Or sometimes certain sounds that usually don't bother you drive you nuts?...aural processing problem. Can't stand certain smells sometimes but don't mind them at other times?...smell processing problem. Is there a certain texture that you absolutely can't stand? Mine is frosted glass...I get the willies just thinking about it. Another tactile issue. And you know those days when you just can't stand to be touched, and something like standing in line at the bank almost makes you want to scream because everybody is standing in your personal space? Yet another tactile issue.

 

Now imagine that all those things gang up on you, and stage sneak attacks so that you spend most of your life not being able to rely on the information you get from the world around you, or even your own body. Sometimes a gentle caress is soothing, other times you recoil from it like a slap. Or imagine that the reaction your body has to a school bell is the same as if the TV is turned up full blast and the Emergency Broadcasting System signal comes on. Basically the only reaction you would ever have to any kind of sensory stimulus is the instinctive "fight or flight" one. You'd burn out very quickly.

 

Now imagine that you're a little kid in those circumstances, and you have no idea what is happening to you. You just always lose control. You don't mean to, and you have no say so in whether your brain says that a tap on the shoulder is a tap or a punch. Or every other kid can carry a cup of water without spilling it, or can throw a ball in the direction they want it to go, and you can't. Can you imagine how completely frustrating that would be? Or what if every time you went into a crowded room or store, it was like being a very nearsighted person without your glasses. Or what if the rustle of a paper on the desk of the person next to you in class was just as loud as the teacher's voice...or is the teacher speaking so quietly that you can't hear her above the rustle of papers?

 

And what if the harder you try to see...or listen...or hold onto something...or not panic...the worse everything gets? Or what if you finally get something to make sense, and somebody tells you that it's time to do something else or go somewhere else, and you'll have to start all over again? And what if people always said things like, "That isn't loud," or "It doesn't hurt to brush your hair," or "This doesn't stink, it smells good," when you KNOW they are wrong?

This is the world that children with Sensory Integration Dysfunction are forced to live in. We hope this website will give you some insight and support in dealing with the day to day challenges faced when raising these kids.

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