I just wanted to thank you all again...

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2006
I just wanted to thank you all again...
5
Wed, 05-17-2006 - 7:27pm

For your advice and support the other day.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Wed, 05-17-2006 - 9:27pm

Dear Alissa,

The OTs around here will soon chime in, I'm sure, but I can tell you that our initial evaluator knew on sight that ds had SID by watching how Malcolm interacted with us and responded to her. I remember her talking about how he would touch our faces to get our attention when he wanted to talk with us and get our faces right to his so he wouldn't miss anything. She said that was very SID.

Then later, the OTs had him climb, played music, watched him color, had him do all sorts of kid things and started designing his program based on what they saw. He was also in a therapeutic daycare, so the teachers all collaborated with the OTs, so they continued to gather information.

SID is evaluated by the symptoms, which are pretty clear over time. We all get bothered by sensory issues, but SID is WAY more than normal and interferes with life.

yours,

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 05-17-2006 - 10:07pm

First it is absolutely awesome that your ped recognized sensory issues. That is huge. Many don't even know what the heck it is lol.

As for evaluation there are typically 2 ways to go about that. An OT is typically who would do it but a PT could be trained in SI as well.

The first way to evaluate for SID is the most common. That is through observations and having the parent and/or teachers fill out the sensory integration questionaire. (Sensory Profile I beleive it is called. It may be a slightly longer name than that). There are 2 sensory profiles. The short one and a longer one. For a first evaluation the long one should be done, though the short one is adequate for updating info. The parents rate behaviors on a scale then the OT scores it. That along with observations of the child and some more standardized evaluations of motor skills typically can give you a good idea of what a childs sensory needs are. Typically an OT will do fine motor and visual motor evaluations as well with the sensory profile.

The second way is giving the full SIPT (Sensory Integration Praxis Test). The SIPT is about a 6-8 hour standardized evaluation given over a number of sessions. It is also very pricey ($1000-$1500 which is comparable to a full neuropsyche eval. It often isn't covered by insurances or schools unless it is really neccessary) It is pretty stressful and tough for a SI kid. It can give very accurate information and can be good for those kids that are really hard to figure out.

Mike was approved to get the SIPT about a year ago. We couldn't even make it through 1/4 of it in 4 hours. He had the worst time of it. Finally we just quit and the OT giving it agreed that he had serious sensory issues. The district wanted the eval because they were paying for him to go to a private clinic so they wanted an objective place to give the full eval to quantify why he was going.

My boss is a SIPT certified OT (not all are but the ones who are should really know their SI stuff). She has told me that the SIPT isn't a particularly good eval to give to ASD kids and wasn't surprised at all by Mike's reaction too it.

HTH

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2006
Thu, 05-18-2006 - 7:37am
Thank you--this is all very helpful information.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2006
Thu, 05-18-2006 - 7:38am

Thank you for the wealth of info you've given me--I'll read up some more before his appointment.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 05-18-2006 - 5:11pm

One thing you may want to read is "Asperger Syndrome and Sensory Issues". Regardless of whether or not he is AS, that is one of the best and easiest books to understand on sensory issues and how to deal with them. It even explain olfactory in there and gives lots of great tips.

Renee

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