Education
Finding the right school for your child with SPD The first step to finding the right school for children with a Sensory Processing Disorder is to deeply understand your child and what his or her behaviour means.
What kind of SPD do they have?
EDUCATION IN BRISBANE
Are they: Over-sensitive to certain sensations? Which ones? Noise, movement, touch, mouth sensations, smell, a busy visual environment, light?
How do they respond? • Fear and anxiety that they bottle up while at school and then explode at home. • Flight / Avoidance type behaviours where they try to move away from what disturbs them or even leave the room. Or distract you with talking about something irrelevant to the task. • Fight – Aggression, angry words, hitting out at peers or adults, biting themselves or others. Such children need to feel safe so they can calmly cope with the barrage of stimulation. The key here is using a supportive, calm and predictable parenting/ teaching style. Avoid
forcing children to participate but rather support them to engage at their own pace. You need a teacher and principal in your new school that will understand (or be willing to learn) your child’s unique coping strategies when stressed and can provide help and understanding so he/ she can calm down and engage. AVOID situations/ people who blame your child (and you) for negative fright/ flight/ fight behaviours and label you child as naughty.
Under sensitive to sensation and lethargic These kids often appear slow and are often referred for Occupational Therapy treatment to help with fine motor skills and handwriting and/or balance and coordination challenges. In the classroom, these kids can slip under the teacher’s radar because they appear docile and don’t cause trouble. They can also be labelled as lazy.
Bazilgrumble
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Your Local Families Magazine – Brisbane Issue 8 - February/March 2015
These kids appear like this because the sensory processing systems for proprioception (body awareness sense) and vestibular (movement sense) are out of sync and sluggish. So they need you as a parent to help them move –e.g. swinging with a rhythm and then with sudden stop and starts, bouncing on a therapy ball, rolling down a hill, listening to music with a strong beat and an upbeat style of interaction that has predictability and a rhythm will help them “wake up”. Teachers in your new school should be open to getting kids moving whenever they are looking sleepy and tired – e.g. an errand to the office, a run around the oval with the class or a whole class exercise break will all help.
Sensory Seeking children These children appear to be on the go. They make noises, they need to touch everything, love slime and lots of other “gross” things all