<p>Anyone have any experience with this diagnosis? What about selective sound sensitivity? </p>
<p>Any information would be great. Thanks!</p>
<p>My son was diagnosed with sensory integration dysfunction when he was still in preschool (he starts college in the fall). He also has mild Aspergers. SI is very common among individuals with AS or autism. It is a neurological dysfunction in the brain (ie the area that controls your fight/flight reactions) and is typically treated through physical therapy. Basically, if you have SI your brain is sending messages to the rest of the body that puts in a fight/flight mode pretty much all the time, and you overreact/underreact to many sensations. One of the leading researchers in this area is Dr. Jean Ayers. There are several books and internet resources available. Since it is commonly associated with autism, a local or national autism association would be a good place to get more information.</p>
<p>My son was overly sensitive to both touch and sounds and had poor motor planning skills. I am not knowledgeable about "selective" sound sensitivities but during my son's early preschool years he could not tolerate certain noises and would freak out if he heard things like vacuums (we resorted to a lot of hardwood floors), airplanes, noisy crowds/lots of people around him, bells/buzzers/fire trucks, alarms, etc. He also would not wear certain types of clothing and would need to put socks or coats on over and over until they felt right. He had some vestibular issues affecting movement, eg, was slow in picking up gross motor skills like jumping, riding a bike etc, and didn't get dizzy when spinning. </p>
<p>My son went through occupational therapy for about a year or so. Fortunately his case was relatively mild (and probably would have been overlooked if we had not pushed for services) so it did not take very long to get him to an acceptable level comparable to his peers. The physical therapy helped desensitize him to certain sensations and improve his motor skills; overall this helped him to tolerate touches and sounds that bothered him the most but he still deals with many sensory issues today (prefers loose clothing, doesn't like to be touched, is easily distracted by noises or activities around him and wears earphones when studying). </p>
<p>Since this is a lifetime issue, it's important that children learn coping skills to continue to deal with oversensitivities as they get older. Maturity obviously helps as older children can learn how to deal with these issues more appropriately than younger children. Often SI issues can interfere with schooling since so it is important to talk to teachers about what can be done in the classroom to help the student tolerate the school environment better. Our therapist gave us some literature with ideas for activities at schools. This can include things as simple as where the student sits if there are space issues, chewing gum to help them to focus better, encouraging activities that apply deep pressure to the body such as getting squished between large cushions or matts (this can also help with attentiveness), etc. </p>
<p>The best thing is to get a diagnosis since each person's issues are different and may require different treatment. And as with any physical disability its important for you as the parent to educate yourself as much as possible.</p>
<p>thank you very much for that information - I appreciate the post -</p>
<p>My daughter had this diagnosis (among others) and received years of SI occupational therapy. Sound was one thing she was sensitive to.</p>
<p>Years later, she is fine. Was it the therapy or the passage of time? No way to tell.</p>
<p>If you google the term, I think you will find a lot of information out there on the diagnosis.</p>
<p>I've never been formally diagnosed with SID (although I'm not entirely sure why not), but I have been diagnosed with bipolar, ADD, and a host of other stuff that just makes alphabet soup.</p>
<p>With a really good letter from my psychiatrist, I am allowed to take my tests and stuff in a quiet room with dim lighting (I'm light sensitive too) with double the time. I have had few problems with getting teachers (I'm currently at a Community College) to do things like shut the door or turn out one light, and if I explain the sunglasses I've had no problems with that either.</p>
<p>There was one building I was in that had the most HORRIFIC high pitched continuous beep. I was about to puke it was so bad. A few words to the teacher and I was allowed to keep my MP3 player on white noise on headphones so I could tune out the beeping but not the instructor.</p>
<p>So far, everyone has been incredibly helpful with my issues. But that's just at the CC level. I start a LAC in the fall, so we'll see how they are there!!</p>