DS6 just diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder

[Hasil72]

Its still disappointing that a pediatrician has never heard of it. On the bright side...you may have taught him (?) something that may help another patient down the road.
Another thing I have learned is that not all school districts offer services for SID alone My son gets services for his SID because he also has Asperger's. Without the Asperger's dx he wouldnt be eligible for school provided OT.

We didn't learn that DS8 had SID until he was already 4 because our pediatrician didn't recognize it as a diagnosis. They kept telling me he was just being a boy, immature, out of shape, blah, blah, blah. So we called our local school child study team. Before they were even through the phone interview, they had a pretty good idea that it was SID. Strangely, he experiences both seeking and avoiding in most categories. He was later diagnosed w/ADHD, low tone from the developmental delays (another one the pediatrician missed), on the autism spectrum somewhere between Asperger's and PDD-NOS, and generalized anxiety disorder.

You may have to really push for a diagnosis. I know that each state has different regulations for determining if your son is eligible for services but before they made a laundry list of DS's "issues", we were able to classify him as OHI-Other health impaired because he had allergies in addition to the SID. Try any loophole you can find. DS has made such progress with OT. He can actually sleep through the night, think before he raises someting to his mouth, and wait until after school to take off his shoes and socks! Seems crazy, I know, but just wait and see.

Also, be prepared for a lot of explaining. We found that we have been in a constant defensive mode with people who haven't heard of, let alone understand SID. They think that in order to have a disability, you need to "look the part". We have so many people who have told us "he looks normal enough to me, you just need to be more strict" or do this or that and he'll be fine. To the point where my grandmother, who used to teach kindergarten, accused me of "abusing" my child when (after 3 years) we finally tried medication for the escalating ADHD/anxiety. I agree with the other posters to read any information you can get your hands on and don't be affraid to speak up and voice what you think is in your child's best interest.

Good luck!

 

[wvdislover]

We didn't learn that DS8 had SID until he was already 4 because our pediatrician didn't recognize it as a diagnosis. They kept telling me he was just being a boy, immature, out of shape, blah, blah, blah. So we called our local school child study team. Before they were even through the phone interview, they had a pretty good idea that it was SID. Strangely, he experiences both seeking and avoiding in most categories. He was later diagnosed w/ADHD, low tone from the developmental delays (another one the pediatrician missed), on the autism spectrum somewhere between Asperger's and PDD-NOS, and generalized anxiety disorder.

You may have to really push for a diagnosis. I know that each state has different regulations for determining if your son is eligible for services but before they made a laundry list of DS's "issues", we were able to classify him as OHI-Other health impaired because he had allergies in addition to the SID. Try any loophole you can find. DS has made such progress with OT. He can actually sleep through the night, think before he raises someting to his mouth, and wait until after school to take off his shoes and socks! Seems crazy, I know, but just wait and see.

Also, be prepared for a lot of explaining. We found that we have been in a constant defensive mode with people who haven't heard of, let alone understand SID. They think that in order to have a disability, you need to "look the part". We have so many people who have told us "he looks normal enough to me, you just need to be more strict" or do this or that and he'll be fine. To the point where my grandmother, who used to teach kindergarten, accused me of "abusing" my child when (after 3 years) we finally tried medication for the escalating ADHD/anxiety. I agree with the other posters to read any information you can get your hands on and don't be affraid to speak up and voice what you think is in your child's best interest.

Good luck!

Your DS sounds just like my DD10. She has been able to get OT services through school b/c of her issues. We were able to add some special ed. services (which she really needed to help her academically) through the "other health impaired." Technically, she is supposed to be getting organizational help b/c of her ADHD. She didn't qualify otherwise, b/c her test scores were just a few points over the "line" they've drawn to diagnose LD; however, she was struggling enough in school that she NEEDS the special ed. help. So, the special ed teacher (who was already helping my DD in the classroom when she was also helping another student) and DD's OT really pushed and were able to get DD special ed help in organizational skills in math and reading. Not really what I was hoping for, but it has worked pretty well--we have our foot in the door now (and it only took from the first day of school until halfway through 4th nine weeks of school to make that happen ). Now, we just need to see how her standardized test scores come out to see if they'll be able to help her more.
Bethany, keep trying and good luck! Check out the link that Ms Butterfly has in an earlier post--it has some great insight into SID.