When your child displays over or under sensitivities to their normal environments in the form of unexplained tantrums, avoidance of certain substances, or inability to sense pain normally, he or she will likely be evaluated for a Sensory Integration or Sensory Processing Disorder.
What are Sensory Processing Evaluations?
Sensory Integration Evaluations are usually performed by an Occupational Therapist. Occasionally trained Physical Therapists or Special Education Professionals also are involved in Sensory Integration Evaluations. This evaluation determines if your child has a neurological disruption in the processing of various stimuli. It can be an over or under stimulation, and sometimes can involve a mixed group of sensory over and under stimulation.
The evaluation appears to most adults as a simple play time with the child, but the evaluator(s) are looking for specific motor function such as coarse and fine motor skills, developmental levels, balance, reaction to various input stimuli such as sounds, textures, and other materials to determine if there is a dysfunction present.
How Does My Child Get Referred to an Occupational Therapist for Sensory Integration Evaluations?
Most often your child's primary care physician or pediatrician will do the referral to a specialist for evaluation if they notice specific issues, but most likely you or your child's care provider will have noticed the issues and brought them up to the pediatrician. When you present your concerns to the pediatrician, they will likely refer you to a specialist who can do the evaluation. If your pediatrician is not willing to do a referral, you have a few options: Your first option is that you can try and continue to endeavor to convince the current doctor of the need for the referral. Another option is that you can seek out another pediatrician in order to find one that is more aware of Sensory Integration Disorders. A third option is that you can seek out your local school system and find out what resources and evaluations are available (even for infants and toddlers) that are often completely free.
What Will Happen During the Sensory Integration Evaluation?
Prior to the evaluation, you will likely be given an extensive questionnaire regarding the daily habits, behaviors, developmental levels, and sensitivities of your child. Some of the questions will include things like "Does your child seem distracted by far away sounds or sounds that you may or may not hear?" These may seem obscure but can determine what, if any, sensory processing issues your child may have. Sensory Processing Disorders can affect all senses including the sense of where the body is in space so you don't run into things, the sense of balance, and all other senses. Knowing what issues your child has issues with will help the evaluators focus on those issues when doing the evaluation.
During the evaluation here are a few things a typical Occupational Therapist might do:
- Have your child stack blocks
- Have your child play with a sticky substance such as Play-Doh
- Have your child play with toy cars
- Have your child mimic writing/drawing
- Have your child mimic speech
- Have your child walk in a straight line
- Have your child do various coordinated movements
- Watch your child eat a snack
These things may seem odd, but they allow the evaluator(s) to watch for muscle tone, weaknesses, strengths, sensitivities and various other issues that may be causing some of the symptoms that lead to the referral of the child to them for evaluation. Depending on your child's age and what answers your initial paperwork indicated, there may be different tasks that the evaluator(s) will endeavor to have your child do. Do not be concerned if they are jotting down notes or checking off a list as they go as it is perfectly normal for evaluators to take notes and use checklists during evaluations.
Ultimately this play time will give the evaluator the basic idea of what your child's issues are. Towards the end of the evaluation, the evaluator(s) will go over their observations with you and will discuss if they have made a diagnosis or not. If the initial screening was inconclusive or too stressful for the child, they may schedule future appointments for further evaluation. Otherwise they will begin to schedule therapy appointments as necessary to help your child become more able to handle his or her environment.
The doctor or evaluator will likely also give you information on resources to assist your child and will also likely give you homework to help your child adapt. This homework is essential to your child's improvement because a therapist only sees your child a few hours a week at most. You or your child's care provider need to be doing the things that the therapist recommends the rest of the week to assist in the correction of any deficiencies or disorders.
What Else Do I Need to Know About Sensory Integration Disorders?
If your child is diagnosed with a Sensory Processing Disorder of any kind, there are plenty of resources available to assist you in helping your child overcome these issues. Here are some links to help you get started:
Suite 101's Special Needs Section
Sensory-Processing-Disorder.com
Southpaw Enterprises (a bit pricey for equipment because they tend to sell to Occupational Therapists but great for ideas to build your own stuff)
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