Hi my kids call me Momma. My son is 4 years old and has SPD traits but he has not been diagnosed. He has a pediatrician appointment to discuss a referral for private speech therapy. His previous doctor didn’t think he had a speech delay when I brought it up to him during a routine checkup. Although he referred me to assure me he didn’t have a delay it turned out he did. Because of this I changed doctors and will meet with his new doctor later this month to discuss private speech therapy and ask about SPD. His hearing was tested as well and came back normal.
He is currently enrolled through our local school district’s Special Education Services here in Oregon and he also attends a preschool with an assistant to help him in the class. They work with his behavior and he spends time with both a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist a few hours a month. But at his preschool he is with children who have average development and behavior/energy level and the assistant helps him participate throughout the class.

He’s very, very active but smart. I’ve been told how smart he is but also how active he is as well. He has amazing retention. He learns something and remembers it such as songs, phrases, words. He has a wide vocabulary but doesn’t use it on his own. He will repeat what you say clearly but won’t tell you how his day went. He loves numbers and shapes and he knows all his preschool basics. He’s a curious child and tries to figure things out for his own and also is independent and will use tools to get what he wants on his own if you let him.

The issues we are having right now with his preschool are him staying in his person space. He’s rough when he plays and bumps into kids a lot for either the reaction or maybe the sensation due to SPD? He loves to climb and jump and occasionally use a chewy when he watches TV.
The SPD symptoms do correlate with what he does on a regular basis; speech delay, seeking out sensation (hugs, bumping into stuff), energy level, attention span, occasionally covering his ears, temperature sensitive to non luke warm showers and drinks, sucks thumb with blanket, likes soft blankets.
The issues we’re having right now are him staying in his “bubble” as his preschool teacher likes to call it and having an outlet for his energy during class. He has issues with his own personal space and bumps into the other children. Last Friday he received a warning after accidentally bumping into a classmate outside which led to her falling and hitting herself. They assure me he’s making progress but the other parents are concerned about their children’s safety because of him bumping into them.
After they have snack the class plays outside but there’s no play equipment or toys so they mainly play tag or take nature walks. He doesn’t run with the other children during this time. I’m not sure if it’s because there’s a street nearby with cars constantly driving by and I tell him to be safe around cars and not run.
The reason I chose this preschool is because they offered this assistant for him and other schools had two “teachers” for 14 children.

I’m just lost on what to do. The information I’m given is pieces and I’m trying to turn what I know into a solution to help him. I want him to feel comfortable and make friends at school. I also am concerned he’ll be slapped with a label before kindergarten.
Thanks
-Momma

My son does the same thing - he doesn't run when outside. It turned out that he'd get really chill when in the park with his class. He liked to wander, would listen to the teachers when they'd remind him that he was starting to stray a bit far. Traditional logic says "he needs to run to get his energy out", but energy wasn't the problem. In the park, his sensory needs were met. There was no booming echo from the shrieking voices in the school. No shelves of brightly colored bins full of toys lighting him up to come grab them.

Hello i am new to this forum and also am in the midst of getting a diagnosis for my 4/5 year old son who is currently in reception in school.
He shows similar traits to your son and my son shows 3/4 of the traits of SPD.
He is classed as having a developmental/learning/speech delay by his pediatrician and had a few months of speech therapy which helped him a little bit but barely. The speech therapy stopped in summer 2014 just before he started his first year in reception at primary school this September just gone. I deal with the SENCO lady and his class teacher at his school and he is on the SEN list and only gets some help from the assistant teacher occasionally but not the one on one time he needs like he also had in preschool with a specialized assistant the government funded for him which did help him improve alot.
We tried to get a statement for him in school but it was rejected as he was showing signs o improvement which is absurd!!
His preschool teachers were so sure he had a learning disability such as autism but knew he wouldn't be diagnosed with anything as instead of being typically unsociable and withdrawn as a child my son is over friendly and excitable with other children and adults! Because he is too sociable he is being brushed off by these doctors which is extremely frustrating as these learning disabilities/neurodevelopmental disabilities it doesnt class them as "anti social" it should be more that their social skills are different to that of their peers...whether it is being too shy or over confident and friendly with other children!
My son is sensitive to noises and covers his ears, is easily distratced in class and non stop fidgets and moves about! Slow at performing speciic tasks, struggles or avoids fine moto skills and is delayed with these, very clumsy always stumbling, struggles with transitioning resulting in tantrums, his underatsnding is also delayed, and i could go on and on!

He too has a thing for soft blankets and gets fixated on his "snuggles" still as he as an obsession with smelling them and feeling them and if he doesnt get to do that he will have a meltdown.

He too struggles with other peoples personal space aswell as his own! Always bumping into others knocking other children over, talks to close to their ace standing practically ontop of them or sitting on them in ques etc.
Needs to run around or fidget alot but not excessively the running is outdoors.
His attention spam is short, he too struggles to know the difference between hot and cold sometimes.
His pain barrier is quite strong where banging his head and falling when hurting himself can go unnoticed or his reaction to being hurt is delayed.

Lets hope we can get the right help for them as im driving myself insane and just want answers but it is so hard to explain to a doctor/pediatrician who sees and assess them for all of 1 hour or less what they are really like day to day!

Labels don't have to be a terrible thing. Figuring out how to best help people is what's appropriate. Teaching your son through his childhood the tools he needs to cope with the fact he has an abnormal sensory system; teaching your son that while he has an abnormal sensory system, while people will look at him weirdly for some of his actions associated for that, he's not a bad child; teaching self-acceptance and acceptance of others; those are what are important. Giving him tools to let him do what he wants.

Labels can be a thing that holds people back, but they also can be descriptors that give them power.

Are there abnormal behaviors? Yeah. Are there struggles? Yeah. now lets go through and find the things that sensory-thrive, and find the things that otherwise thrive, combine them, teach how to adapt to the lackings elsewhere in the sensory system, and teach ways to get needs fulfilled.

It's a process. It is with any child of course.