Hi everyone,

I am first very thankful for this site and all of the great resources that I have found out because of it.

We recently lost a great caregiver because our 3 1/2 year old son was too aggressive and having too many unprovoked outbursts. I just filled out the paperwork today to get him evaluated (though our school district has not been helpful -- I tried to have him evaluated at his 3rd birthday and no one ever returned my calls - but that's another story). We live in a pretty rural area - no kids in the neighborhood, and we recently moved, so we don't have much of a support network (or local friends with kids); so we were missed I think for a bit when L got stuck in certain developmental phases or reacted quite differently.

In speaking with a friend about everything that was going on, she raised SPD. When I looked into it, read the stories of parents, it was as if I put a pair of glasses that let me see how all of these seemingly unrelated events and behaviors formed a much larger picture. He is definitely got some proprioceptive stuff going on, and some potential other issues as well. Added to which, in going through a lot of the red flags, it is also clear that both my husband and I have many of the symptoms as well. And because the universe has a sense of irony, where my son is sensory seeking, I withdraw -- so no doubt one struggle for me will be to manage my sensitivities to say a lot of sound, where Logan seeks that out. I suspect now that I am more aware of it, that will also help. I do think that as his has gotten more pronounced so has mine.

Right now, I am equally relieved to know what is going on (and not say guilty about being a bad parent - why is he always so uncooperative? why can't we go to shop rite without a major meltdown? why can I still not be on the phone when he is awake?), and also sad that I know that he has had many of these symptoms his entire life, and on too many occasions, I got frustrated with him or he got put on time outs for things that were in many respects beyond his control as of yet. But I also know that I am an attentive parent, one who really does pay attention to him and his cues, and have done a lot "right" - many of which is part of the OT routine for a kid with proprioceptive issues without knowing anything about SPD, so I know, that now that I am armed with that, I can do much better to help him.

Looking forward to learning more, for myself, for my son, and for my family.