Hi,

My DD (10) has always acted weird. I thought she might have aspergers but then she did not have a lot of the aspergers/autism symptoms. So after reading and searching and reading some more, I believe she has SPD.

Here what I see:
- she cannot tolerate any texture on her socks. Period. Clear SPD
- she used to be extremely picky in shoes. I would buy some shoes after her trying them on and then she would find something that bothered her and would not wear them. Again, SPD.
- Same situation with pants - if she could wear elastic-waist pants for the rest of her life, she would be happy.

Here are things that might be caused by SPD but here is where I need advice:
- as a toddler, when she did something bad and got caught, she had a complete meltdown. For example, I asked her if she was drawing on a wall (as she was doing it) and she leaped in the a middle of the room, collapsed and cried and cried for 30 min.
- now, coming from school, within 10 min of coming home, she has a panic attack/meltdown because she thinks she has soo much homework, her classmates annoyed her all day, her brother (6) keeps talking, and her sister (7) keeps asking her questions.

So - does it sound like SPD? The "being overwhelmed" by everyday stress?
Who do I go to get her evaluated? I am a little weary to go to psychiatrist because I don't want her medicated. My good friend started with ADHD medicated child and the side effects got her diagnosed with 6 other mental disorders and she ended up taking about 10 different medications a day. She ended up bigger mess than she started.

Thanks for the help.

It does sound like SPD and stress triggering her meltdowns. Medications probably won't help.

What will help is allowing her to put down her school bag and goof off or hide any way she wants for 30 minutes after she comes home from school. Then after the 30 minute mark, work with her to list out her homework in terms of priority. Schedule in 5-15 minute goof off breaks after each assignment is completed. If it is a particularly long or complex assignment, allow for breaks during the assignment. As each assignment is finished, allow her to check it off the list or cross it off.

The toddler meltdown sounds like every young child's meltdown I have ever seen or heard of.

I wore elastic-waist pants until High School. It took a lot for me to train to wear jeans.