My son is 6 and as all parents do I have taught my son life skills, or so I thought, why is it that once he use to wash his hands with soap, now he avoids it, use to turn the tap off after, now he leaves it running, put the towel away, now it goes on the floor, tried to teach using knife and fork and still won't. Nearly everything he did a few years ago I have to go and check on him. He stopped lifting the seat when he went for a wee which causes so much trouble but still he does it. I hide the toothpaste cos if I leave it out he squeezes the tube or uses it to adorn the bathroom. I am starting to get very frustrated, I thought we teach our kids to go forward, I seem to be in reverse.

Help. Where am I going wrong.

You're not going wrong at all!! This D**N SPD stinks! I wish I could be there to give you a hug. I've been reading a very interesting book lately that has been giving me some insight into my daughter's SPD. Maybe it could help you, and I think it also explains why these changes with your son are occurring. It's called:

Disconnected Kids: The Groundbreaking Brain Balance Program for Children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Neurological Disorders by Dr. Robert Melillo

I'm going through a similar thing with toileting (again). We've been breezing through lately with very few accidents and even had a period of 2 weeks with none. Then since last week, she's been having 2-3 a day. I'm thinking, Oh no, not again. It's been going so well for five months, now what? This book gives me some hope--in the end I think that's what we need.

HUGSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

I wish I had more to say, but I'm super new to all this right now. So just lots of virtual HUGSSSSSSSS!!!!

Thank you both for replying, and for the hugs, at least I don't feel it's me.
I did start to think he was just really lazy but he isn't he is hyperactive at ALL times unless really really poorly.
Lac1961 will give the book a go.
He also fights anything I ask him to do sensory diet wise at the moment. Haven't a clue why. So calming him is difficult and many fliddies occur.

Hi Jaffa,

I feel for you - my son is also 6 and I discovered this same thing, but with us it's stuff like midline crossing, catching and throwing, but the picking things up/tidying has also gone out the window... It's very hard for me to have checked a mental tickbox and be thinking of COURSE he can/does do that, he's been doing that since he was 3 or 4... and then realise when the report card comes home that somehow he can't do some of these things anymore. It makes me feel like I can't trust what I think I know about my son.

All I can say is hang in there.

RE fighting the sensory diet - could it not be that he's learnt his own coping mechanisms, and the sensory diet is hard for him because he can feel his brain/body trying to work in different ways than he's accustomed to, and it feels weird or "wrong" because it's not his normal way, so then he doesn't want to?

Any chance you can enrol him in gymnastics or karate? Or any organised/disciplined sport, really. They get a lot of sensory gross motor diet things through these, and because you're not driving it and he's out of the usual environment, you might find he's more willing to try.

re bathroom routine - I don't know if it might help to put a laminated routine up above the sink and give him stickers to "check" each item off the list - so something like:
1. pump soap from dispenser
2. wet hands, scrub
3. rinse hands
4. close tap
5. dry hands
6. replace towel

Having the visual reminder might help him, we had to do this at the beginning of the school year to help him get through the morning routine.

All the best!

I would pay someone $1,000 if they could successfully, 100% potty train my daughter!!