Today has been a day of relief, a day of concern, and for my husband...a day of reality. We met with Dr Smeitana at the MIND clinic today - I have to comment that this woman is fabulous...kind, caring, amazing, and brilliant!, I just absolutely loved her - and she has diagnosis Olena with Sensory Integration Disorder, which she feels does stem from some mild Fetal Alcohol Effect. Certain measurements on her face such as her eye spacing, her upper lip, the space between her lip and nose, and her head circumference do suggest FAE. She also has a fold at the top of her ears, deep eye set, and a heart murmur, which Dr. S said is also very common in FAE. It all seems a bit scary yet on the other hand, I know how "healthy" she is too, and I know the issues we have to tackle at this time, are definitely manageable.
We are scheduled for an MRI and EEG on 7/11, that is just to ensure that there are no abnormalities that they need to be concerned about. And we will also be starting an agressive Occupational Therapy program in a few weeks.
I have done a lot of reading tonight and it has been such a relief to finally know that I'm not crazy. Jason, family and friends have all doubted my theories and have been in a bit of denial about everything. I love my daughter more than anything in the world, and I have never expected her to be the perfect child. But I just knew that there was something not right? I could see the fear in her eyes when a car would drive by, I could see the anger in her face when she would get upset and throw a tantrum, I have watched her hit herself repeatedly or beat her head on the wall when upset with me for punishing her, I was with her when she was determined to pull every shoe within reach, off the shelf in Payless so she could smell them....all of this started to concern me, but yet all I ever heard was "she's a toddler, that's what they do". So for me, today was a victory! It was proof to me, that I do know my daughter best. The little girl who we have seen for the past 2 months, is not the happy and healthy Olena I know is there.
I will do my best to journal our progress as we move ahead with learning as much as we can, and restructuring our family life. I also welcome any help or advice for those that are familar with SID.
Thank you to the Martin's...you hit the nail on the head. I will be sure to email you next week!
_________________________________________
Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID, also called sensory processing disorder) is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with processing information from the five classic senses (vision, auditory, touch, olfaction, and taste), the sense of movement (vestibular system), and/or the positional sense (proprioception).
For those with SID, sensory information is sensed normally, but perceived abnormally. This is not the same as blindness or deafness, because, unlike those disorders, sensory information is sensed by people with SID, but the information tends to be analyzed by the brain in an unusual way that may cause distress or confusion.
SID can be a disorder on its own, but it can also be a characteristic of other neurological conditions, including autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, Developmental Dyspraxia, Tourette's Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and speech delays, among many others.
Common Signs and symptoms of SID (the symptoms highlighted in blue are things that we face currently with Olena)
An acute awareness of background noises
Fascination with lights, fans, water
Hand flapping/repetitive movements
Spinning items, taking things apart
Walking on tip-toe
Little awareness of pain or temperature
Coordination problems
Unusually high or low activity level
Difficulty with transitions (doesn't "go with the flow")
Self-Injury or aggression
Extremes of activity level (either hyperactive or under active).
Fearful in space (on the swings, seesaw or heights).
Striking out at someone who accidentally brushes by them.
Avoidance of physical contact with people and with certain "textures," such as sand, paste and finger paints.
The child may react strongly to stimuli on face, hands and feet.
A child may have a very short attention span and become easily distracted.
A strong dislike of certain grooming activities, such as brushing the teeth, washing the face, having the hair brushed or cut.
An unusual sensitivity to sounds and smells.
A child may refuse to wear certain clothes or insist on wearing long sleeves/pants so that the skin is not exposed.
A child may be agressive when touching other people or animals.
No understanding of personal space, will often be in peoples faces.
Frequently adjusts clothing, pushing up sleeves and/or pant legs.
Excessivly tickilish
Unexplainible crying and tantrums
Unreasonable responses to certain things
We are scheduled for an MRI and EEG on 7/11, that is just to ensure that there are no abnormalities that they need to be concerned about. And we will also be starting an agressive Occupational Therapy program in a few weeks.
I have done a lot of reading tonight and it has been such a relief to finally know that I'm not crazy. Jason, family and friends have all doubted my theories and have been in a bit of denial about everything. I love my daughter more than anything in the world, and I have never expected her to be the perfect child. But I just knew that there was something not right? I could see the fear in her eyes when a car would drive by, I could see the anger in her face when she would get upset and throw a tantrum, I have watched her hit herself repeatedly or beat her head on the wall when upset with me for punishing her, I was with her when she was determined to pull every shoe within reach, off the shelf in Payless so she could smell them....all of this started to concern me, but yet all I ever heard was "she's a toddler, that's what they do". So for me, today was a victory! It was proof to me, that I do know my daughter best. The little girl who we have seen for the past 2 months, is not the happy and healthy Olena I know is there.
I will do my best to journal our progress as we move ahead with learning as much as we can, and restructuring our family life. I also welcome any help or advice for those that are familar with SID.
Thank you to the Martin's...you hit the nail on the head. I will be sure to email you next week!
_________________________________________
Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID, also called sensory processing disorder) is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with processing information from the five classic senses (vision, auditory, touch, olfaction, and taste), the sense of movement (vestibular system), and/or the positional sense (proprioception).
For those with SID, sensory information is sensed normally, but perceived abnormally. This is not the same as blindness or deafness, because, unlike those disorders, sensory information is sensed by people with SID, but the information tends to be analyzed by the brain in an unusual way that may cause distress or confusion.
SID can be a disorder on its own, but it can also be a characteristic of other neurological conditions, including autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, Developmental Dyspraxia, Tourette's Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and speech delays, among many others.
Common Signs and symptoms of SID (the symptoms highlighted in blue are things that we face currently with Olena)
An acute awareness of background noises
Fascination with lights, fans, water
Hand flapping/repetitive movements
Spinning items, taking things apart
Walking on tip-toe
Little awareness of pain or temperature
Coordination problems
Unusually high or low activity level
Difficulty with transitions (doesn't "go with the flow")
Self-Injury or aggression
Extremes of activity level (either hyperactive or under active).
Fearful in space (on the swings, seesaw or heights).
Striking out at someone who accidentally brushes by them.
Avoidance of physical contact with people and with certain "textures," such as sand, paste and finger paints.
The child may react strongly to stimuli on face, hands and feet.
A child may have a very short attention span and become easily distracted.
A strong dislike of certain grooming activities, such as brushing the teeth, washing the face, having the hair brushed or cut.
An unusual sensitivity to sounds and smells.
A child may refuse to wear certain clothes or insist on wearing long sleeves/pants so that the skin is not exposed.
A child may be agressive when touching other people or animals.
No understanding of personal space, will often be in peoples faces.
Frequently adjusts clothing, pushing up sleeves and/or pant legs.
Excessivly tickilish
Unexplainible crying and tantrums
Unreasonable responses to certain things
Comments
Thanks for posting on the yahoo group as we stopped following your blogs after the change over. Thanks again for opening your lives to us. We are hoping to return soon for a girl we met at T's orphanage last summer, so are going "UKRAIZY" again! God bless!
Do they have any idea why her behavior got worse all of the sudden?