Helping kids with sensory processing disorder

Erin Walsh, a mom of two from Waterloo, Ont., can relate. Her seven-year-old daughter, Ava, was diagnosed with SPD at age four. When Monday morning rolls around, Walsh has on hand an arsenal of at least three potential school outfits—the same soft pair of yoga pants in an assortment of colours, loose-fitting underwear, seamless socks and carefully chosen shoes—that can be swapped at the last minute. “Hair brushing has to be done in five or six segments in a morning, because she can’t handle it,” says Walsh. “A stroke of the hairbrush can send her into a full-on meltdown because it hurts her so much.”

And so for kids like Jackson and Ava, the world shrinks and constricts little by little until many rich childhood experiences are off-limits. No playdough or fingerpaint. No bare feet on the beach or on the grass. No birthday parties, fireworks or amusement parks. Even at home there is the potential for crisis. The sudden roar of the hand blender can send my son howling and clutching at his ears.