Does OT help?

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Our 3 year old son has sensory issues like many on the spectrum.... When I mentioned to his diagnostician I was thinking of taking him to an OT for sensory integration I was told the following

What do you mean by sensory integration?
Your son is already doing truckloads of sensory integration - he is a master of it.
Please abandon the idea that there is something we can "do" to him that would be beneficial.
Not all of us are destined to be olympic class gymnasts.
Some like me cannot even hit a stationary ball with a long stick with metal at one end.
If he has some sensory threshhold differences this is because he has PDD - this is hard wired, remember.

I struggle with these things. At the end of the day for example is it a big deal my son screams like I am putting him in a vat of hot tar when I shower or bath him? Am a seeking a solution for my own sanity or is there something out there that can help him cope with his "threshold differences"?

I would love to hear back what other parents have discovered.

Actually, while it sounds like your diagnostician was being very negative, there was one question that was seriously useful: what do you mean by sensory integration? If you mean that you want your son to get some help with sensory regulation, a sensory diet (which you can carry over at home, possibly with brushing, or massage), it may be very helpful. If you are expecting the sensory diet to result in him becoming typical, you will be disappointed.

A child with sensory integration issues needs to have those issues addressed. It is not the equivalent of expecting everyone to be a world class gymnast - it is a way of helping children adapt to the world around them. It doesn't mean that that the child will no longer have those issues, but if a child is given an opportunity to jump on a trampoline, it helps with proprioceptive issues; similarly, heavy work (e.g. pushing boxes) can be helpful. There are all kinds of things that can help children with various sensory issues - they are temporary "fixes," and they aren't cures, but they help children to focus on other things, and when they aren't discomforted by their sensory issues, they can function better. As they learn what "works" for them, they learn to self-regulate in positive ways.

Thank you Jat. I dont expect the OT diet to turn him NT. I just was hoping as you properly stated it that he can be taught self regulation. He doesnt enjoy the process of taking a shower but he does enjoy the smell of the soap after it is all over and how "clean" he smells. The diagnostician is actually very good he is very matter of fact and I like that about him. I however believe quite a few of the posters here have very sage advice and it is that which I am looking for. How many people didnt seek OT and just let it be? That type information or experience.

For us, OT was the single biggest helpful thing we did for our son. His preschool (at the time; he's now in 2nd grade) remarked on how much happier and calmer he was. We felt like they were getting a chance to see him more as we did. It was never about changing or curing him, more about giving him tools to be more successful in a wider range of environments.

Your mileage may vary. We took him to a child-focused clinic with an excellent staff. It was all out-of-pocket for us, as provincial coverage (we were in Canada then) was not something he qualified for--not impacted enough. Now he has OT through our public school. It's less intense and broken over a couple time a week, but again the therapist is top-notch.

I have a friend whose Aspie son saw no benefit from OT, but they were very limited in where they could take him and it seemed to have a lot to do with the particular therapist.

We had OT but not for sensory integration, and outside of the OT helping my son learn to keyboard in middle school I would say that it was, overall, a disappointment. I don't know how much difference it made. We had wanted it so so so badly because my son has so much trouble in his hands and could not write legibly or without pain. It seemed to me like something practice and the right exercises should fix. But, well, all those problems still exist. I would still fight for it and give it my best shot if I had it to do all over again, but I can't lie and say I know it was an important therapy. I can only say that it only seemed like it should be an important therapy, and hopefully my son is better off than he would have been for having had it.

On the sensory integration question, our pediatrician was pretty firmly against the therapy. To him it's voodoo therapy. I don't honestly know; that issue was not prominent enough for us to push on it after we got that first verdict. One of my friends did years and years of sensory integration therapy with her child, and she swears by it, but here is what I see: we each have children with sensory issues, and her son's have been more dramatic than my son's since they first appeared when both boys were 3. Both boys are now 13 and her son's sensory issues are STILL obviously and clearly more dramatic than my sons. Would they have been worse without the therapy? I don't know. But they most certainly did not go away.

Our pediatrician told us to pay attention to our child instead of sending him to therapy. Well, we did that. As you know, we all on this board agree that is number 1. My friend maybe didn't have the same time to devote on that, as she works full time, and maybe that is why I'm not seeing the same improvement in her child that I would expect from someone doing a really helpful therapy, but I really do not know. There isn't any blind study to tell us.

I think that if the issues are debilitating enough, you do everything that might help, as long as you can afford it comfortably and as long as the child seems to be positive about engaging in it. When the issues aren't that debilitating, or the cost of the therapy would put stress on the family, or the therapy turns out to be something that by itself causes your child stress, then you don't do it.

I've never been to OT but have applied some little things to my everyday life, and do have sensory issues. Most of the things are heavy lifting, touching different textures, etc.

I can't say I've seen any difference other than feeling a bit better from the exercise it sometimes entails. Some of the things like working with different textures is just distressing. But don't take my post as any kind of authority on the matter because of me not having done any official OT.

I can say that sensory issues do change throughout your life. I have new problems with them and old things that don't bother me anymore and things that have always bothered me, and probably always will. I wonder if a lot of perceived children "overcoming" their issues is just finding workarounds for them.

My son did OT from age 2 - 5. I was present at all sessions, except when my presence distracted him and then I just went to a different room, but remained within earshot. I'm sort of mixed about whether I think it really helped or not. A lot depended on the therapist. 2 out of the 3 that he had were not very good. There was nothing that these 2 did with my son that we weren't doing already ourselves. The 3rd one was an excellent therapist. She knew his comfort level and was able to push him ever so slightly past it and we noticed markable improvements with his fine motor coordination as well as his sensory tolerance levels. His improvement was significant enough that he no longer needs OT.

I can't rule out the possibility his improvements might have been his own natural course of development though. I know with speech therapy, he literally went from not being able to say "mom," to speaking in sentences overnight - while his therapist was on a 2 week vacation. She wasn't very effective either, IMO. My husband was always of the opinion that it was an entire waste. I don't know. Therapy certainly never hurt, but I'm not sold on all the methods or all of the therapists. I would like to give credit to the one very good OT. I believe she helped a great deal, but I can't be sure.

I think if my son was older, we might have been more inclined to skip therapy. Even at age 4, he started becoming aware of himself being different. Going to therapy, unlike his peers, might have made him more aware and embarrassed about his differences (he's a very sensitive child). Without clear evidence of effectiveness, we'd probably take a pass, but who knows. Maybe we'll be addressing this again in the future.

I think OT can help with some sensory issues. For instance, if a child has tactile sensitivites, then touching and working with different textures can, over time, help desensitize them to some of these. My son had serious vestibular issues which affected his balance. He also has low muscle tone. The OT did a lot of exercises rolling him on a therapy ball which helped strengthen his upper body. He also benefitted from spinning and swinging. Our OT also did things to help him do back and forth interactions such as playing little games.

Overall, I think OT can be beneficial depending on the issues your child has. However, you can learn a lot of the techniques that they do and implement them yourself, and save a lot of money! My son is 5 now, and the only OT he gets is at school----1 hour per week..

i dont know that i'd call my sons sensory issues extreme, but they are quite varied. he is very tactile and requires a lot of touch. he has vestibular issues and is constantly moving. he requires a lot of deep pressure contact he has always been an oral sensory seeker, and thats increasing so i am looking at buying chewlery now.

he does get OT, it started for his inability to write and now includes some sensory integration as well. they do heavy work and tactile stimulation with him.

i think one of the best reasons to investigate or even get some OT is so PARENTS can learn. our kids may be able to unconsciously fulfill most of their sensory needs, but we need to be able to understand it and help them, sometimes a good OT can steer us in the right direction. most of it is stuff we can do at home. if we are educated enough, we can see when and how they are seeking input, and try to provide ways for them to get that input in a safe and effective manner. as an example, my son is very oral and constantly puts small objects in his mouth. its not the safest thing for him to do. i want him to stop putting toys and bottle caps and bracelets, etc, in his mouth, but i know he has that oral need, so instead of just telling him all the time to not chew on stuff, i can provide him with safe and appropriate chewables.

besides that part of it, OT can help with desensitizing kids to overwhelming sensory input if thats something they need. look into brushing protocol if thats the case. if your child is having issues with bathing, that may be something you could work on with brushing.

I agree with azurecrayon, probably the biggest thing we got from our OT is that he taught us parents how to help our child. The OT we saw is an excellent therapist and our son loves him but what we really got out of it was the knowledge of things to do at home on a regular basis that really do seem to help him self-regulate. Things I wouldn't have come up with on my own. Our OT also took the time to teach us about social stories and he even wrote a few for our son that really did help him get over particular hurdles. I can understand how some medical professionals would not support OT because, as far as I know, there have been no double-blind randomized trials that prove that the therapy works. That is a valid position and completely expected coming from a medical professional.

In my absolutely-not-a-medical-professional opinion though, its worth a try. If after a reasonable amount of time, it doesn't seem to be benefitting your child, stop. Unless you have the misfortune to come across a really bad therapist, I think there is very little downside except the money you spend. Ours was mostly coverd by insurance (after a certain amount of wrangling that is).

DS receives OT at school. His classroom teacher reports that he ALWAYS returns from OT ready to join the group and learn. This is not usual behavior, so she really notices the difference.