My daughter was three years old when we made our first trip to STAR Institute for Sensory Processing Disorder.  The staff’s appreciation and awareness for both the subtle and overt challenges she faced brought us back to Denver from Northern California three more times for therapy, testing, and treatment.  With each visit we took away something new and constructive to help our daughter find peace in the midst of the brain-body conflict of her non-typical sensory processing abilities.  

Sensory processing challenges appear in a variety of ways...

What is the matter with Mary Jane?  

She’s crying with all her might and main,

And she won’t eat her dinner—rice pudding again—

What is the matter with Mary Jane?

A.A. Milne’s poem about miserable Mary Jane used to mystify me. As a child, I knew that not everyone loves rice pudding, but I wondered why she was having a tantrum. Couldn’t she say, “No, thank you,” and then just get over it?  

I have to tell you about my shopping trip but first I'll need to explain a few things.  My 13-year-old son, Jackson, has Sensory Processing Disorder.  His tactile sense tends to work against him more than in his favor most days especially when it relates to clothing.  One of the hardest things to find for him is socks.  Socks with pesky seams, elastic at the top, too high, too short, too rough, you name it.  They just stink before they ever get on his feet.  Those of you with tactile sensitive kids will understand my outburst of joy at Target regarding socks.

Last year I attended a two-day event that renewed my fighting spirit like no other.  I felt as if I'd been bathed in waters that brought my spirit to life again.  There are days in our individual communities when we have to fight such an uphill battle that we forget about our villages.  I spent two days surrounded by "my village".  Everyone there spoke my language, cried my same tears and celebrated my same victories.  We were all fighting the same fight for Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). 

What was the event that inspired and renewed me?

I'm going to write this with the knowledge that there will be rebuttals from parents and therapists alike.  I just wanted to throw that out there.  The topic?  Parents involvement in their child's Occupational Therapy (OT) sessions or should I say lack of it.  As a STAR Institute "trained" parent I'm passionate about this mostly because I know what a difference it made for us and our son Jackson regarding success with his therapy for Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).  I've also been on the other side (not involved in therapy) and have seen the harm it can do.

I’m Sarah Norris and you probably know me from the STAR Institute videos on Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Recently, we’ve been asking the adult SPD community to share their sensory stories with us so we can create more community and awareness for all. Today, I’m sharing my story of how I’ve chosen this career and how I address sensory challenges in my own life.... (BUT remember to read Carrie's story too!)

"It takes a village to raise a child." I can't tell you how true this phrase has been for my family because of my 12-year-old son, Jackson, who has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). As we've traveled along our SPD journey, I'm not sure what we would have done at times without our village. As I type this blog I'm sitting inside a barn watching Jackson clean out a goat pen (more to come on that in a bit).

Yesterday we launched our Sensory Awareness Month campaign with the central hashtag #itsnotautism. Our intention was to challenge people to start differentiating between individual differences in every expression of humanity; however our intentions were not clear enough and this hashtag offended many readers.

This is a follow up article to the blog post titled This Hidden Sense Affects Potty Training and Toilet Accidents in Older Kids.

Helping children who are struggling with toileting should be approached as more of a marathon than a sprint. A child with toileting issues may actually be struggling with a little known sensory system called interoception.