Teenagers and Sensory Processing Disorder: The Special Challenges

Teens with sensory processing disorder have special challenges because of the stage of development they're in and the fact that until now, their sensory issues may have gone unaddressed.

1. Finding the right OT can be difficult. Few occupational therapists are trained or experienced in working with teenagers who have sensory processing disorder. Play-based SI therapy may seem silly and embarrassing to teens.

2. Poor self-esteem. Teenagers who have had sensory issues for years will have learned at least some accommodations to get around them and are less likely to experience the extreme behaviors and responses they did when they were younger. However, years of feeling different and not knowing why, and noticing that they have never been quite as mature and self-controlled as their peers, take their toll. Teens with sensory processing issues usually struggle with self-esteem. They need a lot of encouragement to admit they have sensory issues and need some help.

3. Need for independence. Teenagers need to have their independence respected, so being told, "You need to do X, Y, and Z to manage your sensory issues" usually doesn't go over very well!

4. Desire to fit in. Even teenagers who don't feel the need to have a lot of friends or be conformist want to have some friends they feel they fit in with. Sensory challenges can embarrass them and may make them feel isolated, and different in a negative way.

5. Changing hormones. Teenagers have ever-changing hormones that can exacerbate sensory issues by making them more sensitive to input than they were in the past. The normal changes of adolescence can also make them more moody and emotionally sensitive.

6. New expectations. People are less likely to see your teen as a young, immature person with a hidden disability and more likely to see him or her as a young adult whose behavior is willful.

What's a parent, teacher, or therapist to do?

1. Modify traditional SI therapy techniques to be more teen friendly. As a substitute for playing with a tray of shaving cream or finger-paints, encourage the teen to cook, garden, do art or arts and crafts, and engage in other activities that challenge his tactile issues. Work with a sensory-smart occupational therapist who is willing to alter her approach to helping your teenage son or daughter to reduce any embarrassment or defensiveness.

2. Talk about sensory issues positively. Reassure your teenager that sensory issues are simply a difference in brain wiring that can have advantages but that can also be controlled and addressed to make life a little easier. Explain what SPD is and why in some cases, it's good to be extra sensitive or to crave certain sensations, and that people with sensory issues often have other gifts as well, such as the ability to "think in pictures." Then explain that there are "tricks" you and/or an OT can teach them to "make their lives easier." Everyone wants his life to be a little easier! Acknowledge how hard your teen has to work to be organized or tolerate certain sensations and praise her for her efforts.

3. Offer accommodations and sensory diet ideas for him or her to choose from. Present accommodations and activities to teenagers and let them decide which they would like to use. Honor and respect their choices and encourage them to engage in collaborative problem solving with you. If they don't want to be seen doing a brushing protocol for tactile issues, can they do it discreetly in the bathroom at school? If all the kids are wearing loose clothes and they prefer them tight, can the teen wear tight clothing, such as bicycle shorts, underneath looser clothes that seem more stylish?

4.Help your teen with sensory issues to feel okay as he is and find a group of peers he's comfortable with. Practical solutions for grooming, picky eating, and dressing, and encouraging talks about the upside of being different, can help your teen with sensory issues feel more comfortable among his peers. However, he may also feel better about himself if he expands his group of friends. Encourage your teen to develop hobbies and engage in new activities from individualized sports that don't require high levels of skill and competitiveness to enjoy them to groups that engage in the arts, community service, spiritual growth, etc. Extracurricular activities can help kids find their "tribe" and feel the power to make a difference in the world as well.

5. Accept that your child may be more emotionally sensitive at this stage. Be alert to signs of increased anxiety and depression and consult a medical health professional with any concerns you have. Remember, addressing sensory issues will reduce overall anxiety that can lead to mild or moderate depression (when you feel you can't manage your discomfort, over time, you can develop depression). Don't forget some of the most effective treatments for mild or moderate anxiety and depression include physical exercise, time spent outdoors, meditation, and breathing exercises. Mindfulness practices from yoga and tai chi to tai kwan do and karate can help, too.

6. Focus on self-awareness and accountability for self-regulating. It's very difficult to get others to accept poor self-regulation in a teen, even if you educate them on hidden disabilities. Therefore, the sooner you collaborate with your teen in creating a workable sensory diet that prevents negative behaviors, the better. It will be easier for your teen to develop better self-regulation if she is trained in using specific self-calming and self-alerting techniques that she knows work for her. Hold her accountable for using her alerting music and gum, taking time out to sit in a quiet space and do breathing exercises or use a brushing protocol, etc. Have her participate in creating a sensory diet tailored to her needs to keep her sensory needs met and to prevent fight-or-flight behaviors. Let her experience the natural consequences if she refuses to use her calming, focusing, alerting techniques.

Above all, never forget that kids with sensory issues need a "just right" challenge, a balance of accommodations to make them more comfortable and challenges that take them out of their comfort zone. Sensory diet activities for teenagers help them to develop a higher tolerance for situations and activities they'll encounter in life, and over time, retrain their brains to process sensory information more typically. Be creative and encouraging in setting up a sensory diet for a teenager, and always be collaborative to respect the teen's need for independence.

Finally, if you're a parent frustrated by trying to get your teenager's sensory issues under control, consider joining an in-person or online support group or creating one. Knowing that you aren't alone, and having practical and emotional support from other parents going through the same experiences with their teen, can help you enormously at this stage of your child's development.

Nancy Peske is the coauthor of the book Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Processing Issues. Learn more about sensory issues at http://www.sensorysmartparent.com/ and visit Raising a Sensory Smart Child on Facebook.

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Why Is Special Education Needed With Autism?

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, you need to get his or her life has normal and structured as possible so they can thrive in their environment. That includes obtaining the appropriate education. You need to find a school that caters to autistic children in order to have the right balance of education necessary in a structured class.

A special education teacher is specially trained to work with children with autism. They know how to help them understand and they work to build up a trust between themselves and the teacher. There are special training classes that a special education teacher must go through before they qualify to teach special education.

When first introducing your autistic child to their special education teacher, it is important to only speak kindly about him or her, even if you have a problem with the teacher. Don't ever pass those harsh feelings onto your child. If you do, your child may not feel as comfortable with the teacher as you want them to and this could ruin your child's day at school everyday.

On the first day, it is important that you take your child to school to meet his special education teacher. Don't cause over excitement in your child waiting on this day. Simply mention the new teacher's name and how they will learn new things with them. Your child needs to create a sense of acceptance and be prepared to adjust to their new structured schedule.

It's always important to keep things as steady as possible when it comes to your child's schedule. They need to start their schedule off on the right foot by going to bed at the same time each night. In the morning, you should have a routine that is easy to accomplish and can be done realistically. Don't set the standards so high that if you are sick or someone else is doing the schedule for you in your absence, they will have a hard time doing so. You want to offer your child a breakfast, an opportunity to get dressed, time for personal hygiene, and to have time to mentally adjust to the change from home to school.

While in school, the special education teacher should be able to combine a balanced curriculum based on your child's age and skill level, not based on their autism. However, this teacher is specially trained to deliver the curriculum to their students with autism.

No two children have the same symptoms when it comes to autism so a special education teacher with autism is usually careful about how many students they can have in their classroom due to the one-on-one attention that each student will need. In some schools, the teacher will have a helper that will be in charge of assisting one child throughout their day.

Your child will be able to be comfortable with this individual and depend on the individual to help them every day they are in school. The added help will depend on many factors such as how severe is the autism? Can your child function better with assistance or by themselves? Does your child need assistance with daily routines? Once it is determined what may be best for your child then the school will accommodate accordingly.

For the latest videos and training information on child development as well as books and curricula on Autism please visit childdevelopmentmedia.com.

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How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety in Your Special Needs Child Effortlessly

I interviewed Joshua Pittman on how to effortlessly reduce the stress/anxiety in your special needs child. He touches on how one technique can improve attention, reduce stress, anxiety, and impulsive behavior.

1. Please introduce yourself?

My name is Joshua Pittman. I was born and raised here in NYC. I went to film school at NYU and worked at a film post-production company for five years before learning how to teach the TM technique. I learned the TM technique as a teenager in high school. I saw my mom and step-dad meditating at home and liked the silent atmosphere that it seemed to create. I wished my friends in school did it too.

2. Where do you currently work?

I am one of the directors of the TM program in Manhattan.

3. What is your expertise?

I teach people how to effortlessly transcend the surface outer field of life and experience their silent Self within.

4. How can TM help students with special needs?

As a society we are always on the go. We never take a moment to experience who we really are - to smell the roses. We are therefore always looking for solutions to our problems on the surface, and therefore never really find the root of our problems. All problems and suffering are caused by a lack of experience of the Self. Having this experience wakes up the brain, and makes one more coherent, more aware, and more resilient to the stresses in life. It is not mood making or wishful thinking, it is a powerful and practical solution.

5. Is it easy for students with special needs to implement in their daily lives?

It is easy and doesn't take long to add this simple procedure of TM to one's daily routine, and the benefits are wide reaching. Students meditate for 10-15 minutes twice a day. Parents who meditate will benefit as well. Adults meditate for 20 minutes twice a day to release stress and create more happiness and peace in their life.

6. What age do you recommend children start learning this technique?

TM is effortless and enjoyable so ten-year-old children learn the same sitting down, eyes closed meditation that adults learn. Children under ten can learn a children's technique if their parents have already learned TM.

7. Where can parents go to learn more about TM?

There are some wonderful videos, and stories on www.DavidLynchFoundation.org.

Stephen DeSerio can be found on http://www.smdaba.com/ (free 30 minute evaluation). This site is designed for parents/caregivers who need assistance in raising their child with autism and other behavioral concerns.

Original article

Von Economo Cells, Autism, and Intuition - A Few Special Brain Cells May Produce Social Awareness

Von Economo Neurons, Autism, and Intuition.

Recently discovered brain cells called Von Economo cells (VENs), named after the neurobiologist who described them, are unique in that there are only about 200,000 of them in a normal adult human. That's amazing because just about any other type of brain cell we have number in the billions. Up until just recently, we saw these cells only in the great apes and not in any other animals. They are present but rare numbering only five or six thousand in the solitary gorilla, but relatively more numerous in the hyper-social bonobo monkey.

VENS can be seen in just two parts of the most recently evolved part of our brains, the neocortex. They are present in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), and the frontal insula (FI).
Other brain cells in the neocortex, the pyramidal cells, have a long process on the apical end but many shorter processes on the basal side (apical and basal dendrites). The VEN is unique in that it has very long dendrites on both poles and the cell body is 4.5 times larger than an ordinary pyramidal cell. Large size is conducive to high speed transmission of signals. VENs are just now being mapped thoroughly but in essence they seem to pick up signals from several deeper, more primitive brain centers regulating fight or flight, pleasure/reward, punishment, fear, and uncertainty and quickly process and simplify what might be a cacophony of signals and transmit the result to the frontal and temporal cortex. VENs are thus implicated in "gut feelings", intuition, and the rapid first impressions we all get when we meet someone new. In the frontal and temporal cortex, these instant impressions are blended with more deliberate and slower more rational judgments formed there. In fact, one fascinating feature of VENs is that they, unlike any other brain cell, express serotonin 2b receptors on their surface. These receptors are also present on cells in the stomach and small intestine and are responsible for peristalsis. Unconscious or "gut" feelings might be picked up more rapidly by the brain this way rather than have rely on detection what the gut is doing, allowing for more rapid and perhaps socially appropriate or danger avoiding response.

The right side of the brain contains 30% more VENs than the left side and this right dominance seems to be important for normal functioning of the brain. In fact, MRI studies of the FI can demonstrate that the right FI is larger in normal individuals and not in autistic kids. Furthermore, normal brains react to uncertainty, facial expressions and pictures of loved ones strongly in these areas on functional MRI scans but not in autistic brains.

I have spoken with high functioning autistic people who say that to navigate a new social situations they often must have a kind of script in their minds. They use past experience and logic to generate appropriate responses to ever changing social situations. This compensatory method for coping with uncertainty seems to be a hallmark of autism. I've encountered many autistic children who may do very well if everything in their world is expected and routine, but totally decompensate in the face of change. Furthermore, humans are not born with a full complement of VENs, but only sprout them in early childhood until age four. This is about the time autism seems to manifest in childhood. And it is this time of life that both genetic and environmental factors can be influential. Indeed some studies have shown autistic kids to have fewer VENs and other studies show and excess of VENs but with disorganized or truncated dendrites, consistent with theories that autism involves failed "pruning" of neurons in early childhood. Perhaps genetic influences inhibit "pruning" and environmental or inflammatory conditions shut down the development of VENs. Either way, the result is an inability to cope with social situations and uncertainty, arguably some of the most highly developed and evolutionarily recent manifestations of consciousness.

Now very recently VENs have been found in whale brains, dolphins, and elephants. This is quite interesting because VENs therefore must have evolved convergently in these species which are unrelated to us. Similar selective pressures must encourage the production of VENs. Perhaps large brain size itself triggers the secondary enhancement of consciousness as a byproduct of needed upgrades in connectivity!

To your health,

Dr Z

Peter Zvejnieks, MD is a board certified physician in Columbia SC. His blog can be found at http://www.anylabtestwestcolumbia.com/DrZforLife

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