You Know You're Teaching an SPD Kid when....

 This was an original blog post on "Hartley's Life With 3 Boys" and can be found here.
Hartley Steiner is a blogger with 3 boys, one whom is adopted and suffers from SPD, High Functioning Autism, Bi-Polar, and learning disabilities.  She is an advocate for kids with special needs. She has a very large blog following and lots of information and external links can be found on her site.

I am going to re-post her list here because I think it gives you an idea on how Sensory Processing Disorder may affect your child in a typical classroom environment.



You Know You're Teaching an SPD Kiddo When...(a list for teachers and all of us who watch our kids struggle in school)

1. He chews his pencil, both the eraser and the lead, all day long.

2. He can’t seem to stay seated for over 30 seconds.

3. He constantly wants to get a “drink” but really he is just playing in the sink.

4. During circle time he sits virtually on top of the kid next to him.

5. You have to remind him that he cannot touch the hair of the girl next to him—no matter how cool it looks.

6. You implement Handwriting Without Tears program the first day — because you can’t read anything he writes.

7. He wears the same pair of Soft sweatpants (made to look like jeans) every single day.

8. He is the only one in class standing at his desk.

9. He BLURTS out the answers to every question, and talks all through story time.

10. At recess he climbs on the very TIP TOP of the jungle gym, where he is NOT allow.

11. He spends more time under the table than sitting at it.

12. He lit up when he saw the ball pit in the resource room.

13. He refuses to eat in the cafeteria on “Sloppy Joe Day” because it smells awful.

14. The collar, the sleeves, and a strange place directly in the center of his shirt are all dripping with spit from being chewed on all day.

15. Everyone around him gets a HUGE bear hug, whether they like it or not.

16. He covers his ears when you raise your voice to get the children’s attention.

17. His mother came in with two 3 inch binders, labeled and color-coded, lectured you about the DSM-IV and gave you an ear-marked and highlighted copy of The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Processing Disorder. 

18. During art, he spent most of his time trying to glue his hands together instead of completing the project.

19. He is very proud of being the first kid in the entire school to do the monkey bars backwards.

20. He complains that the lights are too loud for him to concentrate, when you don’t hear a thing.

21. He simply cannot stop himself from using the “off limits” stapler on the teacher’s desk.

22. He knows by memory everything hanging on the classroom walls.

23. He asks you to 'push' him.

24. He can’t keep his hands to himself when standing in line; he is pushing or bumping the entire time but doesn't seem upset by it.

25. He spends his entire recess spinning in circles, but is never dizzy.

26. He is a little too enthusiastic about banging the drum during music class.

27. He takes pride in being the “door opener” or “lunch wagon puller”

28. He can repeat conversations you had with another teacher in the hallway

29. You find things in his desk that don’t belong there; teacher scissors, bingo markers, beads, crayons and other assorted small fun things

30. The bus ride to school seems to wind him UP UP UP— (and so does the bus ride home) no matter how tired you thought he was