PDA_Booklet

Signs Of Oral Dysfunction:
Hypersensitive: Oversensitive
Picky eater with extreme food preferences
and limited repertoire, may gag on textured
food, difficulty with sucking, chewing, and
swallowing, extremely fearful of the dentist,
dislikes toothpaste and brushing teeth.
Signs Of Olfactory Dysfunction:
Hypersensitive: Oversensitive
Bothered or nauseated by cooking, bathroom
and/or perfume smells, may refuse to go
places because of the way it smells, chooses
foods based on smell, notices smells not
normally noticed by others.
Signs Of Visual Dysfunction:
Hypersensitive: Oversensitive
Irritated by sunlight or bright lights, easily
distracted by visual stimuli, avoids eye
contact, may become over aroused in brightly
coloured rooms.
Hyposensitive: Undersensitive
May lick, taste or chew on inedible objects,
loves intensely flavoured foods, may drool
excessively, frequently chews on pens,
pencils, or shirt.
Hyposensitive: Undersensitive
May not notice unpleasant or noxious odours,
smells everything when first introduced to it,
may not be able to identify smells from scratch
‘n sniff stickers.
Hyposensitive: Undersensitive
Difficulty controlling eye movements and
tracking objects, mixes up similar letters,
focuses on little details in a picture and misses
the whole, looses his place frequently when
reading or copying from the blackboard.
Sensory Integration Dysfunction symptoms must not be ignored! If you observe many of these
signs in a child you know, please talk to a professional, such as an Occupational Therapist who
can further evaluate and decide whether your child has a sensory processing disorder.
Stanley Greenspan, the author of “The Challenging Child ” (1995) has an insightful analogy to
help us understand what people experience when they can not effectively process, or interpret,
sensory input.
He describes it this way:
“Imagine driving a car that isn’t working well. When you step on the gas the car sometimes
lurches forward and sometimes doesn’t respond. When you blow the horn it sounds blaring. The
brakes sometimes slow the car, but not always. The blinkers work occasionally, the steering is
erratic, and the speedometer is inaccurate. You are engaged in a constant struggle to keep the
car on the road, and it is difficult to concentrate on anything else.”
It’s no wonder children with sensory processing disorders feel out of control, exhibit a whole
host of behaviours, and have difficulty concentrating and focusing at school!
Now, also imagine being a parent of one of these children. Many parents have expressed how
exhausted, rejected, lost, incompetent and alone they feel in trying to live with, and understand,
their child.
I challenge you to remember this beautifully painful quote the next time you encounter a child
with sensory processing disorders and begin the process of awareness, understanding, and
treatment to help them take control of their bodies, minds and self-esteem.