Wordless Wednesday Explained

I don't write much about Timothy's Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and it's about time I did. I've been so encouraged by the blogs of other moms who are sharing their stories (in time I will start introducing them). If you are familiar with SPD, then you immediately know why my Wordless Wednesday photo has significance, but if you aren't familiar with it (or maybe have never even heard of it!), then here's a little explanation...

SPD causes a person's body to misinterpret sensory information being received from the environment around them. You are familiar with the 5 main senses, but there are 2 others not quite as common: vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (positional sense). Our proprioceptive sense tells us where we are in relation to the world around us. For example, when you sit, your proprioceptive sense tells you where the chair is. Imagine that feeling you get when a chair is actually lower than you originally thought-that's how someone with SPD feels all the time (not necessarily about a chair, but any object).

Timothy has struggled with this sense. He can be clumsy and is continually lying on the floor so that his brain can grasp where he is in relation to everything. Activities like hanging from monkey bars and pillow fights are what strengthen this sense. Timothy mastered the monkey bars in the Spring, but ever sense he had a bad fall in May, he's been scared. I've been slowly working with him, tenderly encouraging him all summer, and a couple of weeks ago he just did it! And now he's at it again! We take the small victories.