Sensory processing disorder has gotten the best of us today. Mr. Emmett woke up after a night filled with nightmares, completely overwhelmed. In his nightmares, he's being eaten alive and can't wake up.
Emmett's daily life is often dictated by his sensory issues. Today was particularly bad because he woke up, already overloaded, and not standing a chance.
More often than not, Emmett will struggle with his clothes in the morning, but we can work through it. On these days, Emmett has enough resources in his *coping *bank account to help him through. Unfortunately, there are some mornings where this *coping *bank account is already overdrawn.
He was very clearly overdrawn this morning, and he wasn't able to tolerate wearing a shirt.
We worked to help him through this from 7 AM - 8:35 AM, but nothing worked. The school said he could wear any shirt he needed to, even if it wasn't dress code.
By the time we had to call it quits, and get Elliott to school, we had worked with over fifteen different shirts. Nothing worked, and everything hurt.
I'm now devoid of anything resembling motivation or energy.
Emmett ended up staying home, and I don't like the idea of him missing school. At the same time, wearing a shirt is causing him extreme levels of distress today, and forcing him to wear one would be cruel.
One of the reasons he became so hysterical, was because he doesn't want to stay home. He wants to be in school, but there are times where these sensory issues get in the way.
It's easy to sit back, with limited experience in this level of sensory processing issues, and feel that I made the wrong decision by keeping him home. I totally get where you'd be coming from. However, sensory processing disorder is very disruptive and can interfere with many facets of life.
We can try things like brushing, deep muscle pressure, weighted blankets, redirection, and a host of other interventions, but they rarely make a difference.
There comes the point where my wife and I have to draw the line. When we reach that line, we stop trying to work through it. If we didn't do that, he would be less willing to work with us the next time and his cooperation is vital to working through it.
I know he's missed a lot of school this year, and frankly, I don't know the exact number of days. I try not to focus on that because it would simply create more stress in an already overwhelming situation.
<img src="https://lxnxuovarpoeyuzaxuet.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/blog-images/inline/2017/05/afterfocus_1494527543518.jpg" alt="" class="inline-block max-w-full h-auto rounded-xl my-4" loading="lazy" /> As per my comment below, here's proof that the comment, meant to make us think it was from a school staff member, is simply a return of my Internet stalker. As mentioned below, the school reads this blog and the principal saw that comment and had to address it with his staff. Thoughtless comments or comments meant to create drama can have real life consequences. This person has gone by several different names, multiple email addresses, but only one IP address.
