Tips for communicating with APD people
| November 16, 2009 | Posted by SuperADDMom under ADDventures |
As my son gets a bit older, he is now showing that it is possible the “adhd” symptoms are in fact CAPD & Sensory Integration Dysfunction.
All neuro issues can mimic each other, but upon closer looking, and as he grows it is becoming more clear. He CAN focus and seems a lot less ADHD than he did when he was younger…now it would seem his hyper tendancies are due to a deep need for vestibular stimulation for to being hypo sensitive in his own skin.
My son has classic symptoms of hypo sensitivities in over all senses, and is requiring vestibular stimulation ALL THE TIME. ( spinning, climbing chairs to jump off, sitting on the couch upside down on his head to watch tv, rocking the rocking chair to the extreme, tipping chairs at the dining table and falling off them. running from one end of the room to the other and banging off walls, doors, furniture and even people. Running his hands along shelves in stores and hiding in clothes racks to feel the textures.
He is very clumsy, and also has days where gross motor skills are terrible. ( weak leg muscles, cranky and tiring easily)
He also has hypersensitivities in areas like sounds at too high a volume or pitch that would not bother other people. but he is hypo sensitive to telling when he’s full and is ALWAYS hungry and thirsty.
Most days I’m about ready to lose my mind by bedtime with him.( and that’s just HIS issues, never mind my sprectrum daughter’s issues too)
He does not grasp “indoor voice” at all. he yells everything. he needs CONSTANT stimulation or he is yelling, singing, and SCREAMING while climbing, jumping, falling, bumping. I have “spiderman” proofed the house, only to find him SCALING THE COUNTERS! at 10 months old before he could walk he was able to haul himself up my step ladder in the kitchen and balance and rock on it, and not be able to get down alone.
He’s causing me to grey prematurely! lol
I’m terrified one day he’ll break a bone and not even feel it. I am always VERY careful to check his bumps and falls for worse than he acts pain because he is very under sensitive to pain. He’s a daredevil in every way, a “rough and tumble” boy.
My father has auditory neuropathy. His hearing got worse over years from nerve damage due to job choices and no hearing protection. He had a cochlear implant 9 years ago, and went from almost completely deaf to being able to hear again well enough to talk on the phone to me now! he had never heard a computer dial up modem before and freaked when it happened… and he heard bacon fry for the first time in 20 years and was amazed.
I have uncles have varying degrees of neurological deafness on my dad’s side. My youngest brother was VERY much like my son as a child and has many many signs of APD as well.
my son ( 4 years old) shows the signs of it with his speech. He says “optadog” for “octodog” etc…common mistakes of m and n mixups, b and p’s etc.
I had speech therapy as a child as well.I alwasy complained about being “jumpy” to noises and bothered by noise, and very soothed by rhythmic music. But was never officially Dxed because I learned to compensate well at a young age with reading lips, and having a deaf father meant growing up in a home where communication was geared toward those issues anyway.
if you know sign language…keep it up. but encourage speech a LOT. STOP baby talk now, no matter how cute it is, because they are hearing it that way & need it corrected to get it right. NEVER assume they “heard” you. “you’re not listening” is NOT true. they ARE listening, their ears get it, but the nerves jumble it up and the brain receives it wrong. or they hear the first part of what you said and not the last part, or vice versa.
Even if they nod or say un huh…always ask for repeat of what you said. ( not rudely, just establish that that is good communication) Don’t give multi step instructions. Give one step at a time, written if possible for older kids.
Kids ( even adults) with APD THRIVE on pictures.We are often visual learned to the extreme, hands on kind of people. Label your child’s dresser with ad pictures from flyers of certain clothes so they know where things go. kids with sensory issues and APD often have other learning disabilities, and or ADHD as well & a low tolerance for frustration and can use the extra guidance of picture instructions.
Bathroom hand washing signs in your own bathroom etc. are great. My son LOVES them. bedtime routine charts with pictures help him as well.
If your kid shows signs of C/APD ( Central/Auditory Processing Dysfunction) tap them on the shoulder to get their attention before you speak to them, speak slow, and clear, don’t yell. loud noises are harder to understand. Speak even, normal and even exaggerate your pauses at end of sentences and breathes for breaks like where a comma would go in the sentence you are speaking.
Talking over music, kids on a playground, a tv, store loud speakers, wind outside are all issues for people with APD. For kids bend down to be at their eye level so they can learn to lip read faster and sooner face on. Let them wear ear plugs ( wax ones are great to form to their ear) to lower decibels if they are sensitive to sharp loud sounds. my son uses them to watch movies, as do I.
let them do homework, chores etc with music on, it helps sooth the nervous system for auditory input.
