Toxic Sock Syndrome

Today's post has a give-away!  Woo-hoo!  Just like the big-time blogs!  You can win THREE PAIRS of sensory-friendly Seamless Sensitivity Socks by SmartKnitKIDS.  To enter to win, just comment on this post and "like" them on Facebook.  And wait, I need a way to contact you if you win the socks.  So make sure you "like" me on Facebook too. Because then I can stalk you let you know if you win.  Okay?  Winner will be chosen using random.org.

My two most sensory-spazzy kids, Little Dude and the Pork Lo Maniac, love these socks or I totally wouldn't be doing this.  First of all, they are seamless.  Secondly, they are designed to be easier for kids with fine motor skill delays to pull on (there is no heel).  Thirdly, they are very smooth "slide-y." Slideyness is apparently a very important factor in selecting socks when you're suffering from Toxic Sock Syndrome. 

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The more I learn about Little Dude, the more I see weirdness in the rest of our family.  Specifically, every one of us has some form of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).  SPD is basically a malfunction of how your body interprets sensory input -- whether that input is visual, auditory, tactile, or whatever. 

Our pediatric neurologist, Dr. Orville Redenbacher, believes that Sensory Processing Disorder is just a form of Obsessive Compuslsive Disorder (OCD).  But the general consensus among my SPD mommy pals is that Dr. Redenbacher is out of his corn-poppin' mind.  Either way, there's some definite weirdness going on in this house.

Cookie and the Pork Lo Maniac were diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder when they were 18 months old.  Their quirks were hard to miss: the touch of Barbie doll hair made Cookie cry.  They could not be barefoot, ever.  The Pork Lo Maniac would tire of chewing and keep a lump of meat in her mouth, like a plug of tobacco, for hours.  Please note that because of their allergies, the meat was always ground lamb.

Vacuuming had to be done "after hours," when they were asleep.  The sound of lawn mowers was so traumatic that I had to close all the windows and doors, and crank the radio anytime anyone on our block mowed the lawn.  Once, a small plane flew low overhead while we were playing in the backyard.  They wouldn't leave the house again for three weeks.

I don't mean they were just overly sensitive to sound.  I mean they were terrified.  Panic attack style.  Because lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners and small planes hurt their brains. After a couple years of occupational therapy, I guess their wiring got fixed and they're pretty much normal now.  Well, they're definitely not "normal," but you get what I mean.

The Peanut Butter Kid has some of the same auditory issues.  My husband took the girls to the Independence Day fireworks in town this year, and she lost. her. mind.  She was so traumatized she literally peed herself.  The best part of that story is that I did the same thing exactly 31 years ago at a Fourth of July Mets game at Shea Stadium.  I vividly remember trying to hide under the grungy stadium seats, screaming less like a little girl than like Janet Leigh in Psycho.

I believe I must have looked and sounded pretty much like this:



I still have auditory defensiveness.  Having more than one electronic noise in the room at once is a killer for me.  If Dora's on and someone's playing Guitar Rock on the DS, I start twitching.  Something's gotta give.  When Little Dude freaked out at the Children's Museum of Houston, I knew just how he felt.  It's the way I feel I feel in a casino.  Lights! Noises! Someone is trying to kill me!  Must. get. out.  The only thing that makes noises and lights worse for me is drunk people.  Basically Mardi Gras would be the Tenth Circle of Hell for me.

One of Little Dude's biggest sensory problems is the feel of sunblock.  No matter what brand I try, whether the sunblock is cream or lotion or gel or stick or spray, he can't stand it.  Which is a problem here in the Melanoma Belt.  He's the same with any type of moisturizer, which is a problem when his eczema acts up.  He is wired in a way that he experiences goo on his skin as painful.

Little Dude and the Pork Lo Maniac have the most tactile issues, still.  Shirts with collars are like some kind of medieval torture instrument for the PLM.  Tags in shirts are excruciating to Little Dude.  And socks. 

Oh, the socks.

Socks are an issue for both of them.  One problem is that they both have a fine motor skill delay, so they're hard to put on.  The PLM is nine and she still struggles with it.  She'll complain that her socks are lumpy in her shoes, and I realize they're on heel-side-up.  Little Dude -- forget it, he just can't put on socks for himself.  Or really anything except maybe a Darth Vader helmet, if he's really motivated.  The other problem is that most socks are distractingly annoying for both of them.  This is a major issue for Little Dude, because he has to wear socks and sneakers every day.  We tried sandals but sometimes grass touched his feet.  Gaaahh!

Sensory Processing Disorder seems to be pretty common in kids on the autistic spectrum, but not everyone with SPD is on the spectrum.  For us, it's just another of those "Little Specks of Autism" we keep noticing in us, and around us.  Sometimes we work on these issues, and sometimes we work around them.