It’s Sensory Awareness Month!
Today’s SPD insight: Oral Defensiveness. My inspiration of the day? A trip to the dentist.
Nobody likes to go to the dentist…you do it because you have to. When Riley was little, I tried and tried to get him to the dentist. Three times I took him with me. The first time he sat in the chair. The second time he held the equipment. The third time he let her shoot water in his mouth. That was it. When she asked him to open his mouth so she could take a look, he clamped down (thankfully not on her finger…but it was close!).
Eventually we found a pediatric dentist who specializes in kids with special needs. They were able to get a cleaning during the first visit…but it was an ordeal. They had a bite guard to protect their fingers that also forced his mouth open. We covered him with an x-ray blanket for the added weight (adding extra weight at his core helps to focus his energy inward as well as giving him a better sense of his body placement) and, last but not least, they actually had to use what they called “soft restraints”…it was actually a soft straightjacket that bound his hands so he could not continue to be combative. Thankfully, this process has gotten easier over the years…for him and for me.
Now a little back story on why this happened. From the day he was born, Riley struggled with putting anything in or near his mouth. He refused a bottle and had difficulty nursing. As a result, he had a severe failure to thrive. We spent a very long time working with feeding clinics, specialists, every doctor imaginable…their answers? “All kids eat…you must be doing something wrong…” and “we cannot find anything medically wrong with him.”
When Riley was 18 months old, we brought in a team from Early Intervention. Part of this team was made up of an RN who specialized in feeding issues and challenges. During her first visit, she told me that Riley appeared to be very “orally defensive”. In short, he fought anything going directly into his mouth. He was better if it was approached from the side, but it was still difficult. We will never know if it hurt, tickled, or just felt weird…but the front area of his mouth was hypersensitive to any touch or input. It actually bothered him when he was forced to eat…and I wasn’t a) a bad mother, or b) completely crazy!
This amazing woman started teaching me strategies to help him get the process of eating started by overstimulating his mouth so that “normal” feeding actions felt more acceptable rather than irritating. It was a slow process, but it definitely made a difference.
Again, this is an example of Riley’s brain not sending his body messages in a way that is typical or expected. It was also one more thing that we had to figure out how to help him live with and around.
If any of this sounds familiar, there is a great book out called: Just Take a Bite.
Have a great day!!!
Nobody likes to go to the dentist…you do it because you have to. When Riley was little, I tried and tried to get him to the dentist. Three times I took him with me. The first time he sat in the chair. The second time he held the equipment. The third time he let her shoot water in his mouth. That was it. When she asked him to open his mouth so she could take a look, he clamped down (thankfully not on her finger…but it was close!).
Eventually we found a pediatric dentist who specializes in kids with special needs. They were able to get a cleaning during the first visit…but it was an ordeal. They had a bite guard to protect their fingers that also forced his mouth open. We covered him with an x-ray blanket for the added weight (adding extra weight at his core helps to focus his energy inward as well as giving him a better sense of his body placement) and, last but not least, they actually had to use what they called “soft restraints”…it was actually a soft straightjacket that bound his hands so he could not continue to be combative. Thankfully, this process has gotten easier over the years…for him and for me.
Now a little back story on why this happened. From the day he was born, Riley struggled with putting anything in or near his mouth. He refused a bottle and had difficulty nursing. As a result, he had a severe failure to thrive. We spent a very long time working with feeding clinics, specialists, every doctor imaginable…their answers? “All kids eat…you must be doing something wrong…” and “we cannot find anything medically wrong with him.”
When Riley was 18 months old, we brought in a team from Early Intervention. Part of this team was made up of an RN who specialized in feeding issues and challenges. During her first visit, she told me that Riley appeared to be very “orally defensive”. In short, he fought anything going directly into his mouth. He was better if it was approached from the side, but it was still difficult. We will never know if it hurt, tickled, or just felt weird…but the front area of his mouth was hypersensitive to any touch or input. It actually bothered him when he was forced to eat…and I wasn’t a) a bad mother, or b) completely crazy!
This amazing woman started teaching me strategies to help him get the process of eating started by overstimulating his mouth so that “normal” feeding actions felt more acceptable rather than irritating. It was a slow process, but it definitely made a difference.
Again, this is an example of Riley’s brain not sending his body messages in a way that is typical or expected. It was also one more thing that we had to figure out how to help him live with and around.
If any of this sounds familiar, there is a great book out called: Just Take a Bite.
Have a great day!!!
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