It’s even more difficult for the child, who can’t explain the discomfort, and, in some cases, the horror, of these sensory struggles. As a parent, it is a challenge to deal with your child’s daily upsets. My daughter, who has ADHD (and other challenges), struggled with many of these sensory assaults when she was younger. What about your child? Does your son hate the feeling of being sprayed by water in the shower or gag when brushing his teeth? Does your daughter feel overwhelmed in noisy places or avoid certain foods because of their texture? Lucy Jane Miller, Ph.D., director of the Sensory Processing Treatment and Research Center, in Denver, Colorado, has found that “more than half of children suspected to have ADHD had SPD or both conditions.” We now know that many children with ADHD also suffer from SPD. It’s not difficult to see how the symptoms - distractibility, the need for intense activity, problems with social interactions - could seem like ADHD. Most children with SPD display elements of both extremes, suffering from sensory overload at some times, seeking stimulation at others. These children crave extra stimulation to feel alive.

For others, outside stimuli are dulled, as if a shade has been pulled over the environment, muting sights, sounds, and touch. For some children with SPD, information reaching the senses feels like an assault of competing stimuli. Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a neurological condition that makes it hard to process and act on information received from the senses. What my parents didn’t know at the time was that I had ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder.

Getting my hair washed and dried taking children’s aspirin, which, to me, tasted like sewer water walking on grass or sand without shoes going to the dentist. Certain triggers set off my anguish and panic. I was anxious and upset a lot of the time, but for no good reason, according to the adults around me. When I was a little girl, long before I knew I had ADHD, I was considered a difficult child.

6 year old adhd meltdown