An Orange

Dear Addie,

…and then everything just made sense again.

I hear that phrase a lot. It’s often used when things seem “off” or different and then a series of events helps those things fall into place to explain the happenings of something. Usually giving us that feeling of things being better at the resolution of events. But what if that different feeling or feeling “off” is related to not things but our cognitive function or our spatial awareness? How do we help things fall into place then?

Addie, before there was ever an autism diagnosis, there was a whole sensory system in which we were getting a crash course. From auditory to tactile, your sensory system was functioning a little different than that of your peers very early on and that lead us to your first diagnosis of sensory processing disorder or what’s also known as sensory integration disorder. Sounds fancy huh?! Well, those fancy words are just a way to describe our senses not responding properly to the outside world.

You see Addie, sensory integration is the way our senses work together. It’s always good to work together, right?! One team, one dream just like our family! For example, If you see an orange you can imagine what it tastes like, how it smells, how it feels in your hand and on your tongue, and it may even have a sound as it’s being peeled. Because your senses are all integrated you can easily remember how all your senses experience oranges. You learn all those things early on and then eventually can just look at it and just know. Ideally, that’s how our sensory system should work – all the senses working together to tell you that in fact, that is an orange. But what if you couldn’t taste it, see it, or smell it? Would you still know it’s an orange just by the idea of touch and sound? Perhaps, but maybe not without second-guessing yourself. That’s what your sensory system is kinda like, a bunch of things just not quite working together.

You, my dear, have what’s called a hypersensitive auditory system (you struggle with sounds – headphones are our friend) and a hyposensitive tactile (touch- you need deep pressure), gustatory (taste- strong flavors…you will never like mashed potatoes, like ever), proprioceptive & vestibular (muscle/joint pressure & balance/motion – extreme height and/motion), interception (in your case primarily temperature feeling hot/cold – you can’t regulate temperature very well). Phew! Say that 5 times fast!

Side note: I can honestly tell you I never thought in a million years I’d ever have to know what the word proprioceptive meant or let alone how to spell it, but I digress…

So what does this all mean for you? With all those senses out of sorts, it can make you feel pretty off, maybe somewhat crummy, perhaps even not in control of your body, and turn into a true tipping point for meltdowns. No fun for anyone involved! So, what do we do? How do we regulate so much that’s different to feel grounded again? Well in short – you swing.

Movement my dear is essential in the development of all children, but swinging is your saving grace. Your sensory integration superhero. To feel the pressure from sitting with your body, you feel the wind on your face, you hear the wind sound as you fly in the air, you experience the sensation of movement that tickles your tummy when you swing as you do – super high.

All of your senses are reacting simultaneously. The more practice the senses have at doing this, yes even senses need practice, the better they will be at working together.

But there’s more!

The repetitive motion of the back and forth helps calm anxiety, it increases blood flow helping with focus, requires motor planning, balance, core strength, and coordination all good for your physical health and task completion (going higher) can build self-esteem increasing happiness endorphins. Addie If I could have a swing on command for you daily I totally would because it truly brings you exuberant amounts of joy while benefiting you greatly, but sadly I haven’t quite figured that one out yet.

So what was it that all made sense for me to bring this up?

Addie, it’s been 6 months since we moved, and when we moved, there was never any doubt in our minds that a swing was a priority on our list of ASAP needs, but the reality was we also were unaware that we moved to what seems like copperhead country (just kidding – kinda) and finding a suitable, safe spot to put a swing was about to be more challenging than we could’ve imagined. Your mood seemed to take a dive as of late, you were becoming easily irritated, and knowing there were a lot of changes happening we knew we really needed to do something. With an interior swing somewhat out of the question at this house and a standard swing set or even custom built (you can destroy a storebought swing set in a matter of hours from unexpected high demand usage and weight), I turned to the internet, and voila! Woodtreeswings.com saved the day! With their tree-hanging swing kit, I just needed two big trees (check!) and a swing (check!) and we were in business!

We had cleared the center garden of our driveway, still working to get this totally clear, but enough that I can go out to see if the area is safe from slithering creatures, quickly set up the straps, attached your swing, and just like that…

…everything just made sense again.

Addie, I’m so sorry this took so long, but I’m so grateful that someone took the time to design something that really works and means so much to you and our family.

It’s not just a swing, it’s your orange, it’s your way of life.

Happy to see your smile again baby girl.

Love,

Mom