sensory processign disorder

Sometimes making meals and eating can be difficult due to sensory issues or our tics just making us spit out our food or throw it or other things like smashing it. Things the artist does to help her eat is she eats toast a lot and subs meals with smoothies and nutritional shakes when she has to. Sometimes it's the exhaustion from ticing that just makes you too tired to eat as well, especially from an attack. Sometimes your abdominal tics make you sick and after that, it's hard to force yourself to eat because eating will just make it worse. Other go-to foods are things like cheese sticks or oatmeal or pancakes. She eats gluten-free and low sugar as it helps her feel better but each to their own. What are some of your go-to food for when you really don't have the energy to eat?

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#TouretteSyndrome #ticthealien #TicDisorders #SensoryDisorder #SensoryIssues #SensoryProcessignDisorder #Sensoryfriendly #eating

Somewhere between A and B, I’m standing, maybe floating is the better term. Everything seems to be something anymore. Owen woke early and he woke anxious from the start. It didn’t take me long to follow suit. The days blend into nights. He yelled a lot today. Mostly happy screams, but some were directed at me for different reasons. I was full of emotions for each one of them. School isn’t starting here until September, if then. I wanted to cry about it again today. How do I prepare him to go back into the world when I’ve kept him isolated for so long. We hardly go anywhere, but I need to start taking him more places and seeing more people. Oh wait, the mask thing, I remind myself. He has a hard time seeing everyone with a mask over their face, especially when it is someone he knows. When he goes back to school he will actually be in the classroom. That’s how he has to learn so that’s what we have to do. I cried a little harder today at lunch, worried, and wondering how far he is slipping behind already. I’ve tried to keep him learning and growing, but I’m also human and exhausted. He doesn’t like any type of video conference call and barely will tolerate phone calls themselves. It’s stressful the entire time I’m watching a video or on a call. He screams more and if he doesn’t do it right that minute it’s meltdowns to come. All I can do is pray. He ate great today, played his guitar but mostly with his feet, and he worked on his tablet. I keep reminding myself one day at a time. I try not to be too hard on myself and keep moving forward. For the love of my sweet baby O, I’m growing and learning. Find your inspiration and motivation and know that you are a lot stronger than you think you are. Smiles to all and donut daze! #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder

“W w w w w w w”, Owen repeated to me over and over again. We listened to the alphabet song this evening, but W was not the letter of choice earlier on. He goes through moments where he doesn’t want me to sing and other times if I don’t sing on cue he will scream. It keeps me on my toes. He kept sticking his finger on my mouth, trying to get me to sing, the only thing my mouth was full of food. He doesn’t get that I can’t always do exactly what he wants me to do at exactly that moment. It’s hard to explain to him. It’s the same with his tablet. When the battery is out and it needs to be charged he wants it on the charger instantly. If I have my hands full he will still try to hand it to me, screaming sometimes about the battery. If I lay the tablet down and don’t immediately put it on the charger the screams start as well. I remind myself again about one day at a time. He has learned so much and his words are forming. It’s still hard sometimes to realize that he can’t grasp certain concepts. I try to find examples to explain why certain steps have to take place, but he doesn’t learn completely by that process. It’s something he has to do over and over to understand it. He kept me smiling today. The past few weeks have felt heavy to me, nothing in particular, but everything together. And as much as he’s had a few moments he really has been amazing in these circumstances. I started crying at the table earlier this week. He had been screaming seconds before and he walked over and gave me “big hug”. These are the moments that make my heart burst with love. He gets it. He sees it. He understands it. Never give up. Some days feel impossible. Some days feel like no progress is being made, but remember the sun continues to shine. Find your happiness, be inspired by the world, and know that you can make a difference. Smiles to all and donut daze! #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder

“It’s’ah”, Owen said and said again and again. He says it so fast it’s like one long word. He wants me to tell him what something is when it is something he already knows. And he wants me to tell him multiple times. I try to explain to him that he needs to tell me what something is, to use his words, but it always seems like I still end up telling him what it is. Most of the time it’s from videos he’s watching and he will pause it to ask me what it is. Half the time I can’t actually see what the item is that he wants to talk about. If it’s on his tablet he will hold it towards himself. If it’s on the tv he will stand directly in front of the area he wants me to see. I have tried to make him understand I can’t see around him or when he is covering the object, but so far that hasn’t helped the process. Now I try to change it up a little on the things I know he’s going to ask about. Anytime we are outside he talks about the stop signs. He points down the road and starts, “it’s’ah” and I name things it can’t be. I want him to tell me. This doesn’t always work well though. Sometimes it frustrates him and we get nowhere with learning or moving forward. It’s like the case of the almost forgotten bananas. Owen loves the taste of bananas, but seeing the banana itself causes him huge meltdowns or he wants to “throw dem away”. I got some so we could make smoothies. He’s been asking to make something with yogurt. He loves watching the kid’s cooking shows and on one of the episodes, they make a smoothie with yogurt. He wants to put it in the microwave, but he wants to put everything in our microwave. The microwave is another source of huge meltdowns. He will be fine with ours as long as I don’t have to restart it after I cook something for a few minutes. However, the microwave at my parents' house he doesn’t want to even walk near it. All of this goes through cycles. All of this is hard on Owen. And all of this makes me want to hold onto him a little tighter and tell him I love him. Growing Owen is what we do, but I think I’m growing too. Never give up on your dreams. Believe in the miracle yet to come for tomorrow is a brand new day. Smiles to all and donut daze! #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder

The day felt lazy to me. Owen was watching his tablet on the tv. Technology always amazes me and what’s even more amazing is how he can figure it all out. And seemingly quicker than me. He, however, doesn’t understand that I also have a remote control to the tv on my phone. When he turns it too loud I turn it down now. But what I seem to not get is that just frustrates him and he turns it up louder. The give and take of it all. He listened pretty well today, for the most part at least, but he still wants me to follow all his rules and not follow all of mine. Sitting at the kitchen table is not something he wants to do or can process to do. He sits for a few moments and then he jumps up and wants to run. As it is food still gets flung everywhere, but when he eats and runs it’s hopeless. I just breathe. He is getting more and more agitated about my phone. He doesn’t want me to make any calls, watch any videos, or look at something if he is near me. This seems to be something that has increasingly gotten worse in the last week so I don’t know what is causing the extra anxiety over it. I’m trying a new sleeping supplement with Owen. So far there was no change. Extra yawns started off the night, but yawns quickly turned into hysterically laughing, and two hours later he finally fell asleep. My heart aches in these moments. He was all over the bed, throwing himself around like a rag doll, pushing his whole body into his pillow, screaming as the night went on. He’s getting stronger all the time. I pray for calm for my sweet baby O. I pray that he will find peace through the night. And I pray for his communication skills to keep growing so he can help me understand. This momma is tired tonight, not feeling my best from my own things, and wanting, hoping, dreaming of a great tomorrow. I remind myself of where we’ve come from and I see progress even through tired eyes. He played his guitar, keyboard, and harmonica without me promoting him at all today. There is great joy in my heart knowing how much he loves music. Never give up. The rain may pass through our days, but the sun will shine again. Rejoice in your victories no matter how big or small. Smiles to all and donut daze! #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder

I’m a mommy to an 8 year old boy named Owen who has autism. I love my octopus mug and it reminds me of what our daily life is like. Sometimes I wish I had more hands to accomplish everything that needs to be done during our day. #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder

I saw such clarity in Owen’s eyes today. That doesn’t always happen. Some days no matter how hard I try he can’t process what I’m saying to him. However, his clarity means I was on my toes most of the day and on lack of sleep to boot. He was full of energy from the minute he woke up. His stimming was in full motion and I hadn’t seen him quite this active in a long time. He will watch the same parts of a video over and over and over again, miraculously able to go to the same spot almost every single time. He was watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he was on sensory overload. You can’t derail the train either. I learned that lesson years ago. If he needs to process something it doesn’t matter what I do to distract him he will go right back to the same action when I’m done. Years ago he was doing about the same thing, watching a video over and over again, but instead of happy squeals, he was crying. I thought after thirty minutes I needed to find a way to stop him. I brought him to me looking at other videos with him, singing songs, and anything else I could think of. As soon as I stopped distracting him he went right back to the exact same spot on the video he was watching before. The same screams, tears, and emotions were being poured out again. He had to work through those emotions and then he moved on. Nothing I was going to do was going to change this. It took me a while to understand it all, but now I try to let his emotions run their course unless I know it’s leading to a meltdown, and then it’s a whole different agenda to try to get him to move forward. He screamed himself to sleep, happy squeals that seemed octaves higher than his normal voice. I prayed he would find calm and within a few moments, mid-scream, he was out. It takes me a while to calm down after a day full of his emotions. He wants me to follow all his leads, not play any noises on my phone, and he wants it all in his timing. But we had a good day. He’s growing, we are learning together, and I’m finding ways to have a middle ground for both of us. Never give up. Miracles happen every day. My miracle puts a smile on my face and a song in my heart. Make today matter. Smiles to all and donut daze! #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder

I have to say I’m pretty excited. Owen will walk up to me with his tablet facing him where I can’t see the picture. He then asks me what something is on the screen that I can’t see. “What is it”, he asks repeatedly, waiting for me to answer. I’ve been going through the motions of moving myself, the tablet, or him so that I can see what the picture is. I explained to him that if I can’t see the picture or hear what they are saying I won’t be able to answer him. He walked up to me, asked me the question, and immediately turned around for me to see the picture. His hand was still covering the screen because he always hovers over the play button, but I felt like we had made huge progress. I explained that we would have to push play because even though I could see the screen I couldn’t tell what it was. He wasn’t happy that I wanted to push play. He likes to do it himself and make it stop every second to hear the noise as he turns it on and off. But I was still so pleased with his progress. He did this throughout the day and most of the time he would turn himself around to show me. It was a very robotic style move, but the nonetheless exciting to see. He was very talkative today, but his words did not match watch he was necessarily trying to express. And food has certainly not been one of his top priorities. The famous “throw it in de trash” line has been said to me many times over the last week. He’s eating pretty good in general still, but he has definitely wanted it all in his terms. Sleep did not come easily for him tonight. He threw himself all over the bed, slamming his body up and down into his people. I can only imagine all the sensory needs he tries to meet with this motion. He fell asleep again requesting the “big hug” and out he went. He was mostly calm today, but there were moments of sadness that washed over him. He asked for several of his activities that we no longer do and his eyes filled with tears wanting to fall. I tried not to cry on top of his tears. Our life is not always easy to explain, but the love sure is. Follow your dreams, open your heart, and strive to give it your all. Smiles to all and donut daze! #Autism #SensoryProcessignDisorder