Marley's Magical Mind

First let me start by saying that not all kids that have SPD are autistic but most autistic kids have SPD. I want to make that clear because one of the ways parents sometimes determine whether something is not right is because their kids are hyper sensitive to sound, light or clothing. In some cases even hypo sensitive to pain.  Marley can cut her finger and it seems like it doesn't even phase her. But if you sing 'Happy Birthday' too loudly, she'll cover her ears and scream 'too loud'.  This is Marley being 'over-processed' by the bright sunlight. She tried to tolerate it because she wanted to go on her swing. Swinging is another form of stimming for her. As in my personal case, I am not Autistic. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 6 years old. At that time it wasn't even called ADHD (I am now 42 years old). It was called short attention span with mild hyperactivity and mild depression. I was reevaluated when I was in my twenties and while th...

Like most parents, I like to observe my child at play. I like to watch her with her imagination going and how she behaves with her dolls and toys. Sometimes my child seems to not play with toys appropriately. There is a difference between using imagination and not using a toy appropriately.  One thing is to use a toy race car as a moon buggy, another thing is to use it as a roller skate. She also loves to hide everything in drawers and cabinets. It drove my mother, her Abuela, crazy !!! She would find her salt shaker in her vitamin drawer...lol!!! Marley likes to take her plush toys, she has a Bowser and Enderman specifically, and wrap them with tape.   She covers them in rolls of regular tape, the kind you would use when wrapping a gift.  I'm still trying to figure out where she came up with this idea.  It would take me about 10 – 15 minutes a to try and unwrap all of her plush toys.   I would explain to her that doing this will ‘break’ her plush to...