Apologies for the lag between posts.
It seems that the lives of working parents are busy and full to the brim. I am personally in an adjustment phase of trying to return to work and retrieve some of my lost paediatric knowledge. As I embark on this daunting process, I am taking the opportunity to go back to basics and try to understand some of the issues I found perplexing in the past. One of those issues was Sensory-Integration Disorder. From time to time, children would present with this diagnosis often accompanied by volumes of ‘supporting’ documentation. Still I found myself trying to understand the nature of the disorder and how it could be relevant to cognitive performance. The types of complains these children and parents would volunteer included a sensitivity to certain textures and noise. I wondered if these sensitivities were just normal variation and if they really needed to be labelled as a disorder. Similarly, do these complaints need treatment, which was often intensive and expensive, or would they just resolve over time? After all, I don’t think I had ever encountered an adult complaining of sensory-integration disorder. More perplexing though was the implication that this disorder could impact on cognition and behaviour. I still just don’t really get the link – probably as I am still struggling to understand what is specific about this disorder rather than perhaps just being a marker of general CNS immaturity. Recently I took my questions to Medline where “Sensory Integration Disorder” returned only two hits that in themselves were not particularly helpful. I looked further on the internet and found the expected mix of proponents and opponents to the disorder. I don’t necessarily feel that I have clarified my understanding of this ‘disorder’. I suppose though that the context of the other complaints/conditions is particularly important. Can the symptoms ascribed to ‘Sensory-Integration Disorder’ be better thought of as subsumed by other conditions, such as anxiety, ADHD or ASD? Are the symptoms real but fall short of warranting a separate disorder? I put it over to you to further my musings over this ‘basic’ issue.
Also for your information:
The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology moderates a Pediatric Special Interest Group (SIG), complete with list-server. You do, however, need to be a member or affiliate of the AACN to access this resource. There are some additional paediatric resources that are freely available on their website and may be worth a look. https://sites.google.com/site/aacnped/
Abstracts close on Aug 31 for the INS meeting in Hawaii (Feb 6-9 2013).
Linda and Frank
