The therapist set a piece of deli meat in front of Henry and explained to him that it was turkey and that he could taste it if he wanted to. Henry looked down at it and gagged several times. With tears in his eyes, he asked if we could go home. With tears in my eyes, I told him,"no".
Henry has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder.
What that means exactly is hard to say. It's as individual as each child. Henry's food aversions are pretty severe and I kind of knew that, but now I'm hearing all sorts of phrases such as: Low muscle tone, poor motor planning, attention deficit. It's a big, confusing diagnosis, that I can hardly make sense of and a little bit, it breaks my heart. The good news is that it helps explain the hitting, the sleep problems and the chicken nuggets.
Henry is still the same cute, little boy, but now that we understand what his special needs are, we can help him to be more functional,in this big, bad world.
