Idahomom: it is entirely possible for a child to display signs of both over sensitivities and under responsiveness to sensory information. It is referred to as a modulation disorder. Modulation refers to the ability to notice and respond to relevant sensory information in an manner appropriate to the situation. People with modulation disorders have difficulty selectively attending to sensory information (ie: filtering irrelevant info out, attending to what is meaningful) and even more difficulty responding to it appropriately (reactions seem out of proportion to the intensity of the stimulus). What's worse is that the same sensory input can at one time be aversive and then the next time not even noticed. Very frustrating for everyone, especially the person whose system never knows what to expect in terms of sensory input. People can also just have hypersensitivities to certain input (like sound) and hyposensitivities to other input (like vision or vestibular input).

It certainly sounds like your son is highly sensitive and responds to sensory input, but also to the emotional content of situations. Using sensory strategies can help a lot to manage the stress in life, whether there is a "disorder" or not. Google for "sensory diets" and you'll find good info on how to use sensory tools for calming and relaxation. The Alert Program is a great way to teach the concept, but is geared for kids ages 8 -12. It can be adapted though (www.thealertprogram.com)

But it sounds like your son might benefit from some help in learning how to cope with those emotional stressors during the day. I don't really have any handy resources for that. My DS7 is the same way at times, getting overloaded by his reaction to events of the day, not really the sensory experiences per se, but more of the Emotional OEs kicking in. Perhaps some GT resources about OEs might have some help there. Check out the SENG website for articles (www.sengifted.org) on emotional health for gifties.

There's a lot of overlap with OEs and SI disorders. A lot of confusion as to what constitutes a disorder and what is just individual differences. The book "Living Sensationally: Understanding Your Senses" by Winnie Dunn is a great resource for just learning how sensory processing affects all of us differently and uniquely. Each nervous system truly is unique, some just have more difficulty with certain processing than others.

HTH some more!

Intersting Debbie, DD5 is currently working with a child psyd. for OE's. I am suspecting more and more there are some SI issues at play.
Thanks for listing all the valuable resources.

Skyward: my heart breaks for your brother's experience in school. I am so pleased to hear he is doing well in college, not surprising at all! Amazing people are capable of amazing things, I'm glad to hear he is high functioning with his level of sensitivities.

I don't think that there is any consensus here except for -

Be flexible. Be willing to try homeschooling and see what works - (LoL 'Could things be any worse?') There is also afterschooling, where he does online classes or summer camps aimed for gifted kids and gets to be amoung other who are 'like him.'

Each kid, and each family situation, is individual, so being willing to try things and see how they work and come back and let us know is my 'ideal.'

Love and More Love,
Grinity

That's a problem right there, that perhaps could be helps with some advocacy efforts. If there are no responces to e-mail, perhaps to send another email, and say that if there is no answer then you will be contacting the principle. Alternative is to set up a face to face meeting. Funny, a lot of parents go to homeschooling when the are putting more efforts into advocacy than they are into parenting.

BTW - Compacting the curriculum is a time honored gifted stragy. In Math, for example, the teacher identifies the 5 toughest problems on a sheet of 25, and any kid who does the toughest 5 without error, get to skip the rest. This is from a book called something like Teaching Gifted Children in Regular Classroom. A worthy read.

How would your son do in math if he had only to do the 'hardest 20%?'

Smiles,
Grinity

In addition to the good sources below, I'd like to add that my son's SI issues didn't really 'click' for me until I read the articles on SI in 'Uniquely gifted: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Twice-Exceptional Student' Edited by Kiesa Kay.

Idahomom - I strongly reccomend you order this book on Amazon today, even though it was published way back in 2000. Also a highlighter with the sticky notes build in - LOL - there is a lot of material there!

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Neato - I think that for (Many) HG/PG kids at least, there isn't a difference between OE and SI issues. The difference is that SI issues have interventions aimed at relieving the issues, and the OE model focuses on the adults being understanding and not creating extra issues. Be for I learned about SI stuff, I unawarely did all the OE interventions because I remembered my own childhood, and had observed my family members. Then I learned about SI and DS11 got 6 month is treatment, which helped tremendously. I often am so glad that I 'bumped' into the SI literature before I found the OE literature, but I suspect that if I had read the OE literature I would have patted myself on the back for compensating so well, and just 'tried to live with' the issues.

I think of DS as having OE Issues that responded well to SI interventions. Right now he's on the school Lacrosse team - playing goalie. He gets to put on the heavy tight protective gear AND get hit by the those hard balls. Talk about Modulation - that addresses the over and the under SIs all at once!

Smiles,
Grinity

Thanks Grinity, Debbie told me where to start in looking for an eval and I will be making a few calls today.
Funny, I haven't literally spent more time advocating for DD5 than parenting, but it's getting pretty tiresome and it does tend to move me towards Home School.

Neato

OK maybe not more time, but perhaps more energy and heartache?

Good luck with the OT!
grin