So Many people have told me “ Oh That’s Normal” when talking about my active sensory seeking daughter. How do you differentiate what is normal and what can be more of a red flag behavior? Many people have asked me how Livi’s behaviors are any different than just an active toddler. It is hard to tell, but working with children for so many years I just knew that something was a little different. So how is it different? Well for starters my girl is always bouncing, moving, hopping, climbing…she has a constant need to move. She is high endurance as my cousin Amy pegged it. She craves a rough touch and does not know she is not being appropriate. This is our biggest issue at home. She literally rams and bounces into me and off of me.


When wanting my assistance she will firmly place her toy in my hand or hit me with it. Many of these behaviors may look like adhd type red flags but for some reason I don’t think Livi is adhd although she probably can appear to be. It seems that some sid and adhd symptoms seem very similar. She has a high pain tolerance and craves heavy & hard touching. She cannot regulate herself in large areas and gets easily over stimulated. She holds her hands over ears in an over stimulating environment. She has problems with certain food textures; she has issues with chewing properly. She also shows sensory avoidance behaviors and cannot tolerate wearing jeans with a zipper and certain socks.


I think the best thing to do if you are uncertain if a behavior is sensory or not is to get involved with early intervention and ask for an OT evaluation. My biggest concern is how this will impact my daughter in social situations and at school. I think the biggest difference in normal active toddler behavior and a sensory seeking child would be that the sensory seeker does it much more and it hinders them or is highly disruptive to the home life. I love this picture because I often feel that I could say " Livi is flying" and people would say " Oh My toddler did that all of the time, It's normal".



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