This is something I thought of in bed last night when I couldn't sleep, my little girl started back at school the beginning of this month and the first week was absolute torture.
She would get up in a foul mood, she would say her cereal tasted funny, she'd zone out to the TV and then when it was time to get dressed the real problems started. First we had problems with her underwear, we always have but usually we'd only have 2/3 incidents a week where her underwear felt wrong and irritated her. The first day she tried on and practically tore off several knickers before we finally found some that felt okay (but she spent the next 30 mins pulling at them). Then she put her uniform on, the first day she was supposed to wear a pinafore dress but we had screaming because it was pulling on her and annoying her so she changed into just a polo shirt, cardigan and skirt. Then we had the same drama over her socks, they felt wrong so we put them on took them off, turned them inside out, tried different socks, nothing seemed to work finally they just seemed to be okay after I sprayed them with some perfume (and took them off/put them on a few more times). Then her shoes were wrong, so we had to cover the inside of the shoes with plasters so they felt okay, she finally got out the house and off to school crying, pulling at her clothes and looking miserable. She complained the whole walk to school about every aspect of her clothing, sobbing and saying how she hated school, wanted to stay at home so she could play etc the second she saw her friends it was like flicking a switch and all of a sudden nothing was annoying she was smiling and laughing with her friends.
This happened every day for the first week and 2 days of the second week, almost the exact same routine of getting so worked up over sensory issues she would have a meltdown and be crying on the way to school and another meltdown when she had to get changed ready for tap class after school.
I was thinking last night how this past week and most of last week she got dressed without a problem (well we had problems but that was relating to her chronic bowel issues and not sensory). She didn't complain about her clothes or shoes etc and was smiling on the way to school.
So then I was wondering why that first week and a bit was so terrible and I wondered if maybe her over sensitivity to her clothing was because she was infact upset with the change in routine. The 7 weeks off school had gotten us into a routine of her playing with daddy in the morning whilst I did things and then we switched in the afternoon, meals were always the same time, bedtime was always the same time (later then it is during school times), we did hardly any socialising and she was in charge of what we were playing. So she goes from that to early starts (well an hour earlier) having to work, socialise, not have full control over play, rules, not to mention all the new stuff, new teacher/classroom/lunchtime/classmates (they mix them up every year) it must have been a real shock to her system.
Right so my question is do you find that your sensory issues(if you have them) are worse when you have changes to your routine?
I myself am fairly flexible with routines, as long as we do certain things, the time isn't as much of an issue but I do find if I'm upset about something then I can be extra sensitive (so noises/textures etc that irritate/upset me already will seem alot worse).
She would get up in a foul mood, she would say her cereal tasted funny, she'd zone out to the TV and then when it was time to get dressed the real problems started. First we had problems with her underwear, we always have but usually we'd only have 2/3 incidents a week where her underwear felt wrong and irritated her. The first day she tried on and practically tore off several knickers before we finally found some that felt okay (but she spent the next 30 mins pulling at them). Then she put her uniform on, the first day she was supposed to wear a pinafore dress but we had screaming because it was pulling on her and annoying her so she changed into just a polo shirt, cardigan and skirt. Then we had the same drama over her socks, they felt wrong so we put them on took them off, turned them inside out, tried different socks, nothing seemed to work finally they just seemed to be okay after I sprayed them with some perfume (and took them off/put them on a few more times). Then her shoes were wrong, so we had to cover the inside of the shoes with plasters so they felt okay, she finally got out the house and off to school crying, pulling at her clothes and looking miserable. She complained the whole walk to school about every aspect of her clothing, sobbing and saying how she hated school, wanted to stay at home so she could play etc the second she saw her friends it was like flicking a switch and all of a sudden nothing was annoying she was smiling and laughing with her friends.
This happened every day for the first week and 2 days of the second week, almost the exact same routine of getting so worked up over sensory issues she would have a meltdown and be crying on the way to school and another meltdown when she had to get changed ready for tap class after school.
I was thinking last night how this past week and most of last week she got dressed without a problem (well we had problems but that was relating to her chronic bowel issues and not sensory). She didn't complain about her clothes or shoes etc and was smiling on the way to school.
So then I was wondering why that first week and a bit was so terrible and I wondered if maybe her over sensitivity to her clothing was because she was infact upset with the change in routine. The 7 weeks off school had gotten us into a routine of her playing with daddy in the morning whilst I did things and then we switched in the afternoon, meals were always the same time, bedtime was always the same time (later then it is during school times), we did hardly any socialising and she was in charge of what we were playing. So she goes from that to early starts (well an hour earlier) having to work, socialise, not have full control over play, rules, not to mention all the new stuff, new teacher/classroom/lunchtime/classmates (they mix them up every year) it must have been a real shock to her system.
Right so my question is do you find that your sensory issues(if you have them) are worse when you have changes to your routine?
I myself am fairly flexible with routines, as long as we do certain things, the time isn't as much of an issue but I do find if I'm upset about something then I can be extra sensitive (so noises/textures etc that irritate/upset me already will seem alot worse).
