YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Potential Development is a comprehensive education system for students with autism — for children as young as two-and-a-half years old through 12th grade. The school also offers speech, occupational and physical therapy to help supplement their education while helping students with a variety of different issues. One of those is helping students with a sensory processing disorder.
When we see hear and touch things or move in certain ways, our body takes in those things, organizes them and we respond appropriately. When someone develops a sensory processing disorder, their brain has difficulty taking in that information or regulating their body’s responses to sensory stimuli.
But how do you know if your child is developing a sensory processing disorder? Occupational Therapist Kim Wilson says there are several red flags to look out for.
“If they are extremely sensitive to noises or a specific noise or very sensitive to light,” said Wilson. “Do they constantly seek out motion? Are they jumping, climbing, crashing and falling throughout their day? Do they totally avoid movement? Are they abnormally picky about foods or gag when they eat? Do they resist grooming tasks like airbrushing and tooth brushing? Look for these types of things that last for a while and then speak to your pediatrician.”
Potential Development currently operates three locations in Youngstown, including a preschool on Indianola Avenue and two facilities on Market Street. One school teaches students in kindergarten through sixth-grade school and the other seventh through 12th grade.
For more information about Potential Development call (330) 746-7641 and visit them online at PotentialDevelopment.org.
