If you give an SPD kid a pancake, he’ll probably ask you for some syrup to go with it.  When you give him the syrup, he might spill some on the table and begin playing with it.  When you see the mess he has made all over the table, you’ll realize that he needs some tactile input, so you’ll pull out your stash of dry rice and beans.  You’ll have to wash his hands so he doesn’t get everything all sticky.  He will scream bloody murder when you wipe his mouth and hands.

After covering your floor in beans and rice he might break into your cabinets when you’re not looking and pour an entire box of cornstarch on the floor.  While dancing in the cornstarch, he will raise up clouds that will impair your vision.

This is when you might decide he needs to play in the sandbox, so you’ll have to take him to the park.  At the park, he’ll accidentally sit in a puddle and will scream until you manage to locate some extra pants for him to wear.

When you change his pants, he might want to run around naked for a while, even though you say he can’t.  As you try to catch him, you might notice other parents giving you nasty looks.  Those nasty looks will be repeated when your kiddo runs into some kids to get some deep pressure.  It feels good to him, so he doesn’t understand why the kid he ran into is crying.

Next, your SPD kid will decide that he wants to go on the merry-go-round, but as soon as someone pushes it and it starts spinning, he’ll fling himself off and bloody his knees.  Once you clean him up, he’ll probably head to the swings.  Swinging for upwards of a half hour should calm him down.

As it’s nearing lunchtime, you will warn your SPD kid that it’s almost time to head home for lunch.  You might give him warnings at 15, 10 and 5 minutes, but he will still probably act surprised when it’s time to leave.  He may throw a tantrum and refuse to get in the car.

Bribing him with extra computer time might get him to cooperate.  Then again, it might not.

By this time, you’re probably worn out, so you decide to get lunch from a fast food joint.  Once inside McDonald’s your SPD kid might freak out and cover his ears when the timer for the French fries goes off.  As you proceed to your table, he might accidentally bump into other tables because of his poor body awareness.

Once at your booth, he will probably have to be reminded to sit on his bottom a few dozen times.  Instead, he will repeatedly stand on his seat and jump.  If you happened to order him the wrong number of chicken nuggets or the wrong drink, you can bet all hell will break loose.

Because it’s so loud and distracting at the restaurant, he probably won’t eat a whole lot, and most likely you will wonder why you didn’t just go through the drive thru.

When you finally get home, exhausted, you will plop him in front of a Thomas the Train video so you can have a minute’s rest.  When you hear him jumping on the couch, you rouse yourself to turn off the TV.  You realize it is almost time for therapy, so you start to get him ready to leave.

Since your SPD kid didn’t eat much lunch, he will declare that he is hungry.  You offer him every snack you can think of: applesauce through a straw, pretzels, apples and popcorn for crunching, but he insists on a pancake–the only thing your kid has willingly and happily eaten all week long.

And chances are……

If you give your SPD kid a pancake,

he’ll probably ask for some syrup to go with it.

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