Measuring and Restoring Balance in Children with Sensory Processing Disorder

Many young children face daily challenges like uncomfortable clothes, crowded places, loud noises, haircuts, or sudden transitions. 😣 These seemingly small sensitivities can build up into major emotional struggles over time. If your child shows signs of Sensory Processing Disorder, you know exactly how overwhelming it can be. In this video, 🎥 Dr. Drake dives into the root causes behind sensory struggles—and shares how a specific test 📈 can actually measure the extent of the challenge (yes, there’s a real TEST 📊 for SPD!). Even better, we’ll walk you through the next steps: how to help your child’s sensory system 🧠 become more adaptable, so they can better handle everyday experiences without constant avoidance. 💪 Our goal is a calmer, easier daily life for your whole family! 🎉 To learn more about our SPD test and how it can help your child, be sure to watch this video! ♥️

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Large crowds. Haircuts. Birthday parties. Jeans. Button-down shirts. Certain foods… All of it—overwhelming.

These are real and daily struggles for kids with Sensory Processing Disorder (xSPD).

And when they struggle, we feel it too.

If your child gets easily overwhelmed in loud places, touches everything nonstop, or doesn’t seem to “get” social cues or personal space—it’s more than just frustrating. It’s heartbreaking.

SPD doesn’t look the same for every child, and there’s no “one-size-fits-all” answer.

At its core, SPD is when the brain and nervous system struggle to interpret and process sensory input—touch, taste, sight, smell, sound…all of it.

If you’re already walking this road, you know the impact it has.

So in this video, we’re going to unpack where these sensory challenges truly come from, how we can measure them (yes—there’s actually a test!), and most importantly, how we can start helping your child feel more calm, in control, and at peace in their body.

This is for the parents who’ve already tried it all—therapies, diets, avoiding certain situations—only to still feel stuck. Let’s dive deeper.

There are two primary patterns we see:

👉 Sensory Avoiding – kids who don’t want to be touched or stimulated.

👉 Sensory Seeking – kids constantly moving, touching, and craving input.

And yes, your child might experience both at once.

To truly help them, we have to go all the way back to early development—often even before birth.

The brain and autonomic nervous system are among the very first things to form in the womb. If mom experiences chronic stress, anxiety, or tension during pregnancy, it can impact that development.

Then, birth interventions like inductions, forceps, vacuum, or C-sections can disrupt critical areas like the brainstem and upper cervical spine—the control centers for sensory input.

Think of the brainstem like an “Air Traffic Control Tower” for all seven senses—it’s responsible for filtering, sorting, and prioritizing incoming sensory information.

When this system is stressed or disorganized, kids may either try to shut out additional “noise” (called nociception) or constantly seek out calming input through movement (called proprioception).

It may look chaotic—but to your child’s brain, these behaviors are actually attempts at self-regulation.

So, how do we know what’s really going on inside the nervous system?

We don’t want to guess—we want to measure.

There are two key nerve systems at play:

Sensory nerves – send info to the brain

Motor nerves – carry instructions from the brain to the body

While symptoms can give us clues, they don’t tell the whole story. That’s why testing is crucial.

In our office, we use a set of gentle, non-invasive Neuro-Sensory Scans with a technology called INSiGHT.

These scans help us detect if your child is experiencing subluxation or dysautonomia—two signs that their nervous system is stressed and disorganized.

We look at two things:

How significant the stress is (mild, moderate, severe, or intense)

Where it’s located in the neuro-spinal system

Think of the nervous system like a fuse box. When circuits are overloaded or out of sync, it affects everything.

We even use a Neuro Fuse Chart in our office to pinpoint which areas are under stress—and how that stress connects to your child’s sensory challenges.

And here’s the best part:

The scans take just 10-15 minutes

They’re completely safe and comfortable

They give us a clear path forward

From there, we build a personalized care plan tailored to your child’s needs and start the process of restoring balance and function to their nervous system.

This is the missing link for so many families who are navigating SPD.

If the nervous system isn’t calm and connected on the inside, sensory struggles will always show up on the outside.

We’re here to help your child thrive—and help your family find peace again.