Helen Sandison: The Seam-Less Journey

When Helen Sandison of Mullingar based Sensory Clothing moved over to Kerry from the UK in 2007 with her husband Rudi, she couldn’t understand why her two-year-old child kept telling her that he didn’t like his clothes, especially his socks. It became normal for him to hide behind their sofa and then pop out with his clothes off. However, like most first-time parents – Helen just thought that it was something that he would eventually grow out of. A year later, her second child arrived, and she found herself juggling the needs of a new baby while battling with a toddler over his dislike of clothes. “I did wonder whether I had been pandering to my son, but nevertheless I took him to the doctor’s because I knew there was something wrong. You could call it a mother’s intuition. My son was tested for Autism (ASD) but we were told that he simply had some little quirks and wasn’t on the Autism Spectrum itself. I just had to cope with his meltdowns over the clothing.” It turned out that Helen’s son has a neurological condition called Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) which is often misdiagnosed as ASD because many children with ASD have sensory issues or difficulties. However, as in the case of Helen’s child, SPD was a standalone condition.