I had the great pleasure of interviewing Dr. Rex Birkmire today, a psychiatrist who works a great deal with children that have sensory processing disorder. He has a nursing degree from the University of Virginia, and completed his training at the Cleveland Clinic. He then attended medical school in Cleveland and completed his residency/fellowship at Harvard. He continued to work there as the Co-Director of Psychiatry and the Law. He now has two private practice clinics in Orlando and Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Birkmire first became aware of sensory processing disorder when a Hispanic mother of two girls came into his office asking him to be open to her daughters’ being diagnosed with a condition called Sensory Integration Disorder. He listened to her list of symptoms in interest and decided to further research this information. Once he looked into this condition more, he was able to reach out to the parents of four other boys in his practice, and provide them with information in order for them to get help. He recommended they start by reading the Out-Of-Sync Child book, by Carol Stock-Kranowitz.

Dr. Birkmire now classifies Sensory Processing Disorder as a “neuro syndrome” in which 50-80% of the treatment is Occupational Therapy for sensory processing treatment. Children that come into his office have moderate to severe symptoms, enough for the parents to feel they need to see a psychiatrist. Common symptoms include: not sleeping, mood problems, anxiety and behavioral problems. Dr. Birkmire has the parents complete a 10-page questionnaire, with one page that solely looks at sensory symptoms. In his experience about 80% have insomnia, 80-90% have attention issues, almost 100% have anxiety, and 70-90% have a mood disorder (like depression or bipolar disorder). He often uses 1-2 medications to stabilize these children so they are better prepared to start occupational therapy services to address their sensory processing difficulties, and so the family is less stressed in the meantime. He spoke about the powerful use of Seroquel used as a mood stabilizer and a support to help children be able to sleep.

Dr. Birkmire is certainly in the minority at this time for being a psychiatrist that understands and treats sensory processing disorder. He stated that the assertive doctors and the doctors that have kids with SPD are the ones who understand it at this time.

Dr. Birkmire is working on an internet-based book that will address the history of sensory processing disorder and it getting recognition in the medical community, reimbursement for this disorder and the neurology of this disorder. This will be an excellent resource for other medical professionals, so we should all look forward to it’s release!

If you are a struggling parent out there looking for guidance, Dr. Birkmire recommends: searching the internet for information; interviewing specialists you think may be helpful to your child and making sure they have additional experience in treating SPD; as well as finding a support group in your area as you are not alone!

Please tune in to this episode if you would like to hear more on this topic from Dr. Birkmire, and some of his success stories with treating children that have sensory processing disorder!

He can be reached at: www.gobbh.com or by calling Birkmire Behavioral Health at 407-332-6506. You can also find his seminars online at www.sensoryresources.com for which he is currently presenting 1-day seminars in tandem with Carol Stock-Kranowitz.

Thank you Dr. Birkmire, you are an amazing wealth of information on Sensory Processing Disorder and a great asset to the field of medicine!

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