THANK YOU for your immediate response to our request for help in soliciting physicians to complete the Physician Usability Survey for our DSM application. Your assistance with this survey has been invaluable.

The survey period has now ended. An analysis of these surveys will be included with our application and shared with supporters as it becomes available.

Click here to see a PDF version of the survey that physicians were asked to take.

DSM-V initiative - summary

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, currently in its 4th edition and often called simply DSM-IV, is the standard diagnostic tool used by mental health professionals worldwide to promote reliable research, accurate diagnosis, and appropriate treatment of cognitive and mental health conditions. Currently, SPD is not included in the DSM. This absence limits awareness of SPD, contributes to the misdiagnosis and inappropriate therapeutic treatment of children, and reduces funding for research. Insurance companies often rely upon the DSM-IV diagnoses and may not cover treatment of SPD because it is not listed in the DSM.

Since 2000, the SPD Foundation has spearheaded an intense campaign for recognition of Sensory Processing Disorder in the revised DSM-V, which will be published in 2012. The SPDF has invested heavily in research and has facilitated complementary studies at premier research institutions across the country and internationally.

In January 2007, the SPD Foundation submitted its first-stage application to the DSM-V committee of the American Psychiatric Association.

Because we completed or published so much additional research in 2007, we prepared and submitted a supplement to our original application in March 2008. This assured that the DSM committee members have the most current data before them as they deliberate.

In April 2008, we received a lengthy and extremely detailed letter from the chair of the DSM committee. In it, he indicated a significant number of additional studies we need to submit before SPD will be recognized. We began those studies immediately and have made terrific progress. At the same time, we remained in close communication with the DSM committee. In June 2009, we received word that SPD is "on the list" of "novel diagnostic entities" being considered for the DSM-V. We also were informed that field trials for new diagnoses under consideration would begin in August 2009, five months earlier than we anticipated.

We have been racing ever since to meet this deadline. A great deal of hard work remains to be done, and our resources are extremely limited, but we are doing our best.

There are several ways you can support this crucial effort benefiting children and families living with SPD worldwide:

• FORWARD the physician survey on the usability of an SPD diagnosis to your child's doctors or colleagues who are familiar with SPD and supportive of its recognition. Click here to read about the importance of the survey and find links. DO NOT TAKE THE SURVEY YOURSELF. It is for physicians only. To view the survey questions, click here.
• DONATE NOW to the SPD Foundation - Research that meets the rigorous scientific standards required for inclusion in the DSM is costly. Every donation brings SPD closer to diagnostic validation by funding the work that is essential to achieve it.
• SIGN our online petition urging the American Psychiatric Association to include Sensory Processing Order in the DSM-V.

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