LITTLE Keeley Harding struggles to make sense of the world. Her brain is constantly seeking reassurance that she is still alive and she finds it difficult to concentrate on the simplest of tasks.

The eight-year-old from Sholing, Southampton has just been diagnosed with Sensory Modulation Disorder and her mother Nicky, 30, now hopes her daughter will receive the help she needs, pictured.

"From day one Keeley has had problems with epilepsy, her hearing and mobility.

"When she was finally diagnosed with the Sensory Modulation Disorder no one at her school or her GP really knew what it meant," she said.

Experts say the condition means the brain cannot process the information from the senses and this causes problems with learning, development and behaviour.

"Every day is a challenge for Keeley. She is always seeking attention and she just can't sit still.

"She finds it difficult to sleep.

"Basically her brain is constantly asking for information because there is a breakdown in the signal from the senses.

"I have been told it as though her brain is seeking reassurance all the time that she is still alive," she said.

Little Keeley loves drawing and music but finds it hard to concentrate at school.

She has difficulty writing and her frustration can sometimes create angry outbursts.

"She is always getting into trouble at school and when I talk to her about it makes me so sad because she tells me she wants to be good but she just can't help it," said Nicky.

"I really do want people to understand what is happening to her."

Reading about the disorder on the Internet, has helped Nicky and her husband Jeff, 33, to understand what their daughter is going through. Expert Carol S Kranowitz has studied the condition and written about the subject.

"Picture a child who has trouble processing and interpreting sensory messages about how things feel and what it feels like to be touched. Touch stimulation overwhelms this oversensitive child.

"How does his problem play out? He is bothered by the label in his tee-shirt, the approach of a classmate, the lumps in his mashed potatoes, the stickiness of the playdough.

Fidgeting and squirming, he pays a lot of attention to avoiding these ordinary sensations. Meanwhile, he is unable to pay much attention at all to the teacher's words or to playground rules.

"Say a child with another form of dysfunction has trouble processing movement and balance sensations.

Say this under-responsive child needs to move around - much more than her peers - in order to rev up and get going. What is the fallout of her problem?

"This impulsive bumper and crasher craves intense, vigorous movement.

She often rocks, sways, twirls, jumps, climbs, leaps, gyrates and gets into upside-down positions.

She pays a lot of attention to satisfying her need for movement, and not much attention to her mother's instructions or to where she left her shoes.

"Inattention, impulsivity, fidgety movement - these are definitely symptoms," she said

Nicky has had to overcome her own challenges to help her daughter.

She left school with no qualifications but decided to do something about her lack of education and went to college.

Studying first for City & Guild qualifications and then GCSEs, teaching staff discovered she was dyslexic.

"And they now think I have Attention Deficit Disorder too. I started studying psychology because I was interested in the subject but I found I couldn't concentrate for long.

"Hopefully I will be able to have treatment to help and I can start my studies again," she said.

Nicky knows only too well how difficult it is to find a job when you have no qualifications and find it difficult to pay attention.

"I don't want Keeley to have the problems I have. I have fought really hard for her to get a statement for her so she can receive the help she needs at school.

"She has been labelled in the past as naughty but hopefully now people will understand the problems she has and she will receive the help she needs," she said.

For the future, Nicky and Jeff just hope their little girl can start to make sense of the world in which she lives.

If you want to know more about Sensory Modulation Disorder email Nicky: nicola284@hotmail.com