Sensory Regulation: Making a Difference in Your Therapy

Personal reflections from a one day workshop by Meryle Lehn of CTA: Stickids

What is Sensory Processing?

The way an individual responds to various stimuli including the use of our five outer sensations, touch, vision, smell, taste, sound, along with motion, balance, and internal senses of muscles, joints, and pressures.

What does atypical processing look like? Professionals may observe children avoiding or excessively seeking sensory input. Children may display emotional sensitivities or under-responsiveness, and children may have challenges with self-regulation along with a reduced quality of motor responses.

Sensory Processing affects each of us. What can we do? 1. Motion: Activities and movement can alert and organize children’s mind and body. Example: Use of finger gadgets, mini tramp, hoppy ball. 2. Deep Pressure: Child led pressure and touch can calm and settle children. Example: play dough, lap pillow. 3. Heavy work: Motion and deep pressure can alert and calm the child. Example: Silent scream and stomp, monster face. 4. Suck Chew ‘n Breathe: Activities can organize and alert the child to support concentration. Example: Straw sucking, mouth chewies. 5. Retreat from Sensory Overload: Reduces sensory overload. Example: Quiet place, earmuff. 6. Routine: Keeping consistent.

Work with children to choose one to two from each category. Depending on the child’s current state, choose a place to start. For example, if there is a child who is showing signs of hyperactivity, start using the motion activities and work down to retreat. Having the child identify how they are feeling is best. Are you feeling slow like a turtle, just right, or fast like a bunny? This can support your ability to understand where to start with the child. If you would like more information on SticKids activities and programming please visit www.stickids.com.

Sensory Materials and Resources

Fidget kit

Earmuff

Modern Ball Chair

Resistance Tunnel

Find more at www.fdmt.ca

Building Bridges through Sensory Integration: Therapy for Children with Autism and other PDD's Authors: Paula Aquilla, Shirley Sutton, Ellen Yack

Move About Activity Cards: Quick and Easy Sensory Activities to Help Children Refocus, Calm Down Authors: David Jereb, Kathy Jereb

Sensitive Sam: With the help of his OT, Sam's sensory adventure has a happy ending

Author: Marla Roth-Fisch

Find more at http://fhautism.com/.