Supporting children with sensory processing needs
What is sensory processing?
Our brain receives information from all our senses, which we use to interact with the world around us. This may be through our thoughts, feelings, behaviour. We all process sensory information which, for most people, develops as we grow and mature.
Examples of behaviours you might notice if your child is oversensitive or under sensitive to sensory input:
- Olfactory smell
- Tactile touch
- Proprioception body awareness
- Visual vision
- Interoception internal sense
- Auditory hearing
- Gustatory taste
- Vestibular movement
- Interoception internal sense
| Sensory System | If your child is under responsive, you may see: | If your child is over responsive, you may see: |
|---|---|---|
| Sight | Needs lots of visual stimulation eg bright environments, watching lights and reflective surfaces. |
Dislikes bright lights eg wants to wear a cap or have the hood up, becoming over whelmed by too many lights and colours. |
| Smell | Seems unaware of strong smells, may seek out strong smells eg smearing. | Notice smells other people don’t which causes stress and interferes with ability to focus, bothered by typical household scents, perfume, aftershave etc. |
| Hearing | Talking loudly, enjoying loud noise, not picking up on usual auditory cues eg not realizing you have said their name. | Avoid loud noise, cover ears, anxious before loud noises occur, distracted by background noises. |
| Taste | Eats/mouths non food items, craves strong tasting foods eg spicy, salty. |
Dislikes strong tastes, likes consistent temperature of foods, gags on certain tastes, struggles to try new foods, fussy or picky eater. |
| Touch | May appear heavy handed, enjoys messy play and a variety of textures, touches things constantly, walking on their toes. | Seeks hugs/touch only on their terms, can appear to over react to another’s touch, bothered by certain types of clothing or labels, walking on their toes. |
| Proprioception (knowing where your body is in the space without looking at it) | Frequently bumps, trips and falls, may appear poorly coordinated, leans on furniture or other people, over reliance on vision for movement eg looks at feet when going downstairs. | |
|
Vestibular (helps with balance and spatial orientation) |
Has difficulty sitting still and seeks movement, runs rather than walks, enjoys spinning and being upside down. | Struggles with motion eg in the car, escalators, becomes dizzy easily, struggles in busy places watching a lot of movement. |
| Interoception (interpreting sensations that come from inside your body) | May not notice when hurt or unwell, may not recognize feelings of hunger or fullness, poor awareness of needing to go to the toilet, may not recognize feeling too hot or too cold. | May frequently report being in pain or is very sensitive to pain, may have a strong hunger impulse and struggle to wait for food if hungry, may struggle to cope if too hot or too cold. |
Problems in processing a response to information from all our senses may result in being too sensitive to some stimuli and not sensitive enough to others. It is helpful for you to understanding your child’s sensory processing needs and for these to be accepted and understood by themselves, the family, school and others.
It is important to understand how as parents you can help your child if they are having sensory difficulties, Sheffield Children’s “Making Senses” website has a number of videos explaining about sensory processing as well as videos which support a range of day-to-day activities.
- Dressing
- Eating and mealtimes
- Toileting
- Showering and bathing
- Hair washing
- Teeth brushing
- Nail cutting
- Sleep
- Going out and about
- Managing challenging behaviours
- Making sense of your booklet
- Sensory top tips
Plus, several activities to help regulate your child
- Understanding sensory processing and your child
- Regulating sensory strategies
- Steam rollers for regulation
- Superhero rocks for regulation
- Using a gym ball during static activities
- Hands on technique for regulation
- Strategies to reduce anxieties
- Visual schedules
- Social stories
- Interoception: sensations from the inside of the body
The Falkirk Council children with disabilities team
Booklet written by Lesley Beath, paediatric occupational therapist. This booklet helps parents and carers to look at their own sensory preferences and sensitivities.
If you feel your child may have some sensory difficulties:
- Watch the video Understanding sensory processing and your child
- Note your child’s difficulties down in a booklet or on a piece of paper.
- When your child is not regulated, write the date, time and what you feel the trigger may have been. This may help to identify any pattern, for example after school it happens more.
- Then look at the video’s on the Sheffield website for information on your child’s specific difficulty to provide understanding and ideas to help your child regulate and reduce sensory exposure.
- Tell your child that they look to be struggling at the moment and therefore you will stay close to them to keep them feeling safe.
- Try some of the ideas from the video and make a note of what helped.
- You will then have a set of activities or ideas of what you can do to help your child’s specific sensory needs and potential avoid any specific triggers.
- Let school, family and friends know what small adjustments they can make to also help your child.
- Look out for parent-carer workshops in your local area for topics that may also help and book yourself a place.
