How a sensory diet helps kids

This isn’t actually sensory, but I have allergies/food intolerances, hereditary, at least four generations mostly women, made worse by misinformed doctors giving the worst possible advice.
If you or anyone else want to talk about celiac (must avoid gluten and in some cases [mine, family] also lactose), just ask away.
Just as a hint, it is a lot harder to avoid gluten than you might think. There’s a lot invisible out there, so a person may think they are following the diet carefully and still have attacks.

Hi Patti! My son was diagnosed with SI at the age of two and is going to be six in May. We have tried everything except for removing gluten from his diet. When I talk about “sensory diet” I am not referring to food but physical activities to”feed” into his needs. We have tried brushing but it didn’t work for him. We tried lotion and compressions but they also didn’t work. School will use a lap buddy, a weighted vest and headphones. It bothers me that these things stick out so much to the rest of the class but they are working for him. They help him relax and decrease anxiety. He recieves OT for sensory defensiveness. It has helped him. Right now we are struggling with whether the anxiety is causing the sensory issues or are the sensory issues causing the anxiety? SI has really taken over our lives. The one thing that works the best is constant patience and reassurance.

the anxiety decreases. My adolescent son has rocked since he was a baby. It used to really bother me until I realized that he needed to do this to calm himself and help him to focus. Now he uses music, the guitar and piano as an outlet that feeds his sensory system.

There really is something to feeding the sensory needs of kids. Once those are met, we can help them in other areas, in my case, provide speech and language therapy. Good luck to you!!

Hi Patti,

I posted some info about my son as a reply to the other post. I read that one first (my area of interest now). My son’s teachers don’t seem to do too much to help him, and I don’t really mean that in a negative way. He’s in a rather unstructured preschool setting, which I’ve learned doesn’t work well for him (sooooo much free play). He’s doing better, but as I said in the other post, maybe it’s the therapy, maybe it’s maturational, maybe it’s both! I’d be curious to hear what you’ve learned!

It depends on the kids and their particular needs. And if the whole IEP team including the parents will observe the behaviors and listen to the kids they can usually figure out what needs to be done to head things off at the pass. I have noticed that kids with sensory issues calm down with lots of structure and sameness in their environment. Sometimes they will say, “I need a hug.” and giving them a hug, squeeze of their hand, put a pressure or weighted vest on them that is sufficient to meet that need so you can work with them. There are others who find music soothing to their soul, they calm down with classical music and listening to their favorite songs. There are others who need to swing, or climb through a long tube that stretches, or sit in a huge vat with balls of varying sizes, others, find a water table or beans, rice, flour, etc…calming to them. For others they need a chewy toy to keep from grinding their teeth. Some find a trampoline calming… Like I said it all depends on the children.

There really is something to this sensory stuff because I have seen a huge difference when I collaborate and troubleshoot with OT’s I can work on the language piece.

>It bothers me that these things stick out so much to the rest of the class but they are working for him.

That’s my concern! How can we brush our students every 3 hours without bothering their other classmates or embarrassing the students? Do these things really work? Are they worth doing? Maybe we can do it in another room.

Hi -
I’ve always known that there was *something* about my daughter, Claire, that was different from other kids. At the end of Kindergarten, she was identified as have SI issues (this was with a fabulous OT outside of school - school didn’t understand our daughter). She immediately began on a special therapeutic listening program that really helped her - she suddenly was able to do a whole bunch of stuff she couldn’t before - tie her shoes, put on clothes, remain calm in hectic environments. We just recently discontinued the listening program - she’s 8 now.

I think the best thing that the OT did was explain “heavy work” to us - this is part of her sensory diet. My daughter definitely benefits from using her body to open heavy doors, carry heavy objects (groceries from the car, books in her backpack, newspapers to the curb for recycling). Somehow it helps to ground her & make her less anxious. The absolute best thing has been swimming - initially just for fun & now also in a class. When you think about it, swimming is a great form of “heavy work” for their little bodies.

Claire often tells us without words what helps her. For example, her latest thing is running across the room & flipping into a head stand on the couch. She’ll do this 20 or 30 times in the evening. I think it’s her way of organizing herself.

I agree that you don’t want your child to look weird to the other kids. Can the school OT think of other ways of accomplishing what the weighted vest does? Maybe he could take sensory breaks? (our OT suggested that we ask school to let Claire take sensory breaks in the school OT room to swing for a while - swinging is really great for her).

Good luck!
Deb

I have worked as an Educational Assistant for students with Autism and I have found sensory integration very helpful. Regular body breaks allowed many of my students to reduce their anxiety and feel comfortable in the classroom. These body breaks also allowed the child the ability to focus and complete their work with greater ease. I am also aware of the concern about overstimulation and that you must be cautious when providing sensory input for students. If you discuss this with your OT / Phisio they would be able to best direct you.

Maricel asked about brushing kids in the classroom. Well, first you would *definitely* have to ask the other parents for permission to touch their children, or else it might be misunderstood. But then in a kindergarten, or at recess/break time in primary classes, you just let all the kids take turns being brushed. It could even be a reward for good behaviour.

Is anybody out there that has advice on how, where and when to brush a 6th grader with SI issues?? I do not have a classroom assistant this year and I have a student that requires this (3x/day) as part of his sensory diet. I am concerned about this and do not understand why he can not brush himself… he’s 12 years old and has had this for over 5 years. I am looking for any advice from someone who has done this with an older student. Thanks.

Is anybody out there that has advice on how, where and when to brush a 6th grader with SI issues?? I do not have a classroom assistant this year and I have a student that requires this (3x/day) as part of his sensory diet. I am concerned about this and do not understand why he can not brush himself… he’s 12 years old and has had this for over 5 years. I am looking for any advice from someone who has done this with an older student. Thanks.

Is anybody out there that has advice on how, where and when to brush a 6th grader with SI issues?? I do not have a classroom assistant this year and I have a student that requires this (3x/day) as part of his sensory diet. I am concerned about this and do not understand why he can not brush himself… he’s 12 years old and has had this for over 5 years. I am looking for any advice from someone who has done this with an older student. Thanks.

I had my son on a sensory diet last spring, but it wasn’t a food diet. It was a pattern of stimulation and man it worked. Every single day, every three hours for six weeks, I brushed him with soft surgical scrub brushes: hands, arms, back, and legs. After that I did joint compression: wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles, knees, hips and spine.

While we were doing this, the OT and PT at school had him doing excercizes like carrying heavy objects, crabwalking, wheelbarrow walking, bouncing on a trampoline etc.

The first few daysI did it, the child went limp. It totally relaxed him. Then it made him manic. He was like an insane person for weeks, but the OT told me not to stop. By the 5th week, he’d chilled out and was doing great. His fine&gross motor skills and improved by leaps and bounds. Even his language skills improved and his concentration was definitely better. He gained a lot of control over his stimming too.

Overall, I’d say the program was a success.

[quote=”guest 11”]Is anybody out there that has advice on how, where and when to brush a 6th grader with SI issues?? I do not have a classroom assistant this year and I have a student that requires this (3x/day) as part of his sensory diet. I am concerned about this and do not understand why he can not brush himself… he’s 12 years old and has had this for over 5 years. I am looking for any advice from someone who has done this with an older student. Thanks.[/quote]

Wow…that’s what I get for not finishing the thread; I totally missed this post. LOL

What did they tell you during his IEP meeting? You should have a copy of your IEP to consult, but if they don’t have specifics about how to do the brushing, then you should consult your school OT, or his caseworker, or whoever is the one who started him on the Wilbarger protocol (that’s the “official” name for the brushing).

Since I don’t know more about your situation, I can only guess, but if he’s doing it like my son did, then it would be very difficult to brush himself on the back and backs of his legs. Did they give you a schedule of the actual times to do it? If not, I’d ask for one. If you incorporate it into the class routine, then that will make things much easier.

On further thought, is there any chance you could get your school’s OT to come in and do the brushing if you are that uncomfortable with it?

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Previous post by “Huh?”

By the time the boy is twelve years old, he is getting fairly mature, into adolescence, and there is a host of other issues involved in any touching. So a lot of people may feel uncomfortable with major touch stimulation. As a teacher I would not want to get involved in this myself. It should be done either by the parents or by a qualified therapist in a suitable environment, certainly not publicly in the classrtoom.

Thank you for your thoughts… I lucked out! The brushing program was dc’d this summer. He still has a sensory diet of carrying heavy things, eating crunchy food, hard candy, taking walks, etc. He is extremely anxious during class and sometimes these things do not help. Any other suggestions?? He is a super great kid with a terrific personality… just can’t stay calm!

[quote=”guest 11”]Thank you for your thoughts… I lucked out! The brushing program was dc’d this summer. He still has a sensory diet of carrying heavy things, eating crunchy food, hard candy, taking walks, etc. He is extremely anxious during class and sometimes these things do not help. Any other suggestions?? He is a super great kid with a terrific personality… just can’t stay calm!

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Have you ever read _The Out of Sync Child Has Fun_ by Carol Stock Kranowitz? If you don’t have this book, you might want to consider buying it because it has lots of great, fun activities for kids with SID. It has a section for each area: vestibular, tactile defensiveness, proprioceptive etc. and then descriptions of lots of fun activities you can do for each of those areas. We had a lot of fun this summer trying them out. I highly recommend that book. (It’s fun for parents too :wink: ).

Thanks for the book suggestion… I’ll pick it up this weekend. Things are getting a bit more hectic these days and his anxiety is increasing. Hoping to come up with new ideas to help calm him… he’s not so thrilled with the “sensory diet” in place from last school year (set up with OT), yet knows he has proprioceptive issues.

Gosh, what other help is this kid receiving? That level of anxiety seems like more than just a “sensory diet” issue. Is he getting any kind of counseling?

Hi everyone
Not used to posting so please forgive if I do something wrong…

My son had a great sensory diet in his preschool. Lots of heavy work and pushing walls, games with paper plates on feet - the teacher was very aware of my son’s needs and both of us could see improvement in his ability to regulate and focus.

My son is now in kindergarten - and although this has been mentioned (he has no IEP), it goes by the wayside. Just noticed that he is starting to grind his teeth at night (he never did that before!). Do you think this could be due to lack of SI diet at school?

Linda

Gina,
Im just curious, is your son also ADD/ADHD? Or have you had him tested? I wonder if that vest thing would work for my son. I can imagine it has a weighty calming effect on kids with ADHD also. Humm…

My son also loves anything tactile. His new OT is suggesting that we try that sensory diet, and the brushing. I haven’t finished reading the paperwork she gave me on it called “Sensory Defensiveness”, but I want to make sure he needs it because it does requires a committment from us both of us for frequency, I think every 2 hours to really work. She says he may not have SD, and I just don’t see it, just the opposite actually. But he does get over stimulated by noise and people. So I too am interested in if anyone out there has had any success with it.

I have a Kindergarten student. It has been noted in his IEP that he has sensory integration issues, that his senses are on heightened sensitivity. Is this a correct understanding? What can I do to help him? I believe him to have Autism, is SI an aspect of Autism?

I think that’s great that is was included in his IEP. So what is the IEP goal?? Or did you mean in his eval? Turns out this is a huge issue with my son. But I hear that the schools rarely concern themselves with SI. It is often found in autistic students and the most I, as a teacher, ever heard about it is that they are strongly irritated by touch, so don’t go patting the kid on the back. I am curious as to why it ewas in his IEP.
From what I’m learning, many kids can have sensory integration issues, not just autistics. I would guess that autistic kids have more of a sensory defensiveness. Others like my son has it along with many other problem areas including ADHD and anxiety, and just today I saw him in sensory therapy (private therapy, of course) and was amazed at how obvious the therapy worked for hiim. It’s like he knows exactly what he needs there. He was being very frustrated and defiant and it was going to be another usual transitional struggle just to walk him down the hall, until he got on a giant horizontal tire swing and she spun him like crazy. I would have been so nauseated, but it actually just completely calmed him down!! He insisted she spin when it slowed down 4 or 5 times as fast as she could with all her might, and then he was a whole different kid when it was finally over. It was amazing to see how that actually worked. She said their bodies starve for these sensory stimulations. In some cases, like my sons, it’s so hard for him to focuss on anything else untill he gets this hunger met. But the thing is that it’s not always the same. There are days, or hours, when he would never have wanted that particular sensation, instead maybe it would have been covering himself in a bed of dried beans. He hates holding hands or soft touches, but he loves his whole body to be sandwhiched between soft matresses. Go figure.
I am so grateful for the two gals who work with my son in PT/OT/SI. They always explain everything they do and why they do it and I’m learning alot, and I know for sure now that this is as important to my son, if not moreso, than ST or OT. The latter cannot happen without the former.
I wish schools did incorporate SI in the classrooms more. Beaded chair covers, bean bag chairs, bean or rice bins, theraputic squeeze balls, silly puddy, or even the brushing techique when they get overly excited (we’d NEVER allow THAT though!), All kids could benefit really, but for those who have a sensory deficit it is almost a critical prerequisite to learning. Many kids with ADHD for example cannot sit still and look you in the eye and agree that they understand XYZ, but if they had a physical outlet to preoccupy their senses simultaneously, they can actually absorb it better.
Usually kids with SI deficits go pretty much undetected by the education system. They don’t have time to concern themselves with this sort of thing, but if they understood how relevant it acually can be to some students, they would incorporate it into their IEPs. Please keep us posted if it actually becomes a goal. Or if anyone else out there has seen it as a goal, please share what the goal was and how it was justified in the educational arena.

SI was just a note in his eval; it’s not a goal on his IEP. How do I help him? I didn’t realize that SI is a prevalent condition. He is improving in physical contact. He at first did not like to be touched and now he comes up to me to give me a hug!! He also has sensitive hearing. He can hear a train several blocks away from the school while inside the building. It’s amazing. Should I address it in working on his goals, even though it’s not one? And if so, how do would I go about it? Thank you so much for your insight.

I am an OT as well as someone with ADD and sensory issues. We in the OT world are now calling it sensory processing to further distinguish and differentiate what is going on with the particular adult or child. Please feel free to contact ask any questions and I will try my best to answer. I have seen this approach work very well with many children and use it on a regular basis with treatment.

Hi - I am new to this site and am still learning about Sensory Processing so please bear with me on this. My son just turned 6 and I have been suspecting Sensory processing since he started kindergarten this past July.

Like everyone, I at first suspected ADHD. I took him to a very well respected Ped Dev Doc who we saw for 3 hours, did lots and lots of questioinaire, etc. It was narrowed down that at this time, he did not think that ADHD was the cause. I asked him about Sensory Processing Disorder the unresponsive type, whipped out my multitude of information that i got off the internet and showed him what i was soon suspecting the cuase.

After months and months of asking the school to do an OT eval, they finally did. I just got the results back (results on another post by me) and it has pretty much validated everything i had been suspecting and told the school to test for.

My son was no the typical infant, he would take short naps after nursing, and the only way i could get him to take a nap was to either rock him or he wanted to be in the electronic swing. I used to have centers, the swing, the jumper, the space ship, the walker etc…It never stoped and he never stoped. I was exhausted and didnt know that this was not normal. I thought it strange, but again didnt know anything until my daughter born 12 months later, boy what a difference!

Anyhow,he grew up, I always got, the you son has a behaviorl probelm, your not this, etc. He never feared anything, he always had to touch stuff, take apart things, throw things and has and is the pickest eater.
He doesnt like certain closthes (tags and noises) at two years old, he was picking out his own clothes and refused to wear certain ones, even down to the color. I always went along with it, tried to apease him, i just never new why he was different.

We then had him tested at 4 for speech delays. It broke my heart to watch him during this test becuase he could not sit still, he rocked back and forth on the chair, had to touch her book, was obviously overstimulated by all the toys in her room. The therapist gave me a phamphlet and told me to go to this parenting class for children with ADHD. I cried all the way home, was it true, did my son have ADHD, did that mean med’s, what next?????

I have read the Out of Synce Child and again this book confirmed my suspecions. We go for an IEP this Wed, the therpist has recomended 50 mins of OT, I am just not sure thought what type of therapy they will do and if any special accomendaitions will be made for him in his class as he is having trouble in the class.

This dx is only one LD he also has recep/expres land D/O with again, suspected CAPD.

I came accross this website and have been reading the threads when this one particular post jumped out at me;

“My son is now in kindergarten - and although this has been mentioned (he has no IEP), it goes by the wayside. Just noticed that he is starting to grind his teeth at night (he never did that before!). Do you think this could be due to lack of SI diet at school? ”

Wow, this startled me as i too have noticed my son grinding his teeth, this just started and I am not sure if this is related to sensory processing.

Well sorry for the long post, it’s just i finally see some parents who have similar issues that we have here.

Thanks for reading, and I would be interested in knowing if anyone else has the teeth grinding thing as a problem.

Renee

Hi Renee,

I also am new to this website and relatively new to this subject, but my sister, Jenny Clark Brack is a [b]Pediatric Occupational Therapist with fifteen years experience [/b]and knows all about Sensory Processing Disorder. I have begun to create a website for all the great things she is doing to bring together Parents, Teachers, and other Occupational Therapists to help these children with special needs. You can contact her at [b][email protected][/b] Jenny’s SPD Connection website [b][url]http://www.spdconnection.com/index.htm[/url][/b]is devoted to helping kids with special needs by providing information and services to Educators, Healthcare Professionals and Parents working with children with disabilities.

Jenny advocates a comprehensive trans-disciplinary approach to [b]sensory integration [/b]by involving [b]parents, teachers, and therapists [/b]in coordinating and customizing each child’s program for maximum therapeutic benefit. This website attempts to demonstrate that everyone has a role in this endeavor. It attempts to [b]educate, facilitate, and cooperate[/b] in improving communication between the various care-givers and standardizing the terminology and practices so that a synergy unfolds to [b]accelerate each child’s progress[/b].

Use the Guide on the Home page which has been customized for your needs. Also you may use the menu aids at the top and left side of your browser window to navigate this website. First-time visitors are invited to explore within their area of interest. With additional familiarity, you may browse this website at your leisure to see how the other disciplines integrate into your program. There are helpful links to websites providing services and products particular to sensory integration, all having Jenny’s seal of approval.

Jenny has published a book and two DVDs designed to help parents, teachers, and threapists incorporate Sensory Integration activities into early childhood classroom, home and clinical settings. Her latest DVD [u][b]Sensory Processing Disorder: Simulations & Solutions for Parents, Teachers and Therapists[/b][/u](DVD) Jenny Clark Brack. Autism Asperger Publishing Company (November 2005)

Nothing Like First Hand Experience to Help You Understand!

This practical DVD presents basic information about ensory systems along with simple solutions for how to deal with sensory challenges both home and at school.

Viewers will experience what it feels like to have a sensory processing disorder by engaging in simulated exercises for a variety of sensory-processing difficulties. Kit includes enough materials for a group of as many as 25-50 participants. You may view a [b]two-minute sample[/b] of this DVD at [b][url]http://www.spdconnection.com/products.htm#DVD2[/url][/b]

Her other book and DVD are presented on that same page just below.

Jenny also has a private Pediatric Occupational Therapy practice in Northeast Kansas and gives seminars nationwide.

Jenny Clark Brack is available for In-House staff training at medical facilities and for School staff In-Service training. Note that Jenny can accomodate most requests for a variety of pediatric therapy topics to meet your unique staffing needs. Topics covered include: Sensory Integration, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Learning Disabilities, Handwriting issues and Learning Related Vision Deficits.

I hope this information proves helpful to you. I also am sorry for the long-winded posting.

Sincerely’