Sensory Processing: A Guide to Understanding and Accommodating

I. Understanding How Your Child's Brain Processes the World

Our brains are amazing at taking in information from our senses – like what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. But did you know we have other important senses too?

• Proprioception: This is our body's "sixth sense." It tells us where our body parts are and how they're moving without us having to look. Think about touching your nose with your eyes closed – that's proprioception!
• Vestibular: This sense, located in our inner ear, helps us with balance and knowing if we're moving, standing still, or even upside down.

For some children, their brain processes this sensory information differently. We call these Sensory Processing Differences. It's not a medical diagnosis on its own, but it's very common in children with conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It can also happen in children without these diagnoses.

Different Ways Children Experience Sensory Input

Children can react to sensory information in a few different ways:

• Sensory Over-responsivity (SOR): Imagine someone whispering, but it sounds like they're shouting to your child. Children with SOR are extra sensitive to sensory information. A little bit of touch, sound, or light can feel like a lot to them.
• Sensory Under-responsivity (SUR): These children might need more sensory information to even notice it. They might not react to a loud noise or might not seem to notice if their face is dirty. They might seem unaware or have a delayed reaction.
• Sensory Craving (SC): These children actively seek out sensory experiences. They might spin around a lot, crash into things, or constantly touch everything. While they're looking for stimulation, it can sometimes make them feel even more out of sorts.
• Sensory Discrimination Disorder:This means a child has trouble understanding the small differences in sensory information. For example, they might struggle to tell the difference between similar sounds.
• Postural Disorder: This makes it hard for a child to know where their body is in space, which can make it difficult for them to stay still or move smoothly.
• Dyspraxia: Children with dyspraxia have challenges with movement and coordination. This can affect their big movements (like running or jumping) or their small, precise movements (like holding a pencil).

It's important to remember that a child can have a mix of these. They might be very sensitive to some things but need more of others.

How to Spot Sensory Differences:

Sensory differences can show up in many ways. Here are some common signs:

• Touch: Your child might hate certain clothes or fabrics (scratchy, itchy), gag at the texture of some foods, constantly touch everything, not understand personal space, or react badly to light touches.
• Sound: They might overreact to loud noises and need noise-cancelling headphones.
• Sight: They might be bothered by bright lights or get easily distracted by busy-looking places.
• Movement/Balance: They might be clumsy, have poor balance, be afraid of swings, react poorly to sudden movements, struggle with stairs, or have low muscle tone.
• Daily Living:They might have trouble sleeping, not notice when their face is dirty or nose is runny, or find it hard to hold a pencil or scissors.
• Behavioral/Emotional:You might see more behavior problems, low self-confidence, social isolation, anxiety, or frustration.

II. General Tips for Helping Your Child

The main goal of helping your child with sensory differences is to support them in handling everyday life and reacting in helpful ways to sensory information. Remember, every child is different, so flexibility and understanding are key.

General Principles for Accommodation:

• It's All About Your Child: What works for one child might not work for another. The strategies you use should always be tailored to your child's specific needs.
• Try Different Things: Be ready to experiment! Some strategies will work, and some won't, and what works one day might not work the next. This can depend on how your child is feeling, where they are, and what's expected of them.
• Be Consistent: Once you find strategies that help, try to use them regularly as part of your daily routine.
• Timing is Everything: It's often best to use sensory strategies before and during activities that you know will be challenging. For example, if your child needs to focus, try some calming activities about 10 minutes beforehand.
• Let Them Choose: If you have a list of strategies you know are helpful, let your child choose the activities they'd like to do. This gives them a sense of control.

  Changing Their Environment (At Home and School)

  Making small changes to your child's surroundings can make a big difference in reducing sensory overload and helping them focus.

  • Reduce Visual Distractions:
    • Minimize clutter in bedrooms or workspaces. [3]
    • Use desk partitions or visual boundaries (e.g., tape) in classrooms. [8]
    • Consider where a student is seated in a classroom (e.g., away from main walkways, near a wall, near the front). [9, 8]
  • Reduce Sound Distractions:
    • Provide noise-reducing headphones or use "white noise" to block out other sounds.
    • Create quiet spaces for studying.
  • Manage Lighting: Be aware of overly bright lights that might be uncomfortable for your child.
  • Calm-Down Spots: Have a special, quiet place where your child can go when they feel overwhelmed to relax and recharge.

  Sensory Diet Activities:

  A "sensory diet" isn't about food! It's a personalized plan of sensory activities for home and school. It helps your child get the right amount of sensory information throughout the day, which can help them stay focused, organized, and manage their feelings.

  • Heavy Work Activities (Proprioceptive Input): These activities involve pushing, pulling, or lifting, and they can be very calming for over-sensitive children, help under-sensitive children "wake up," and improve body awareness.
    • Chair dips, hand presses, tug-of-war.
    • Wheelbarrow walking, animal walks (like a bear or crab), trampolining, cycling, using a scooter.
    • Pushing or pulling heavy objects.
    • Wearing a weighted backpack or playing with weighted items (like a weighted blanket on their lap).
  • Tactile Play: Helps over-responsive children explore new situations and provides input for under-responsive children. [3]
    • Play (Tactile Input): This helps over-sensitive children get used to new textures and gives input to under-sensitive children.
    • Start with dry textures, then semi-wet, then really wet.
    • Hide objects in bins of materials and have your child find them (first with eyes open, then with eyes closed).
  • Oral Input: Chewing can be very calming. Offer chew toys or chewy foods.
  • Movement (Vestibular Input): Swings (forward and back, side to side, spinning) can be very regulating.
  • Visual Strategies: Using a torch to look at books, dot-to-dots, or mazes can help narrow their visual focus. Visual schedules or pictures can also help them follow instructions.
  • Fidget Tools: Provide small, discreet fidget toys that your child can use to help them focus and self-regulate

  Specific Strategies for Different Sensory Challenges

  • Touch (Over-sensitive to touch):
    • Use deep pressure (like a firm hug or a head massage before washing hair, firm touch when washing their skin).
    • Use messy play bins to slowly help them get used to textures.
    • Look for seamless socks, different fabrics, cut off clothing labels, or have them wear tight clothing (like a Lycra sports top) under their uniform.
    • Try to avoid unexpected light touches (like someone brushing past them).
  • Eating (Picky eating/Gagging):
    • Slowly introduce new foods.
    • Keep mealtimes calm and positive.
    • Allow them to eat foods they like to create a positive routine around mealtimes.
    • Try introducing new foods away from mealtimes to reduce pressure.
    • Create a chart of foods they like and how they prefer them (e.g., with sauce, cooked a certain way).
  • Personal Space/Physical Contact:
    • When in lines, have your child stand at the back or use floor markers (like footprints or coloured squares) to show them where to stand
    • Teach your child how to politely ask for more personal space.
    • Teach the whole class to stand/walk about an arm's length from others.
    • Suggest alternative non-contact activities in sports or at playtime (like skipping, throwing/catching, races, treasure hunts).
    • Set aside quiet areas in playgrounds with a limited number of children allowed.
  • Transitions (Moving between activities/places):
    • Allow extra time to move between classes to avoid crowded hallways.
    • Use visual timetables or schedules to help them know what's coming next.
    • Give warnings before transitions (e.g., "5 minutes until we go...").

III. When to Ask for Professional Help

If your child's sensory processing differences are really getting in the way of their daily life, an Occupational Therapist (OT) who specializes in Sensory Integration (SI) can be incredibly helpful

What OTs Do:

• They'll do assessments to understand your child's unique sensory profile
• They'll create personalized plans and strategies to help your child manage their sensory responses.
• They'll teach and coach you, as parents and carers, on how to implement strategies at home and school.
• They can help your child become more independent in daily activities like dressing, eating, and grooming by addressing sensory challenges.
• They might recommend specific sensory activities ("sensory diet") or special tools to help.

A Parent's Experience with Occupational Therapy

Sometimes, the challenges your child faces might seem small to others, but they can significantly impact their daily life and confidence. We know firsthand how transformative occupational therapy can be.

Getting OT Support in the UK:

• SThere are private services like Sensory UK that offer Sensory Integration and Occupational Therapy.
• NHS services in your local area, which include Occupational Therapy for children, can also offer guidance and coaching for parents of children with sensory processing differences. To get referred to these services, you might need to show that you've already tried some strategies at home for a while (like three months). Your GP or school SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) can guide you on the referral process in your specific region.