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A sensory diet can be a normal part of your family’s life. In the most common cases, a sensory diet ensures that your child is offered different types of sensory input (appropriate to his needs) throughout the day so that your child can function properly.
Sensory input is any type of sensation we experience that stimulates our senses. So think of the 5 classical senses, plus movement and pressure, the sensations we get from the vestibular and proprioceptive senses. Imagine all the lights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, and movements we feel in a given environment. We take this in throughout the day and process this sensory input that can range from the temperature in a room, how bright the lights are, and even to the sensations we experience when we climb a flight of stairs. It’s a lot of information that most of us take for granted.
Everyone has preferences for what types of lights, sounds, smells, etc. And this has to do with how our own unique brains process those feelings. Our children are no different.
Your child will often give you a clear clue about what sensory input they need because they’re jumping on the couch. In this example, you can let your child jump on a trampoline for 5-10 minutes. The sensory input they get from bouncing will fulfill their sensory needs so that they stop looking for those needs.
If they are not looking for sensory stimuli, your child is perfectly capable of doing what is expected, for example, getting ready for school, so that your child is not late.
On the other hand, activities are sometimes offered along the way. After all, you can’t always predict when your child will need them.
But first, I’ll give you more information about the types of activities that can help your child.
Of course, it is nice if you can offer the activities “throughout the day” to your child. But every child and even every day can change and so can the need for sensory stimuli. One day they may not be able to jump on the trampoline, or they may only need 3 minutes and another day as many as 10 minutes. Those differences are there, the most important thing is that a sensory diet fits your child’s daily needs.
Only when you meet your child’s sensory needs can your child focus on something else. Your child needs to calm or activate his or her brain before your child can focus on anything else. The bright lights can distract your child so much that your child does not see what is happening on the blackboard at the front of the classroom.
When you give your child sensory strategies and activities adapted to his needs, your child can only come to learning, listening, communicating, playing, eating and sleeping.
A sensory diet is therefore a tool with which you can help your child to offer the sensory needs he has.
Before we look at how a sensory diet works, I zoom in on 3 groups for whom a sensory diet can work.
Because each of our children processes sensory input in different ways, they may have some tendencies that set them apart from other children. Perhaps your child is a stimulus seeker or a stimulus avoider, but the symptoms are not too bad and your child therefore has no diagnosis. Often the behaviors of this group of children are not “significant” enough to make a diagnosis. Many will refer to these behaviors as personal traits. Sometimes people call these children: busy, sensitive or strong-willed. Often these children have some problems in sensory stimulus processing. So it’s good to read on to see what you can do.
Even if the problems with your child in this category don’t seem to be too bad. Check out these questions.
If you answered yes at least 2 times, it makes sense to offer sensory activities as well as a sensory diet.
-> Also read our tips for overstimulation here
If your child actually has a diagnosis, then a sensory diet is a hugely helpful tool.
Children with these diagnoses often have sensory problems and needs, but not always.
Poor attention, problems in communication, sleep, social interaction, and eating can all be improved with a sensory diet.
For some children, part of their sensory diet may mean regularly planned activities.
Your child’s sensory diet can be applied as a schedule every day or offer it as soon as it’s needed, when you notice that your child is overwhelmed by a noisy environment. In such a situation, you can then offer a hearing protector or an MP3 player with wonderfully soft headband headphones.
The most important thing is that as a parent, you understand that the essence of the sensory diet is to help your child get the sensory input he needs when he needs it. So if you can figure out and understand what your child’s sensory needs are, it makes a sensory diet very manageable. In fact, it just becomes a way of life because you help your child in small moments by offering something different.
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