We’re no strangers to sensory processing issues in this house. But, we’re used to parenting a child with sensory sensitivity–one who is bothered by clothing tags and collars on shirts and loud noise and crowds.
Parenting our youngest has been a whole other deal.
This girl is sensory seeking. If there’s a chair or a bench or a step stool, she climbs on it (and then jumps on it and off it and on it and off it). If there’s a puddle, she jumps in it. She moves…constantly. Yup, all the time. If there’s a cup, she pours it out and plays in it. If there’s a basket of anything, she dumps it. If there’s a mess, she’s in it.
We used to think she was trouble seeking rather than sensory seeking.
But, the more I study her and the more I read and learn, the more I understand her and all her “trouble-seeking” ways.
She needs more vestibular and tactile stimulation that most kids her age–those fancy words just mean she needs more balance and big movement type of stimulation and lots and lots of touch. And, that really shouldn’t surprise us. Those senses are the ones most fed during those very early baby months. When babies are supposed to be picked up, rocked, held, bounced, touched, and tickled, she spent most her time in a crib.
So, I’m trying to give her an extra dose of vestibular and tactile stuff these days. My concerted effort this week – a rice box.
And, she loved it.
I’ve been getting ideas from The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder
Got any ideas your kiddos love?
What a great idea, it looks like sooooo much fun :-)
The fake snow that you add water and it puffs up.
My children at school always love writing/drawing in a pile of shaving cream or pudding.
I have two SPD kids too, a seeker and an avoider. We hung a sack swing in their bedroom (best thing ever for both! )
Hmmm…you’ve got me wondering about Miss A over here. There are some days when she is just into EVERYTHING. Perhaps she is sensory seeking.
I second the shaving cream idea. Also goop-cornstarch and water. Both make a mess, but are fairly easy to clean up, too. Ryan loves a sinkfull of soapy water with plastic containers or play kitchen stuff-lots of filling and dumping just like the rice.
mine also loved the bean box and these water beads that are used for floral decor. You can get them at the dollar store! they are fun! Cute pics!
what a fun mommy you are!! Love this!
we have a sensory seeker in our house too…hence; the trampoline and swing in the kitchen
http://www.sensoryedge.com/indoor-strap-swing.html?utm_source=indoor-strap-swing&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=googleproducts&gclid=CPDu06jMi7ECFeEDQAodZBjjCQ
We have a bean bin with lots of different containers and scoopers. I like it because dry beans are fairly inexpensive and come in all different sizes and some color variation. I use an under the bed storage type container to keep it all contained. And when it becomes uncontained :) I use a small hand sweeper to clean it up.
We have a tramp in our house too (along with an exercise ball)! Our daughter has proprioceptive and vestibular needs. The jumping gives her joints the compression she needs. We also let her push the shopping cart and pull her wagon as much as is possible. Once we knew that it felt ‘good’ to her, we didn’t try to battle her for ‘control’ so much in those situations (sometimes though, she has no business pushing the cart when the store is so full!). Still working on getting in more vestibular for her… it’s not uncommon to find her hanging off of furniture upside down!
Love this one :) my daughter is both a sensory-seeker and hypo sensitive….pasta is a little less messy than rice in a bin too :) I also let my daughter jump on her trampoline and we have a swing for her too- you can get one at Ikea for about $50…
I love this :) my daughter is a sensory seeker as well and has some sensory sensitivities too.. Pasta is less messy in a tub than rice too :) we use a trampoline and a swing- you can get at Ikea. :)
Ok- I have some advice here: put a large sheet on the flor underneath the rice bucket. I used a rice bucket for YEARS with my kids for fun. I would pull it out just before I needed to vacuum, and I’d put a sheet beneath it. When they were done, I would pick up the queen sized sheet, nd dump the rice back in the bucket. I always still needed to vacuum, but there wasn’t much left of a mess with the sheet, and heck, I was going to vacuum anyway, so I wasn’t even irritated. It to this day still counts as one of my genius mom things! :)
There you go -I’m up in the middle of the night feeling crummy, reading blogs which I barely have time to do anymore, and I’m able to offer a little advice! I can go back to bed now! :)