I am so thankful for Becky Lyddon, of Sensory Spectacle, for taking the time out of her busy schedule to be a guest blogger this weekend.
Sensory Spectacle is working to bring awareness to the Sensory Processing Difficulties community. Although based in the UK, they are providing information that spreads throughout the world.
If you missed this weekend’s 3 Part series from Becky, please click below for links:
Make sure to check out the Sensory Spectacle website and shop for more resources. Their presence on YouTube is so valuable for educating the public about sensory processing. I am thankful for having found the videos and being able to share them with family and friends. Click on the links below to follow Sensory Spectacle!
It is important you understand what someone’s over-riding sensory needs is. This will be the sensory system which they are mainly ‘seeking’ or ‘avoiding’ in their day-to- day lives. Once you can recognize this you can be prepared to support them in all settings.
I suggest that parents and professionals are prepared with a ‘sensory sack’. This bag will contain a selection of items that will support a range of sensory needs (don’t forget needs may fluctuate and vary):
noise cancelling headphones, either in the ear or over the ear
sunglasses
cap with a peak
something which smells of that person (old tshirt)
a soft fidget like a small cushion
a rough fidget like a brush
a fidget which you fiddle with
a weighted beanbag
electric toothbrush
a massaging cushion
Most children and adults with SPD are already regulating themselves so try and notice how they are doing that and offer other strategies too. You can learn more about understanding these characteristics with our ‘Homelife’ video series on YouTube. Subscribe and share the videos for FREE!
SPD is currently not able to be diagnosed in the UK in it’s own right, it is only recognized with an Autism diagnosis. SPD affects many other people with additional needs too though, so please bear this in mind.
An Occupational Therapist who is Sensory Integration trained will be able to offer support and advice for anyone who has SPD. If you would like to help your setting become more aware of sensory needs then why not download our ‘What is SPD’ sheet from our website.
Thank you again to Becky Lyddon, founder of Sensory Spectacle. Here’s is Part 2 of our 3 Part Weekend Series:
Sensory Spectacle creates immersive learning environments to help parents, professionals and students gain a unique insight into how SPD may feel for them and learn through empathy how best to personalize support for someone with SPD. Our Being Ben experience is based on a common difficulty of filtering out unnecessary sounds, Lola’s World is based on a visual processing difficulty of fragmentation and Mehdiosmia is based on a boy who found the smell of washing detergent too overwhelming to change his clothes.
There are 3 ways someone’s sensory processing may be affected. They could have difficulties with the amount of information they are processing – familiar terms for this are know as seeking and avoiding characteristics. Other people may have difficulties with working out the location or intensity of a sensation. And the third way is through motor-based difficulties. Often covering ears, squinting eyes, licking things, throwing objects, bumping into things, constant movement and eating a small selection of foods are characteristics we may commonly recognize and these are all relating to modulation – the amount of information someone is processing.
Our bodies need a certain amount of sensation to feel ‘OK’. We are constantly regulating ourselves and telling ourselves we are ‘OK’ we might need to help support people with SPD to do this but these characteristics mentioned above are some ways they are already supporting themselves.
Learn loads of fun and practical ways to support children and adults with SPD with our SPECTACULAR Play and Support guides which you can find on our website shop.
Stay tuned tomorrow for our final part of the series from Becky’s piece on Sensory Processing and don’t forget to check out Sensory Spectacle at http://www.sensoryspectacle.co.uk/!
If you missed Part 1 of our 3 part series, click here.
This is a question I asked our speech therapist in the Spring of 2017. My daughter was a few months old at the time and if we were in the car when she started to cry, my son, ‘J’ would cry and tell me to help her. When he first did this, I thought it was endearing and a little heartbreaking as well. Although I don’t doubt that those things actually exist, I started to realize it might be more than that. I questioned it more when we were with my niece and if she would cry, ‘J’ would request to “go home” or “go to his room” so he could calm down. I questioned it when we were out to eat with his friend after a playdate and his friend cried because he wanted a toy car. ‘J’ once again would start to cry and ask to leave. One night while laying with him as he fell asleep, I started googling (always an interesting activity) and realized this might be more than just empathy.
As time went on, I noticed how often he seemed overwhelmed in various situations. I also gave it some time to see if it was a phase he had to grow out of. It wasn’t.
He was Woody from Toy Story for Halloween and the back of the costume had velcro. This was the first time he ever seemed bothered by clothing. From then on, he asks for tags to be cut out of his clothes. We visited a drive -thru Christmas light experience, which we thought he would love! As soon as we arrived, he took one look at the large guitar playing lit up snowman and lost it. It was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. I felt like I was watching him experience a real life nightmare.
I started reading more into Sensory Processing and my gut said to seek out an evaluation. With the upcoming holidays and a Disney trip on the horizon, I wanted to make this happen sooner rather than later. Luckily I was able to get the evaluation done before the New Year and before our trip. I started to make notes for the evaluator regarding my concerns and when I was done I had over two pages. I was surprised, but once I thought back to things in the past I had brushed off and the recent months of new experiences we had, there were more than a few red flags.
This week we were approved for Occupational Therapy (OT) twice a week. I’m so happy and can’t wait to start! Seeing how much he’s grown and progressed with speech, I knowbeing in OT and doing exercises at home will help him better process his surroundings.
In recent weeks I’ve done even more research, joined Facebook SPD Parent groups and just started reading ‘The Out of Sync Child’ that I ordered on Amazon. Knowledge is power, right?
Click here to check out a video posted on YouTube explaining Sensory Processing Disorder. The video was posted by MichaelGrass House.
Just My MomSense 