Sensory Issues

This post was submitted by Carol Trillia, a Developmental Specialist with Davis Early Intervention.

Have you ever planned a trip to the children's museum with one of your friends who also has a toddler similar in age as yours?

In this next scenario you may find some similarities to what you have experienced.

You are excited to visit with your friend, you make it to the museum, as soon as you park your toddler starts to become upset, the parking garage is cold and echoes! You go up the stairs and now it is bright and hot!  By the time you make it in the door your child is really upset. You meet your friend and while you are in line, things really fall apart… your child is screaming on the floor,  you are desperately trying to pay and console at the same time….

You make it through the doors and things are now loud, shiny, smelly, and children are running all over. Your little one is now having a full fledged meltdown… You feel awful. Your  friend's little one toddles off enjoying all the chaos, while you are left trying to calm yours… So,  you pull out all your magic tricks; blankie, cup, snacks but  things get worse…  You try holding, cajoling, bribing, distracting all to no avail… so you apologize to your friend and head to the car, within 10 minutes he is singing "itsy bitsy spider"  in his seat! Now you are the one who wants to scream!

We have seven senses: Touch, Vision, Smell, Taste, Hearing, Proprioceptive  ( sensory receptor, found in muscles, tendons, joints, and the inner ear, 

that detects the motion or position of the body ) and Vestibular (balance: where the body is in regards to time and space).

Children with a disorganized sensory system, have a hard time regulating.

They become very agitated with very little.

Their sensory system is constantly being overloaded with information, and they have a hard time filtering out unimportant sensory information. Little things can be very overwhelming, such as light, smells, tastes, touch, noise, movement, etc.  Things that  normally don't bother children who don't have sensory issues, can become very devastating for a child with a Sensory  Issues.

If you know what things trigger your child's sensory overloads, you can work on minimizing exposure and concurrently work on desensitizing.

You can help your child,  by having him/her wear sun glasses or a hat, when it is bright. Ear muffs or sound canceling head phones if the environment is going to be loud.

Also plan short visits rather than long ones. (Be prepared to leave)

Park in a parking garage ,sit and wait a little,  get out slowly and if necessary get back in the car, talk about what you hear and see, take your time, let the child familiarize him/herself with the new surroundings..

If you are going to a store, make the visit short, have the child very involved in the shopping experience, be empathetic and talk about the experiences. Become hyper alert to all sensations, light, smells, temperature, sounds etc.

Keep in mind that simple things as fluorescent lighting can be very alerting and disrupting for your child's  fragile sensory system .

At home practice smelling, tasting, touching, swinging, etc . Prepare the child for an adventure.

"We are going to… and we are going to …"

If your child becomes upset, take a break, find a quiet place where the child can re-organize and relax… try again… if it doesn't work, you will have to leave and try another time…

Most children with hyper alert sensory systems have a hard time verbalizing what is bothering them. This is because,  there are a multitude of things that can be causing the overload, and pinpointing a  specific one  can be very challenging, especially for a toddler.

In order for your child to understand, what he/she is going through you need to help him/her figure out the problem. When you start to identify the triggers, label them "oh! it is too bright!", or "It is so loud!", etc. labeling and empathizing helps the child identify and later verbalize.  Once you and your child start to identify triggers, you can work on desensitizing, by talking about the trigger and finding ways to cope.  If  noise is a trigger, work on wearing ear muffs… Start at home, it will take a lot of practice before your child understands and accepts some sort of solution… Patience and a lot of sympathy are needed in order to help your child navigate this world that keeps bombarding him/ her with millions of sensations.