Sensory Diet

My 3 year old son has been in Early Intervention for a year now, he's aging out next week. He has mild developmental delays, significant speech delay and sensory processing issues. He had OT, DT, ST therapies and they did help but what really helped him was a social interaction group, 3 times a week for 2 hours a day, where he was with a few other kids, following directions, learning to focus when read to, singing, playing in the gym (for sensory). An OT and an ST were always present. He will be starting Pre-K in September and he is better prepared. Here is a Sensory Diet I received from my OT to help my son at home, maybe you can get some ideas from the list.

SENSORY DIET

Tactile/Proprioceptive System:

· Shaving Cream:

Search for/hide objects within small container

Use cream while taking a bath/shower

Form letters/shapes/pictures in cream

Use cream in pretend play (as food, as soap for giving animals a bath, washing cars)

· Rub different textures on your child’s skin (lotion, cream, paint, soap, water, etc)

· Rice/Beans:

Search for/hide objects within rice/beans inside a container

Form letters/shapes/pictures in rice/beans

Have large bucket of beans, and let your child sit in them. Pour beans on his body as he allows you too, or have him do it himself.

Baking Cookies: roll, flatter, mix with hands, add chocolate chips for extra tactile input
Play Doh/Putty:
Use play doh to form different objects and characters. Pretend to make cookies, using cookie cutters to press and make a shape. Add jewels to them as chocolate chips.

Form balls out of play doh, or flatten them like a pancake.

· Play tug-of-war

Fine Motor Activities:

Push/pull activities—pop beads for small finger manipulation, pushing and pulling
Squeezing play doh or putty, make shapes, hide objects inside
Push pins/clips
Form lines/designs/letters in shaving cream or sand using fingers or other utensils
String large beads on a bracelet
Bake cookies—knead doh, use rolling pin to flatten doh, form small balls of cookies with palms and fingers
Using thumb and pointer finger, separate M&Ms, skittles, jelly beans by color. Place in separate cups or napkins
Place coins in a piggy bank

hi-
if you would like to learn more about sensory diets you can read the following handout. It was written by a group of OTs who looked at all the research on the topic and made recommendations:
http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/assets/0/78/1067/2709/...

Sarah G is correct that sensory diets are structured, individualized activities that occur throughout the day. If the therapist provides a list of activities only without helping to incorporate it throughout the "key events" of the day (e.g. wake up, meal time, running errands, bed time, free play time, etc) then the OT is providing "sensory snacks" and not a sensory diet.

It takes time to initially to work on changing your typical routine in order to have your child participate in the sensory diet and to figure out the correct activities for your child (every child is different). However of the parents that were committed with following though I/the parents have seen improvements/ There is of course the chance that it may not help but typically the reason for that is that your child may not be participating in to correct activities (correct amount of time, duration, intensity of activity).

Hope that helps. Please feel free to IM me if you have any other questions.

Sensory Diets are and should be very individualized. What works for one may or may not be the right idea for another. Progress is also varied greatly, depending on the child, the degree of delay, the amount and quality of follow-through at home, and a variety of other factors. If you have already seen dramatic improvement, I would expect this general trend, though sometimes one area imrpoves quickly and others more slowly. If he needs it, do it. It will help.

Hello,

My little one has some sensory issues too. We are also getting OT and speech through our early intervention program. I have gotten a few books from our library about sensory processing disorders and they have talked about sensory diets. Your OT will work to devise a sensory diet specific to your childs needs. The book that I liked most, I ended up purchasing...you can get it off of Amazon.

It is title "The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun." Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol Stock Kranowitz. The ISBN# is 978-0-399-53271-9

The book gives you all sorts of activities that you can do with your child, lists any supplies you may need (most are items in your home), gives a developmental age range that the activity is geared for, and tells you what the benefits of the activity are. I HIGHLY recommend this book...our therapist is the one that told me about it.

I've read in a few places that the benefits of doing activities like these with children that have sensory disorders is defnitely great. They also mention that not doing activities like these to help your child process these things can make things more difficult and challenging for them in the future. I already see the frustration and anxiety my daughter has with her sensory issues, and I don't want that to interfere with future learning.

I hope the info I shared helps a bit. I think the book is great and do wish you and your son the best :)