Life has been very busy this summer of 2013 and I am finally getting a moment of quiet to put up a new blog entry. Today's topic is one of sensation. Sensation is getting input through your senses. As a special educator, I have watched many students struggle with appropriate sensory input. As a mother, I have watched my own daughter deal with a high level of sensory need. She is what occupational therapists call a "sensory seeker." She is constantly seeking out ways to get more input into her senses. Even before she was born, my girl was a very active child. I thought it would be fun to share some of the activities that make my daughter her happiest.
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| Head in the mud while doing a back bend - good times. |
No sensory blog would be right if it didn't start with a sensory basic: mud. My daughter loves mud in a major way. A lot of kids today don't get the opportunity to play in the mud and I think this is just wrong. There is something about getting your hands or feet (or any other body part for that matter) all ooey gooey in the mud. I can't think of anything that can recreate the texture of 100% mud.
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| People pay big bucks for mud baths. |
People sometimes looks at me like I am crazy when it comes to how much mud I allow my girl to get into (literally, "into"). When you see how happy it makes my sensory seeker, you may just want to let your kids loose with a hose and a bare patch of ground. No shovel necessary.
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| Happiness is being buried in mud - according to my daughter. |
A second activity that she just adores is swimming. We were at a friends house for a BBQ and we decided to time how long she would stay in the water without a break. Three hours was the tally. She just loves the resistance the water provides and the feeling of weightlessness. On a weekly basis, my daughter swims for at least 6 hours. She would do a lot more if I could get her to a pool more often.
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| Smiley girl!! |
Anything to do with water is a happy activity. She loves finding creatures and slimy bits in any body of water. The beach is one of her favorite places since she gets both water and sand (another great sensory input tool).
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| Cold tide pools - great fun since it hits so many sensory areas: balance, temperature, water, and huge variety of textures. |
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| I call this picture "Bliss." |
In August we started her in gymnastics. My girl does 6 hours of gymnastics each week. Being upside down, jumping, spinning around a bar, standing on hands, etc are all great sensory input activities. I was worried when she started attending three hour practices that it would be too much since she is pretty young. But with the high level of sensory seeking she does, it is no problem. She does hand stands and cartwheels all day, every day anyway so why not be in the gym?
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| Bars are her favorite gymnastics activity, think of all the input her arms and shoulders are getting. |
I guess the purpose of me sharing of this is to encourage my fellow parents to identify if they have a sensory seeking child. If so, try to harness that need into acceptable activities. I know that when we try to stop her from moving, bad things happen. She can get angry, defiant, and down right not pleasant to be around. So we make a call. We find ways to give her as much physical input as we can to try to meet her sensory need. This allows our family to have a more smooth existence. Our home is by no means peaceful since she is moving or jumping all the time but at least it keeps her happy!!
