Hi Everyone,
I hope some of you enjoyed making and exploring some sensory playdough together last week. This week I am going to give you a little bit more information on the 8 human senses and share a few more touch focused activities before moving onto a different sensory system focus next week.
Following on from the link in last week’s blog to an ‘Introduction to Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)’ by Becky Liddon, founder of ‘Sensory Spectacle’, I thought I would include the link below which provides some insight as to why some children or adults may find it difficult to wear certain clothes. I know this can be an issue for many of our young people and can be as a result of sensory integration issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWlkSxCBFAg
Humans have eight senses, which might come as a surprise as we are generally taught the five senses: taste, touch (tactile), smell (olfactory), vision and hearing (auditory). However we also have: proprioception, that is the sense of our body position in space, we get lots of this sensory information from our joints; vestibular, that is related to body position and movement, and the information relating to this sense is gathered from the inner ear; interoception, that is a sense which helps you feel and understand what is going on inside your body, examples of this would include recognising you are hungry, full, thirsty, hot or cold.
Some of our pupils may be extremely sensitive, or hypersensitive, to some sensory input. These pupils will try to avoid or minimise that sensory input, for example covering their ears when they are in a room with others if they are sensitive to sound.
Some of our pupils may be hyposensitive to some sensory input, which means they will seek lots of it, for example someone who loves to rock, or spin may be hyposensitive to vestibular input and therefore seek a lot of input through big exaggerated movements.
Touch is so important in the development of emotions. Loving, safe touch provides a sense of security and affects our personality are we grow and develop. A nice idea is to collect some items from around your house for ‘massage’ on the skin of the hands, arms or feet. For example you could collect a sponge, a loofah, a paint brush, a clean feather, satin or silky material and a body brush. Try exploring massage with these on the skin, and gauge your child’s reaction. They may prefer some sensations to others, they may like firm touch rather than light or vice versa. This might give you ideas about other objects to include in a ‘massage’ pamper session. To finish off you could get some nice body lotion or baby oil and give your child a hand or foot massage.
Below is a link to sensory treasure baskets with some good information and advice on how to create one for your child’s needs.
Below is another link to a sensory box guessing game. Children can explore items using their sense of touch. This is lovely game to support language development in your child too. You could give them a visual choice of what they think they can feel, e.g. is it a banana or an apple?’. Brothers and sisters might enjoy getting in on this too.
Finally, I have included some simple large boardmaker symbols in the link below that you could use to allow you child to communicate likes and dislikes and offer a yes or no choice during touch activities.
Please remember if you have any questions, require any support or would like help to source any materials or print outs my email address is lindsey.robertson1@eastayrshire.org.uk or alternatively you can contact the school directly.
Have a great week,
Lindsey
