Hi Everyone,

Following  last week’s blog about smell it seems logical to move onto taste as the two sensory systems are so intertwined.  As we all know it can be hard to taste if we have a reduced sense of smell, for example if we hold our nose or have a cold it is difficult or impossible to taste properly. Our mouths have lots of sensory receptors, both tactile and taste, and as result are an excellent ‘tool’ for exploring and learning about the world around us.  By putting an object in our mouth we receive information about smell, taste, texture and temperature.  This also means for children with hypersensitivity in certain sensory systems daily tasks such as eating and brushing teeth can be very challenging:

On our tongue we have different taste bud receptors for sour, sweet, salty, umami (meaty) and bitter. The tactile receptors on our tongue gives us information about the texture (crunchy, dry, smooth, wet) and temperature of food.

I have included a link to a brilliant clip about taste and smell, which explains why children are more sensitive to strong taste than adults.

Some children may have strict ‘rules’ around what they eat, or a very short list of food they enjoy.   Other children might seek out non food substances to eat such as sand and dirt. This may be because they are seeking strong tastes (hyposensitive to taste) or even because they are trying to stimulate their tactile receptors in the mouth (hyposensitive to touch).  *[Pica is an appetite for non food items ]

Food and eating can be a very emotive and stressful subject for parents and families.

A fun way to explore your child’s reaction to different tastes and textures is sensory food sessions.  At school these are sessions where we can gather information about preference of taste and texture, hypo and hypersensitivity to temperature, taste and texture and this information can help us to encourage sensory exploration of different foods and ingredients.  At Hillside we explore food during weekly cookery sessions, when pupils are encouraged to investigate ingredients using their senses. Staff use their observations and consult with parents and our wonderful school cooks, and where appropriate Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists to build individual eating and drinking profile for our pupils.  With the information we have gathered we can begin to build some sessions to incorporate sensory preferences and begin to try to increase the range of foods the young person will accept.

At Hillside we encourage the pupils to use their senses to explore food, I have attached some visuals if you would like to try using them as a prompt at home.

look smell touch taste

Below I have included a selection of different sensory food activities you could enjoy with your child at home.  If you would like any of these in printed form please contact the school or email me directly at lindsey.robertson1@eastayrshire.org.uk.  Alternatively if you would like visuals to support sensory food exploration tailored to the specific preferences of your child contact me and when can create something around your child’s needs.

Edible Chocolate Slime Recipe

sensory food sessions

• Pica is an appetite for non food items which may in part be caused by seeking the feeling of eating certain non-food items, but there can be other developmental or nutritional reasons behind Pica.  I have included a link to a website that explains Pica in more detail for your information: https://thechildpsychologyservice.co.uk/advice-strategy/pica/

 

 

 

 

This week we are moving on from focusing on our sense of touch, to think in more detail about our sense of smell (our olfactory sense). As I mentioned before, behaviour we observe in our children can often be linked to more than one sense (multi sensory), as all our senses are very closely linked.  With some observation, thought and discussion we can begin to pin point the sensory needs of our children more accurately.  This YouTube link to Sensory Spectacle focuses in on this point and explains its relation to the sense of smell:

Our sense of smell is really closely related to our emotions, as the information from this sense is taken to the same part of the brain that controls our emotions. I’m sure that makes perfect sense to you all…most of us will have experience of a  smell can ‘transporting’ us to another place and time. This can produce overwhelming feelings of nostalgia, happiness, sadness and fear.  We should always remember how powerful and emotive smell can be.

For individuals who are hypersensitive to smell (they avoid certain smells) you may see extreme responses to even faint smells, e.g. becoming very upset, running away, gagging.  It is important to remember your perfume, shower gel, shampoo or even the smell of washing powder from your clothes, could elicit an extreme response from someone who is hypersensitive to smell.

On the other hand, people who are hyposensitive to smell might seek out very strong smells, even smells that might be dangerous or perceived as unpleasant such as petrol or faeces.  By offering access to safer and more acceptable alternative strong smells it is possible to reduce the seeking of these less desirable ones.

I have included a couple of links to lovely, fun, olfactory sensory activities.  You should only really work with around two or three smells per session as your nose becomes overpowered by too many smells at one time.

If you have any essential oils you could pop a couple of drops on a cotton wool ball and place it in an empty bottle and let your child smell.  You could also use essence/oil used for baking, for example, peppermint or vanilla.  Alternatively you could even use some ‘smells’ from around your house e.g. a spray of mummy’s perfume on cotton wool (or on a scarf), a lemon wedge, crushed garlic, cloves, some rosemary from the garden.  An extension to this activity could be doubling the jars of scents and the child has to match like with like, or you could even have a visual for the child to match to the smell. This could be real object to smell or picture/symbol to smell matching.  Start with the light smells first building to the stronger ones, giving the child time to register and process the smell.  Watch carefully for responses to smells.

This activity below is not only a lovely olfactory activity, it will be visually stimulating and if you wish to get your hands in there it will be lovely and tactile too!

Homemade paint recipe with spices

The final activity I have chosen this week would be fun, hassle and mess free for a day when you just want to escape the house and be at one with nature.  Why not print the board below and go outside to the garden and explore some garden herbs…you could do this at the start or end of a lovely family walk. Explore the smells and if appropriate for your child, they could match the herb to the picture board.

Herbs

I have again included some simple symbols your child will use at Hillside to express their likes and dislikes.  If you would like any resources sent home in packs or hard copies of the Boardmaker symbols please email me lindsey.robertson1@eastayrshire.org.uk or phone the school.

like don’t like yes no

Please share any pictures of your activities via our Facebook page. Have a great week and stay safe.

Lindsey

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.

making-treasure-baskets

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.

A HUGE List of Sensory Bins and Bags for Kids

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.

like don’t like yes no

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