Our Favorite Sensory Diet Ingredients

Around age 2 both girls were diagnosed with Sensory Processing Dysfunction. Abby has always been a sensory seeker of the highest proportion. We always thought that as time went on it might be reduced, but that has not been the case. On the other hand, Grace tended to be more of a sensory avoider. As she has gotten older she does MUCH better with texture and even crazes it to some degree. 

What has always astonished me is how much better both girls function when we pay attention to their sensory diet needs. I thought I would put together a list of some of the items that are must haves on our sensory diet list. 

The Gymnic Movin' Sit Inflatable Seat: This little powerhouse has been sat upon by almost every hynie in the house. I must admit on particularly hyper days even I can be found swaying to and from to keep my attention level up. Abby get a lot of input from the dimples, but Grace and I enjoy the ability to move while you sit. Costs just over $30 so a great buy. 

 

Z-Vibe: Although the Z vibe finally died in our house after 6 years of use, it is a great tool for kids whose sensory needs involve the mouth. For us, that was both girls. Abby used to stuff her mouth and her OT suggested that we use this to give her input before she ate. It did a great job at minimizing stuffing and creating feeding awareness. Grace avoided certain textures so we tried this before she ate things she usually avoided. It helped us get her to eat yogurt and smoothies, but she still won't eat anything with lumps like oatmeal. 

 

Chewy Necklaces: At nine years old I still often find Abby wearing one of her many chewy necklaces. They beat the heck out of fingernails or sleeves for kids who look for input by chewing.  

Chewy Tubes: In that same vain we have an entire bin (I kid you not, a bin) of various chewy tubes that have been collected over the years. Abby's absolute favorite are the P's and Q's, probably because I can attach them to a necklace.  They are inexperience and can be thrown in the dishwasher to keep clean. 

Raising A Sensory Smart Child: This book was just about heaven-sent to a Mom who had never heard of SPD before the day both of her kids were diagnosed with it. There is a book and a cool guide to activities, both of which I loved and used frequently. I highly recommend you invest in both!

Weighted Blankets: Abby has always been a terrible sleeper. When her OT suggested a weighted blanket it almost sounded like a form of child abuse. Little did I know this well known sensory secret is a must for sensory kids who struggle to sleep. Both girls used them from about 3 until 6. Abby continued to use hers until she outgrew it last year. That being said I am considering buying a larger one for her to use now. 

Please excuse the shameless Amazon plug here, but that is truly where we ordered all of our sensory products. There are some great companies out there selling awesome products but when buying for two kids with two different kinds of needs Amazon fit our budget. 

Valentines Day Craft

For each holiday the girls and I like to make a craft for their gift to all the family members. In the past we have done really simple stuff but as the girls get older we can have more fun with it. I was reading the Disney Family Fun Magazine (and they always have the most amazing craft ideas for each holiday) and saw a fun craft that was close to "our speed". It involved making cornstarch glue which was a bust for us. So we changed out good old elmers instead of cornstarch glue.

Basically you put heart shaped cookie cutters on wax paper. You then dip pre-cut yarn into glue, pull off the excess, and place the yarn in the cookie cutter shape. After we were done we lifted the cutter (did a little repositioning) and let air dry for 24 hours. They turned out adorable and we all had fun with it. It ended up being a great OT experience since it was technically "messy play".



This was Abby's color scheme choice:


And here is Grace's:


I think they turned out adorable!

Brushing

Yesterday was my meeting at school with Abby's OT to talk about what direction we need to take next. It was supposed to be a 15 minute training but as is always the case with our outstanding OT it was over an hour. I think she and I could be friends if we had met under different circumstances. Anyway, I digress.

Sp, our OT trained me on how to use a very specialized brushing technique (The Wilbarger Protocol) that we are hoping might help her. (I posted about it on Abby's blog.) We have to brush, use joint compressions and give oral input every two hours during the hours that she is awake.

It would be outstanding if this made as big a difference as some people see with SPD kids. We need something to change at this point.

I remember when we first talked about "brushing" for the girls. I remember my first thought... "isn't brushing for REALLY screwed up kids?" Nice, huh? And here I am. Brushing my kid every two hours around the clock (except, thankfully, sleeping hours). Who ever thought I would end up here. It's funny how your preconceived notions can something come back to bite you in the bum.

God sure must have one wry sense of humor. :D

Our Time Timer

I thought it would be a good time to get back to my posts about how we are dealing with the girls sensory processing issues. The holidays do not do good things for children who have trouble with changes in schedule. The past few weeks have been tough. Between my hand surgery, Christmas, time off from school, etc. the girls have been so out of sorts. Not sleeping well, not eating well, tons of meltdowns... rough!

We have been working with their OT at school to come up with some "fixes". One that she recommended that I am loving is our Time Timer. We set it for things like getting ready for school, time before dinner, time til bed or basically any transition (which is something grace struggles with). In the mornings if they are ready before the bell dings they get a gummy tummy (vegan, organic fruit chews from trader joe's).

So far it has been a huge help. I highly recommend it to any parent who loves being on schedule. :D

Night sensory diet

Because we are having such extremes of behaviors lately our OT has suggested a new night time sensory diet. We have never had to have a big "to do" at night but it looks like we are there. It is a lot (about an hour) but if it minimizes the 45 minute tantrums it will be worth the extra 15 minutes. Here is what the new OT has outlined for us:

- A hot bubble bath. As hot as they will tolerate without burning them. In the bath they will chew on chewy tubes, blow bubbles, blow whistles and other forms of oral input.

- Use scented bubble bath on a loofah.

- After bath we will dry them (using a rough stroke) with an air dried towel (a little stiffer than dryer dried). That will be followed up with scented lotion to apply in a form massage type fashion.

- After bath they are to be put in tight fitting pajamas.

- We will then do 15 minutes of rough play. This part seemed counter intuitive to me but the explanation had me buying it.

- We follow up rough play with some squishes, hugs and compressions.

- After rough play is a snack and drink. This is when we turn the lights down and turn off the TV.

- Next are a couple of books and then bed. The hope is that it will minimize tantrums and help with sleep.

I'll post an update when we have tried it a couple of days. The OT assured us that if it is going to work it should be within a couple of days.

Meltdowns and other insanity

Life with school in the picture has it's ups and downs. It is wonderful to have a couple of hours a day to work, do housework and run errands. Especially since I am now working with one hand it takes me longer to do everything. That part is a huge blessing. The down side is the chaos it brings... mostly for Grace. She has a VERY hard time with change. We tackled the general change of going to school. But now we are dealing with the daily changes. Some days are school days, some are not. Some days are therapy, some days are not. Some days she stays in the classroom all day, some days she gets pull out therapy. It is hard for her. She hates the unexpected.

I know lots of kids have trouble with this but kids with sensory processing problems have so many problems with trying to handle this. This past week Grace had an hour long screaming fit (and I mean, screaming, gagging, hitting, pounding, etc.). When I asked her what was wrong she simply screamed I CAN'T CALM DOWN. It was heart wrenching. We are trying to keep up with her brushing, joint compressions and other sensory diet pieces but it is barely touching her needs. We are all hoping (including her new OT) that time will help this. So in the meantime we are trying to keep her environment calm and keep her as "organized" as we can. It is just so hard to see her struggle so much.

Bye, Bye OT

Today is our final session of OT. Like Cathy, Nicole came into our home and quickly became a part of our family. The girls simply adore her and she has been an amazing support for me. She has a son with special needs and much of his problems are motoric like Abby so she has a special place in Nicole's heart. The work that she has done to get Grace on track has been truly amazing. While I am sure we will still see Nicole regularly it is still sad that she won't be here every Thursday morning for a couple hours. We will really, really miss her.

Bye, Bye Speech

Sadly, today was our very last speech session with Cathy. There are not enough kind words to say about Cathy. She took Grace from a child who, a year ago, did little more than gesture and sign to a child with an entire vocabulary. The transformation has been amazing. Cathy came into our home, fit in like a family member and loved my children. While we are glad to get a therapy break until September we are VERY sad to see her go.

And only one more OT session to go too...

Product Updates

I have proposed several therapy ideas lately and I thought it would be nice to update on what we are liking and what has lost it's draw.

First the behavior charts. They worked fantastically in the beginning. They were motivating, they were helpful and they definitely encourage better behavior. Problem is that once it became part of the routine it was much less motivating. I can't say it doesn't work at all but the first couple of weeks were much better than now (a couple months later). I do think for older kids who would have a better understanding of the abstract concept it would work better.

Settle Down Monkey - We are still in love with Settle. He comes with us everywhere just in case Grace "needs him." I think we might be investing in a settle down bear for Abby.

The scent inhalers - Oh, the beautiful scent inhalers. Not only do the work amazingly but the woman who sells them is angelic. She sent me a sample pack to try and give out to our friends FREE OF CHARGE. How amazing is that! I am going to try to arrange a giveaway here on my blog so some other families will get to try them for free. Details will be upcoming!

Settle Down Monkey

In my search last week for the scent inhaler I came across another very cool invention. It looks like any regular stuffed monkey which is a victory unto itself. But this monkey is very, very special for a kid like Grace (who needs tons of input to be organized). This monkey is infused with aromatherapy oils, and not the stinky gross kind. Rather this is eucalyptus that smells like an expensive spa. The next great thing is it has a bean bag in a velcro pouch that holds this scent. You can remove the pouch, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and the monkey is warm and smells extra wonderful. The last wonderful feature is that the bean bag pouch adds a little extra weight which is a huge plus.

I found this wonderful invention on amazon for a very reasonable price (I think it was like $19 with shipping). Here is the link to find it: For the best stuffed animal money can buy click here. :D We decided to name Grace's monkey "Settle Down Monkey". He has come in very handy over the past couple days for wild moments.

Poppers

One of the girls favorite new "toys" are packing poppers. You know, those sheets of air filled plastic that make that lovely pop sound when you pinch them. For kids who crave sensory input they are a sensory wonderland. Pinch them, squish them, stomp on them, jump on them... whatever you like. I have been getting it for about $3.50 a roll at Target and then I just use the already popped sheets to wrap things for shipping or at home. (That way we minimize our waste.)

Scent Inhalers

Recently one of Gracie's biggest sensory obsessions has become smell. She loves certain smells and hates others. She loves the smell of Wet Ones brand wipes so she will carry one around with her and smell it. Weird, I know. I decided to do a little looking around for a more appropriate outlet for her olfactory obsession.

On Amazon I stumbled across this scent inhaler. At only $6.00 per inhaler it is a great deal. I just got the inhaler today and it is wonderful. The smell is so nice. It is small and compact so I can take it with us when we go out. To put the cherry on top there was a wonderful hand written note from the seller thanking me for my business AND a sample of a lovely hand soap. Wonderful! I definitely give it a thumbs up and will be ordering more for my kiddos and even myself.

You can find the amazon store here: Natural Sundae

Exercise Bands

Here is another one of our OT strategies:

We call this "going fishing". We bought those stretchy exercise bands that you can get from a sporting goods store or even Target or Walmart. When Gracie seems like she needs some input (running around, climbing, or generally out of control) we get out the bands and tell her it's time to go fishing. We have to fling the band around her while she is rocking back and forth and if we "catch her" we have to real her in while she tries to get away. She tries to keep us from pulling her in with the bands while we gently pull her towards us.

You can also make up lots of other games with these bands. We do tug of war, we stretch them with our arms and legs, you can wrap them around some stable and pull them. They are cheap and a lot of fun.

Our Favorite Therapy Catalogs

There are a ton of therapy product catalogs out there. I have ordered so many I can't even remember them all. As most of you who buy therapy equipment and toys know these things can be super expensive. We have found that some local stores have some things we need but not everything. For the specialty things we need we have a few favorite catalogs:

Therapro

Fun and Function

Southpaw Enterprises

Pocket Full of Therapy

Therapy Putty

One of our favorite tools for both girls is something super simple, therapy putty. We get ours locally but you can order it through a catalog like Therapro or Fun and Function. There are so many things you can do with it. You can use it like playdough and roll and shape it. You can cut it with scissors. Both of my kids favorite thing is when we hide beads or small toys in the putty and they have to find it. The putty is much harder to maneuver than playdough so it helps with increasing hand strength (one of Abby's goals).

You can also cover their hand (finger or foot) with the putty and let them feel the difference between heavy and light. This is especially good for kids with vestibular awareness issues (both of my kiddos).

The only thing that I note is the putty is stringy. You will probably want to play with it at the table or someplace free of fabric.

Get the Hair off

Here is another strategy from that awesome book, The Out of Sync Kid Has Fun (have you gotten the hint and bought this thing yet??? ;D). Gracie has a problem with hair that falls out of her head (or mine or Abby's) and lands on her. She will swear the hair is still there even if I find it and remove it. So what we do now when she gets anything on her; hair, dirt, stickies, etc. is take our hands and "rub away the hair". We pull down her arms and legs and back. We wring out our hands and wiggle them so the hair goes away. We have her wiggle out her arms to remove any little bits that are left. By rubbing down her arms and legs she is getting good input while also getting her mind off the hair.

We have used this when she is wigged out over bugs, anything sticky, dirt and cobwebs. It is a great "trick".

Playdough

Anyone who has a sensory kid knows that playdough is a mother (and fathers) best friend. There is nothing more therapeutic that squishing and squeezing playdough. We have learned, with the help of our awesome OT, that you can do a lot with it. Here are a few of our girls favorites:

- Roll into "sausages" or "spaghetti" and cut with plastic scissors.
- Use stamps to make impressions.
- Use cookie cutters for shapes.
- Hide small toys inside and have your kid peal it apart and find the toys.
- Mix two colors and see what happens (this is great squishing and squeezing).
- Roll different size balls and compare. Then when you're done squish them all down flat.

Abby is more of a sensory avoider so we sometimes will cover her whole hand or foot in the dough and have her wiggle and peal it off.

Should we even bother

One of the common questions in our house when talking about whether to go somewhere or find something to do is "should we even bother". It sounds very apathetic and downright lazy but it isn't a simple as it sounds. When trying to think of a place to eat... if we go somewhere too quiet the girls will be a disturbance. If we go someplace loud Grace will likely be completely overstimulated and have a meltdown. If we are thinking of going to a park... we can't go if it's windy or too bright, Gracie can't handle it. We can't go anywhere that doesn't make considerations for kids with developmental delays or Abby won't be able to play. If we are thinking of going to a store... we have to make sure it won't be too crowded or loud so Gracie doesn't get overstimmed. If we are invited to a party or event we have to make sure there are places we can take the girls to settle periodically.

Our life is full of a series of these weights and balances. We want our children to have a "normal" life. We want them to experience things. It just isn't as simple as needing to run and errand and running it. I know that parents of other "sensory" kids know exactly what I am talking about but many parents of typical kids don't. They see you taking your child out of a birthday party when they start flapping or spinning and think you're overindulgent or your kid is manipulative. They know that your kid isn't autistic so they figure the flapping is for attention. What people don't realize is every single part of the day for a child with problems regulating their sensory system is a chore. They don't transition well from one activity to the next. Asking them to get off the sofa and come eat lunch is like asking them to walk on hot coals to do so. Bright light is blinding. Wind is painful. Smells are overpowering. Things touching your skin hurts you. It isn't easy.

So how do you balance this with trying to lead a "normal" life??? That seems to be the question. I'd like to say that most days we can handle it. We bring chewy tubes and squishy balls and make it work. We pick and choose our times and places very carefully. We have a system for taking out a flapping child BEFORE the meltdown happens. It is just one more thing on the long To Do List of being a parent.

Body Sock

I have talked in the past about our body sock (like this one). Our amazing OT gave it to us many, many months ago and we couldn't live without it. There is so much you can do with a body sock.

- Swing your child in the sock.
- Drag them around on the floor.
- Do light rough-housing. Roll them, shake them, move them.
- Let them put heavy stuff in it and pull it around.
- Use it to play tug-of-war (remember they are stretchy).
- Have two adults hold the sock and really swing them.
- Use it for compression. Put them in it and pull it tight to their body (it is breathable but watch the face).

I think it looks a little claustrophobic but both of my kiddos seem to love it.

Cheap OT solutions

When you are dealing with a kid with sensory issues you can spend hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars buying fancy equipment geared towards sensory needs. I can attest to this as I spend that much each year meeting the girls needs. That being said there is a lot you can do on a budget with OT needs. Here are some of our cheap finds:

- Playdough (duh! :D)

- At Target we bought oven liners (large, throw-away aluminum sheets). We use them for all messy activities; things like playing in wet sand, smooshing finger paints, playing in applesauce or pudding, etc. Anything tactile is huge for my kids.

- Plastic scissors and a piece of paper. Gracie could cut paper for hours on end and we get her scissors at the dollar store.

- A hand held hole puncher. With a little supervision you can punch holes in paper and the squeezing and gripping is awesome input.

- A sleeping bag. You can use it like a body sock. You can use it like a tunnel. You can pull your child around in it. They can be a ton of fun, awesome OT and you probably own one.

- Swings at the park. Many sensory kids (not all) love the feeling of swinging. Abby could swing for hours straight and feel so integrated afterward.

- A plastic bag full of finger paint, applesauce or any mooshy food. They can squish and squeeze until their hearts content. We life to put a few different shaped beads in the bag (before sealing the end with duct tape) so they can find the shapes and move them around. You can also do different colored finger paints and let them squish until the two make a new color.

- A bag of rice. A kid like gracie needs A LOT of heavy work. You can pull it, push it, carry it or throw it and not break it.

- A sturdy blanket. If you have two strongish adults you can each hold half of the blanket, put your kid in the middle and have a make shift swing. This is one of Gracie's favorite.

- A box. Need I say more. What kid doesn't love a box.

- A laundry basket. Fill it with anything heavy and let your kid push around the house. Instant heavy work.

- If you get creative enough almost anything can be therapeutic.