A Sensory Diet
People with Sensory Integration difficulties benefit from a “Sensory Diet” – a selection from a variety of activities of different types, each day, to feed and regulate their central nervous system. Different people will need different activities based on their individual sensory needs – there is no “one size fits all” sensory diet.
We are just beginning this journey ourselves of exploring different activities that help the individuals in this house who have a sensory processing disorder. I hope to share some of the different activities we try on the blog each week (as I am able) to give others ideas of how they can help their sense-ational family members.
Most of the sensory activities I describe on our blog will be ones that can be done with household items, or things easily found at the grocery shop. There wont be $500 gizmos and $300 doo-dads, just simple materials that could be found in any home.
The first sensory activity I’d like to describe is so simple. We’ve all done it.
Water Play.
Water play can be soothing and relaxing, or exciting and invigorating. Some children will prefer to just put their hands in, while others want a full body experience. Sensory play will not achieve it’s objective if the child (or adult) is forced into it.
Water (in the First World anyway) is cheap, plentiful and accessible. It can be put in a bath, a pool, a sink, a tub, a cup… almost any sort of container.
In this instance, we used a pool and some water bomb balls. They are fabric-coated sponges that can be soaked and then thrown at people, eliminating some of the mess and fuss of traditional balloon style water bombs. They provide a texture to explore and a substance to experience. Of course, a clean kitchen sponge would work just as well for this if you don’t already have the water bomb sponges.
