Today our COTA Jill helps us to understand our 8 senses, what they are, symptoms you might see in your child and activities to help provide input your child might be seeking.

Auditory system

This includes hearing, listening, interpreting, localizing sounds, and being able to filter and selectively attend to auditory stimuli.

Some symptoms of sensitivities include:

Sensitive to loud, sudden sounds

Distracted by background noises

Does not speak as well as others their age

Has a significant history of ear infections

Covers their ears often to block sound Asks others to repeat what they said

Has trouble with phonics and learning to read

Unusually high volume or low volume in their voice

Often seems to ignore parents or teachers

Some activity ideas include:

Use headphones or ear plugs to block out background noises

Simplify language when giving instructions to your child or in the classroom

Give a verbal or visual warning before loud sounds (like fire drills) to cover ears.

Try Therapeutic Listening programs (usually this involves specialized training and an Occupational Therapist to assess)

Include a rain stick in your sensory space or room

Musical instruments such as shakers or learning to play an instrument

Calming, soft music to encourage regulation and self-calming

Use a white noise machine, fan, etc.

Play clapping games

Visual system

The visual system includes using our eyes to see what is far or close to us. A typical person is able to use smooth and precise eye movements to scan and visually assess their environment.

Difficulties with the visual system can prevent a child from focusing and completing tasks. Visual sensitivities can affect acuity, ocular motor, visual motor, and visual perception.

Symptoms of sensitivities include:

Sensitive to sunlight or fluorescent lights

Overly distracted by classroom or home wall decorations

Poor hand-eye coordination

Difficulty tracking across a page while reading

Difficulty copying from chalkboard

Here are some activity ideas to work on these sensitivities:

Decrease wall decorations

Adjust lighting in classroom or home (cover fluorescent lights or turn them off and use natural light or lamps).

Use a table easel to bring working surface in a more upright position

Use a window guide and/or colored overlays for reading

Copy from page or book at close range instead of a chalkboard

Make sure screen and monitors at a proper height

Focus on eye-hand coordination activities such as playing catch

Gustatory system

More by the word taste or oral sensory system. Taste and smell or the olfactory system are very closely related.

If your child has taste sensitivities you notice some of the following symptoms:

Sensitive to brushing teeth (hypersensitive)

Sensitive to food textures (hypersensitive)

Mouthing non-food objects and exploring textures such as chewing on pencils, clothing etc. – this is age appropriate for young babies and toddlers.

Frequent drooling

Loves or has a strong fear of going to the dentist

Some activity ideas to help with these sensitivities include:

Chewing gum

Chewable jewelry or chewable tool/toy

Vibrating toothbrush

Drinking from a straw (sucking can be focusing and help with attention, especially thicker items like a smoothie or milkshake)

Creating tasting bottles of various safe items with scent or flavors (sweet, salty, sour etc)

Blowing bubbles

Exploring textures through sensory bins or messy sensory play

Blowing out candles

Drinking through a sports bottle

Touch

avoids messy hands, face, or just mess in general

unaware if hands or face are messy

has difficulty with certain clothing items such as tags. May avoid getting dressed or only wear certain types of clothing

needs to touch everything (brushing along walls while walking, picking up everything).

seeks out physical contact and touch

avoids hugs or physical contact with others

the need to fidget in order to focus or when bored

highly sensitive to temperature changes or may avoid or crave certain temperatures (hot or cold)

highly sensitive to small cuts or scrapes (low or high pain tolerance).

avoids self-care tasks such as brushing teeth, brushing hair, getting a haircut, or having nails trimmed

And here are some activity ideas to help with tactile sensitivities:

sensory bins with various textures

use weighted blankets or lap pads

play dough or finger painting

deep pressure either by rolling an exercise ball across the back or squeezing the hands

using a stress ball for hand squeezes or hand fidgets

put finger paint in a plastic bag and have them paint from outside the bag by moving the paint around in the bag with their fingers

use tag-less clothing

massage their scalp before haircuts (deep pressure scalp massage)

weighted vest at dentist or other anxiety inducing outings that include tactile input

shaving cream finger paint (write their names, copy shapes or letters/numbers)

Olfactory System

Our sense of smell. If you have a child with olfactory sensitivity, you may notice the following:

Overly sensitive to certain smells and avoids them

Limited diet (gagging or avoiding)

Explores objects by smelling

Craves certain smells or textures

Holds their nose to avoid smells, even if you don’t smell anything

Avoids foods most children their age enjoy

Here are some activity ideas to help with olfactory sensitivities:

Scented play dough, finger paints, or sensory doughs

Use scented markers or stickers

Create smelling bottles with various spices or items to introduce new smells

Use scented bubbles

Scented chewable items

Avoid scented soaps, lotions, perfumes and oils

Visit an herb garden

Proprioceptive System

Perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body. Symptoms of proprioceptive needs include:

Poor body awareness – knowing where their body or body parts are in space

Poor coordination – they move awkwardly or stiffly

Difficulty grading amount of pressure – using excessive force on an object (such as breaking a -pencil or crayon when writing or coloring or not enough pressure)

May push, hit, bite, or bang into other children

Avoid or crave jumping, crashing, pushing, pulling, bouncing or hanging

Chew on clothing or objects more than other children

Have to look at what they are doing (staring at their feet while walking or running)

Activities to help improve proprioception input can include:

Weighted lap pads or vests

Bean bag chair to sit in

Heavy work activities

Swimming

Karate

Climbing

Playing in a sandbox

Carry groceries

Wearing lycra

Chair push-ups

Dancing

Washing the car

Rolling a ball

Yoga Stretches

Pillow fights

Chewing bubble gum

Using the monkey bars at the playground

Interoception System

Interoception is the sense of knowing what is going on INSIDE our bodies.

Things such as feeling:

Hunger

Thirst

Tired

Feeling pain

Temperature (Feeling hot or cold etc)

Using the bathroom

Any other internal sensations

So what are some “signs” that a child may be struggling with interoception input?

Difficulty with toileting (bed wetting and accidents).

Unable to track hydration or food intake (never feel thirsty or hungry. Or may always feel thirsty or hungry).

Difficulty in recognizing and communicating internal body states or sensations (feeling hot/cold, pain etc).

Difficulty regulating emotions and feelings (not feeling they are angry before they verbally or physically lash out).

Distracted by internal sensory input such as hearing their heartbeat.

Unable to tell how loud their voice is in an environment. May use sound to cover up unwanted sensory stimuli.

There is not a lot of research yet, but here are some suggested activities to help:

Mindfulness activities

Yoga

Heavy work activities

Alerting activities

Repetitive and rhythmic vestibular input

Visual prompts and cues to identify and communicate emotions

Social stories

Jill Campbell COTA/L