Sensory Over-responsive
Your child may be sensory over-responsive. This means that he or she may have trouble filtering out excess sensations, and the amount of stimulus usually needed to activate a certain response may be perceived by your child as too much. Some people call this type of sensory processing "sensation avoidant" because many times kids learn to avoid sensations in order to control the negative responses that come with too much sensation. A child can be over-responsive in one sense and display a different pattern in another sense. A child can also be over-responsive one day and display a different pattern in the same sense another day. For over-responders, Calming Tactile, Proprioception, and Calming Vestibular activities can be very helpful. Follow the links below for more regulating activities to try with your child.
Visual
If your child appears...
- averse to harsh lighting; distracted by visual stimuli; overwhelmed by colors or visual textures; picky about appearance; to enjoy dark
- to see things others don’t or to require less time to locate objects visually
- to frequently rub eyes, yawn, cover or close eyes, gag at the sight of certain objects, or look away
Auditory
If your child appears...
- intolerant of echoing or ambient noises; easily distracted or overwhelmed by environmental noises; averse to or startled by sudden or loud noises
- to express feeling afraid of, sickened by, or angered by the sounds made by others
- unable to filter out noises
- to vocalize to drown out disturbing sounds
Olfactory
If your child appears...
- averse to scented soaps, shampoos, or lotions; intolerant of certain odors; to notice smells others don’t
- to frequently gag around certain smells; adamant about not going to certain rooms, stores, homes, or public places
- to avoid specific individuals with specific scents; to be distracted by smells or "shut down"
Gustatory
If your child appears...
- show a strong preference for specific tastes (bland, sweet, salty, meaty); to frequently gag on certain foods
- to have difficulty with oral hygiene or to complain about the taste of mouthwash, toothpaste, or floss
- to have difficulty taking medicine orally
If your child appears...
- unable to tolerate or averse to certain fabrics or textures; very sensitive to temperature
- to have an overactive gag reflex or to have difficulty manipulating certain foods in the mouth; to have difficulty touching or interacting with objects of specific textures or temperatures inside the mouth
- to avoid being tickled or touched
If your child appears...
- to resist moving or stretching muscles; to have rigid or robotic movements; to need to close eyes during movements; to be averse to others moving his or her body passively
- to have difficulty swallowing, tire easily when chewing, or chew excessively
- to not expend enough energy during the day; to prefer sedentary activities
Vestibular
If your child appears...
- to demonstrate a fear of heights or gravitational insecurity; to resist movement, especially spinning, dropping, or inversion
- to experience nausea, dizziness, or headache with sudden or prolonged movement of the head or vibration
Interoception
If your child appears...
- to feel urgency when needing to use the bathroom
- to demonstrate decreased appetite or intense hunger or thirst