Sensory diet?

What comes to mind for you when you hear this phrase ‘sensory diet’? For some it might mean an image of ‘an apple wearing a headphone!’

A sensory diet despite the name, is not an actual diet but more an analogy. It is using different activities (the ingredients) to help a child who is under stimulated or overstimulated child get into a ‘sweet spot’ between calm and alert(a balanced diet). This sweetspot will then allow to the child to focus in a school environment.

There is no definitive way of reaching this ‘sweet spot’ and this is dependent on whether :

The child is overstimulated e.g ADHD

The child is under stimulated e.g ASD

The child is both overstimulated and understimulated depending on the environment

There is no identifiable answer as to the cause but studies and experiments have found, if a child with sensory processing problems is simultaneously exposed to light and sound can result in abnormal brain activities. This in turn can lead to a child having problems with receiving and responding to information coming through their senses. Therefore the main aim of a sensory diet is to help kids, who are normally not good at certain activities and helping them to overcome what they can’t tolerate.

When dealing with a child with sensory processing problems you may want to look at whether the student needs more movement or less auditory input.Many students will benefit but no one strategy is necessary better than the other. Therefore assessments can be done through observations in different situations.

So what do people who work with children displaying sensory processing problems have to look out for ? Well this can be divided into 5 categories:

Tactile- A child could be under sensitive or overly sensitive to touch or temperature  

Visual- A child could be under sensitive or overly sensitive to visual stimulation e.g lighting

Auditory- A child may be over sensitive to loud noises

Oral-motor- A child is over sensitive to taste and smells

Movement- A child has trouble coordinating their motor skills e.g spatial awareness, balance

By Jamie CHAU