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Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)

Touch – Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)

Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)Touch is the area that sent off the biggest alarm bells for us that our son had Sensory Processing Disorder. I say us it was the Pediatrician who first noticed it, as we struggled to peel him from stroking her shiny tights. We had completely missed the fact that he loved to cover himself in paint, and stroke people’s faces – we just thought that it was his age.

Sensory Processing Disorder is when the information we constantly received by the seven senses is misinterpreted by the brain when it is processed. Sometimes our brains say there is TOO MUCH information coming in, and sometimes NOT ENOUGH. One of the areas this happens in is that of the Tactile sense – or touch.

Does your Child have Sensory Processing Disorder problems in the Tactile Sense (Touch)?

They may have problems with too much, too little or a mix of the two.

Signs of Too Much

Avoiding Touch

• Going barefoot, especially in sand or on grass, wearing sunscreen, hats, messy play with hands & feet (sand, mud, finger-paint). We often find a compromise of letting him wear sandals (no socks) even in Winter helps. Look out for any tags or labels on clothing/ hats that might bother them. Consider types of fabrics most preferred by the child. Use natural fibres e.g. cotton. Wash clothing before wear. Seam-less socks & underwear brands: online www.sensorydirect.com; or http://www.fledglings.org.uk sensorysmart.co.uk

They become distressed during hair-brushing or cutting (our son was actually physically sick when he felt the hair fall and touch his skin. He is getting better but it is usually a case of one parent restraining him whilst the other just gets on with it (shaving in the case of hair). Allow the child as much control & independence as possible (e.g. control force & duration of own tooth-brush). Give warning prior to a disliked activity & talk them through it. Let them know how long until activity is finished (e.g. brush hair for the length of a favourite song/ use a timer set for 1 minute). Touch FIRMLY but gently. Light touch= startling. FIRM touch= calming. Always approach from the front. Warn them before you touch them. Use mirrors (e.g. hair-brushing, cutting, nail cutting, teeth brushing) so the child can see what is happening & increase control. The brushing technique helps with personal grooming. Avoid fans or vents blowing directly on child.

Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)They use finger-tips instead of their whole hand. Give opportunities to play but without their hands e.g. touch play-dough/ paint with a brush/ spoon etc. before fingers. Slowly build them up – ie just started with finger-tips, then fingers, and reward them for trying it. Even let them play with their food.

They complain of being poked or bumped (this was common for both my oldest and youngest not understanding how much pressure people had used when touching them).  They over-react to touch – e.g. lashes out. They avoid standing in line or close to others. They walk on their toes. They prefer to be in a protected place e.g. in a corner/ under a table. Pair them with a child that won’t prod or poke them. Have designated spots on the mat (e.g. carpet squares).Get the child to be the line starter/ ender/ hold the door.

Not Enough – The Sensory Seeker

Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense) They touch people & objects to the point of irritating them (our Sensory Seeker is forever holding people’s faces in his hands).

• They like people to touch him/ her (fantastic for cuddles).

• They are constantly touching other people’s hair or clothing (or just general touching – good idea to carry wipes. Do you have any idea how dirty the Tube is in London Underground but he HAD to touch it, then he didn’t want the black all over his hands and tried to rub it off on a stranger!!!!)

• They love to be barefoot (barefoot trails are just heaven).

• They pinch, bites, or hurts self (and/or others).

• They have a really high pain & temperature threshold.

• They hit or bang their head on purpose.

• They throw themselves on the ground.

• They enjoy rough play.

Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)How to Help

• Allow them to fiddle with something that is appropriate & doesn’t distract others e.g. a pasta necklace/ bracelet; elastic necklace/ something with resistance. We have tags at the end of his weighted blanket. Allow a fidget toy in their pocket during seated time (e.g. car rides, mat time). *May need a social story to teach rules of use. Provide a squeeze/ stress ball for times that may be difficult.

• Be specific with words- “if you want to touch something- you touch …. Bracelet/ squeeze ball etc. so they have an alternative to their behaviour.

• Select highly textured clothing & lots of accessories e.g. head-bands, wrist-bands, belts.

Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)Provide textured blankets or sheets for sleeping. We have surrounded him with teddies in his bed to aid night times as he was waking a lot and kept getting in or bed. But there he would really annoy us. There’s no other way to describe it – tickling, even scratching and kicking us – just really needing to get some sort of sensory touch input from us.

• Give opportunities to learn through touch experiences e.g. sand play, water play, messy play, finger-paints. Add textures to toy surfaces e.g. sand in finger-paints.

Touching - Sensory Processing Disorder (Tactile Sense)Products & Resources:

www.sensorytdirect.com

www.fledglings.org.uk

www.sensorywarehouse.com

www.specialneedstoys.co.uk

www.sensorysmart.co.uk

Many thanks to the Children’s Occupational Therapy Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust for supply this information and granting me permission to use it. This post is a redraft of a post previously published on Pinkoddy.

crazy soap review

Crazy Soap Bath time fun #Review

Bath time fun crazy soap review

As a Seeker my son loves bath times and the extra sensory input that it can provide. So when the opportunity arouse to add a little bath time fun by testing out a range of products in the  Crazy Soap range we were delighted to try them out.

bath time fun with crazy soap puppets 

Fun is an important part of bath time – it makes the experience more enjoyable, and provides opportunities for learning. So we were delighted to see that the Crazy Soap Colour Changing Bubble Bath and Crazy Soap Shake & Sparkle Foam Bath both came with finger puppets on the lids.

blue bath with bubbles to make things more fun

The colour changing bubble bath has the description that the clever chameleon has conjured up  a jungle spell – and indeed as the mix went into the bath it was orange and change to blue. If I’m honest, in the bath this happened far too quickly for my son to notice. He did like a blue bath but maybe a smaller amount of water might be more effective to get the colour changing effect.

We are good in that we reuse our water, and so when adding the Shake & Sparkle there were concerns that the boys would end up sparkling (by not getting it out of their hair). They need not have worried and we could hardly see the sparkles – but again may be this would be effective in a jam jar for a snow globe at Christmas. You could tell that the bubbles did indeed sparkle though. This can be picked up from Boots for £2.49 or 249 points (and you can collect 8 points with the purchase).

sensory seeker covering himself in black paint

Crazy Soap benefiting the child with Sensory Processing Disorder in the Tactile Sense

I should have realised a long time ago that my son was a sensory seeker, but I just thought that he was young and being my fourth that I was more relaxed. See the thing is that every time there’s paint about he tends to end up painting himself (as he is a seeker in the sense of touch). He loves to cover ever little bit of his hands, then work up his arms, and then anywhere I’m brave enough to let him continue – including his face!

So I don’t know who was more delighted to receive some Crazy Soap Bath Time Body Paint as part of a set of Crazy Soap products to review.

bath time fun crazy soap blue paint

We had blue – and you can mix it with other colours – not that we got a chance to find out, as my little sensory seeker took the tub and covered himself in it. Maybe he was trying to make himself as a Smurf. Luckily this paint is for the bath so I didn’t need to worry about any mess (although it was unfortunate that it was quickly washed away too).

Bath time fun crazy soap blue paint drawn to make a letter k on back

He giggled away as I painted a letter K on his back – as a Seeker he absolutely loved the sensation of the touch on his skin, and the smell is so gorgeous. All this whilst it was actually cleaning him too!

We also tried the Crazy Soap Bathtime Fun Soap and he loved the feel of it moulded to his foot.

Bath time fun crazy soap moulded on foot

The soap can be shaped into anything you wanted – so we did a letter K for his name (I decided it was wasting the soap to do his whole name to be honest).

bath time fun crazy soap moulded into a letter k

I received the products mentioned for free in order to review them. All thoughts and opinions are my own.