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What is heavy work and why is it important for my child? If your child participates within occupational therapy, you’ve probably heard of the term “heavy work”. But what does it mean when therapists use this term and how does it relate to your kiddo? Keep reading to find out! “Heavy work” is a term […]
Potty training can be intimidating for parents. If you are a parent of a child who processes sensory information differently, it can be extra challenging. However, you can help your child tune into their internal signals through development of the sense of interoception. What is interoception? Interoception is the 8th body sense, the ability […]
What is a Sensory Processing Disorder? Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a type of neurological disorder in which the brain cannot properly process or integrate sensory information. As a result, a child can be hypersensitive or over-responsive to stimuli or hyposensitive or under responsive to stimuli. If a child is experiencing hypersensitivity to sensory input, […]
Why is it important: Taking care of your teeth is essential and oral health is a very important activity of daily living. However, it can be challenging for some children due oral sensitivity. There two categories of sensitivity often used to describe oral sensation—hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity. Hypersensitivity or Hyposensitivity Hypersensitivity refers to an increased awareness […]
A person with sensory processing concerns may have difficulty modulating sensory input from one or more sensory systems. Sensory processing systems include proprioception (force/position in space), vestibular (direction/speed of movement), tactile (touch), visual (eyes), auditory (sound), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell). Ineffective sensory processing skills can cause significant challenges for completing activities of daily living, […]
The holidays are here again, and for some of our friends, this magical time of the year can turn into a nightmare of overstimulation. We see all of our families and friends, we change our schedules, we decorate differently – even the scents of our homes change for the holidays. For a child that needs […]
First, what is sensory input? Sensory input is a stimuli that requires the organs of your eight senses (yes, eight!) to react/process the stimuli. The eight sensory systems are visual (eyesight), gustatory (taste), olfactory (smell), tactile (touch), auditory (hearing), vestibular (movement/balance), proprioceptive (body in space) and interoception (internal senses like hunger, thrusts, bowel/bladder function). Second, […]
If your child participates within occupational therapy, you’ve probably heard of the term “heavy work”. But what does it mean when therapists use this term and how does it relate to your kiddo? Keep reading to find out! “Heavy work” is a term that refers to activities that involve the pushing/pulling of the muscle joints […]
The ability to maintain appropriate awareness of our body in space is essential in supporting a child’s attention and following directions. Good body awareness is also essential in supporting our emotional regulation and arousal level. Free-range play, such as the playground, is a great way to promote body awareness. However, sometimes, our children may want […]
Sensory processing disorder is a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. Kids without sensory processing disorder can also have difficulty with processing senses, just on a smaller scale. When we think of the senses, the five that many of us can recall are: sight, […]