TRYING NEW ACTIVITIES WITH KIDS IN THE NEW YEAR THAT SUPPORT SENSORY INTEGRATION

Trying New Activities

with Kids in the New Year that Support Sensory Integration

By Brandon Clark, BCBA

CHILDREN WITH AUTISM AND OTHER SPECIAL NEEDS OFTEN HAVE SOME SORT OF SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER. A COMMON SUBTYPE OF PROCESSING DISORDER IS SENSORY MODULATION DISORDER, WHICH REFERS TO THE MIND’S INABILITY TO REGULATE OR MODULATE INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM THE SENSES SO THE STIMULATION IS JUST RIGHT—NOT TOO MUCH AND NOT TOO LITTLE.

When kids with special needs have sensory modulation disorder, they may have difficulty organizing sensory information or focusing on the right stimulation at the right time. Fortunately, there are some simple sensory integration activities and exercises that parents can use at home to complement and reinforce occupational therapy sessions.

Treatment for autism works best when all of the authority figures in a child’s life work together, creating a safe but challenging environment for the child with autism to learn and grow.

Before we look at some of the practical activities parents can use at home, we need a brief overview of what sensory integration is and why it’s important. Sensory modulation disorder can show up in different ways:

Over-responsive children

Children who are over-responsive to sensory input become overstimulated and overwhelmed by the information they are receiving from their senses. Sometimes we describe this kind of child as sensory defensive, which means they are on guard against certain kinds of sensory stimulation,

typically touch (tactile defensive) or sound (auditory defensive).

Under-responsive children

Children who are under-responsive to sensory stimulation might appear lethargic, slow-moving, or seem like they have attention deficit disorder—when the truth is that the brain simply isn’t getting the stimulation it needs to engage with the environment or the subject at hand.

Vestibular sensory integration activities

Kids with special needs who spin or bounce are usually trying to stimulate their vestibular system or their inner ear. The inner ear helps with balance, and it also helps the body know when and how fast it is moving. Any movement activity will engage the vestibular system, and vestibular activities can be stimulating for the under-responsive child and calming for the over-responsive or sensory seeking child.

Some of our favorite exercises for trying at home include:

• Playground activities

Think swinging, sliding, and merry-go-rounds. These recreational therapies are self-paced and fun, making them ideal for sensory integration.

• Trampolines

Go to a trampoline park at a time you know it won’t be busy to practice movement with your child. These parks usually have the trampolines built into the floor so there’s no fear of heights to contend with.

• Rocking horses

This is a simple activity for younger children or children who may be afraid of larger movements.

Sensory seeking children

Some children respond to their underdeveloped sensory processing skills by becoming sensory seeking. These are the kids who may seem hyper or who seek out sensory stimulation via repetitive movement like twirling, hand flapping, and bouncing. They may often push, crash, or bump into things and chew.

Sensory integration therapy is a cornerstone of our applied behavior analysis program at Springbrook because sensory processing difficulties are often the root causes, or the triggers, for the maladaptive behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder.

• Jump-Spins

Choose different objects in the room and ask your child to jump and spin to point at the object you’ve called out. For example, you might choose the TV, chair, window, or table.

This activity not only stimulates the vestibular system, but also builds vocabulary.

• Pick-up sticks

Place ten objects on the ground and ask your child to pick each one up and place it in order on a low table. The repeated bending movement and inversion is a great way to stimulate the inner ear. Plus, if you use objects your child is interested in, like toy cars or baseball cards, the activity can also function as a reward-based activity.

Oral motor activities

While chewing is actually a good and necessary activity, it becomes a problem when it’s excessive, causes self-injury, or takes away from a child’s ability to participate in daily life.

Here are a few of our favorite oral motor activities that provide proper stimulation and reduce chewing and other behaviors:

• Crunchy and chewy foods

You can provide that heavy input for the jaw and mouth your child is looking for by using crunchy and chewy foods as go-to snacks. Try granola, apples, carrots, pretzel rods, nut butters, licorice, or fruit leather. Chewing gum can also help children develop oral motor skills and help them focus.

• Straws

Plain drinking straws are a fantastic tool for helping your child develop oral motor skills. Use straws for drinking, especially thick beverages like milkshakes or yogurt-based smoothies, as well as for games, such as blowing bubbles in a bowl of water or shooting pellets of paper across the room.

• Hand-held, non-food items

If you look around, you’ll notice there are lots of kids’ activities that involve the mouth. Try bubble blowers, kazoos, harmonicas, pinwheels, whistles, and blowguns. A vibrating toothbrush is also a great way to provide your child with increased stimulation.

Proprioceptive activities

Incorporating heavy work (the use of force to move an object) and proprioceptive activities (those that encourage your body to move) are necessary to help build up major muscle groups, joints, and ligaments. It is also essential to stimulate the proprioceptive receptors present in the tissues and to provide your child with greater proprioceptive feedback—the sense that allows your body to know where it is and how it’s moving in space so we can walk upstairs without looking at each step or take a sip of water without watching the glass all the way. All children need heavy work activities to strengthen the proprioceptive input, but children with special needs such as autism generally have underdeveloped proprioception, meaning they need heavy work even more.

As an added benefit, heavy work tends to provide deep pressure to the muscles, which has a calming and organizing effect on the brain and nervous system. Finally, heavy work reduces problem behaviors in children with autism.

Here are some good ways to include heavy work in your child’s daily routines.

The important thing is to find sensory-stimulating activities your child enjoys and build from there.

Play activities

Heavy work activities can actually be a lot of fun! Many playtime activities use the major muscle groups, both in coordination and separately. Remember to combine weight with movement to reap the most organizing, calming benefits from deep pressure stimulation. As you plan playtime for your child, keep these kinds of movements in mind:

• Jumping and crashing

Any kind of jumping activity engages the lower body and activates proprioceptive input in the leg muscles and joints, while “crashing” activities engage the entire body.

Try jump rope, hopscotch, bouncing on trampolines, or jumping and crashing into bed mattresses, piles of couch cushions, or large pillows. This may drive you crazy—but it’s so good for the kids! If you don’t want to put your furniture at risk, go to a trampoline park that includes foam pits and obstacle courses, which combine a lot of different heavy work activities in one place. Older kids may also enjoy wrestling, kickboxing, and organized sports activities.

• Digging and pouring

Playing in a sandbox or at a water table, searching for treasure in the backyard, or building a snowman all provide excellent heavy work for the upper body while also improving hand-eye coordination. Make sure your child has plenty of little shovels, scoopers, and buckets and encourage lots of pouring from one container to another. Choose larger containers for more heavy work. For a good rainy-day activity, fill a large bin with rice or dry beans and bury toys for your child to find. Swimming or any kind of water play also uses the digging muscles.

• Climbing and hanging

Playgrounds are a great place to go for climbing and hanging equipment. Jungle gyms, monkey bars, climbing walls, and ladders use all of your child’s major muscle groups in coordination and provide wonderful proprioceptive input while hanging by the arms or legs stretches out the muscles and engages the joints and ligaments. At home, you can encourage your child to try climbing a tree, playing in a treehouse, playing on a rope swing, or climbing in and out of a bunk bed.

• Pushing, pulling, and throwing

Try tug-of-war games, sledding, pulling a wagon, pushing a friend or sibling on a swing, or push-ups. Playing catch is also an ideal way to warm up the arms and shoulders. If your child doesn’t have the hand-eye coordination to play catch with a glove and baseball, try bean bags, medicine balls (carefully!), water balloons, a basketball, or any large, soft object like a big pillow or stuffed animal. The goal is for your child to encounter some resistance while catching and have to heave some weight while throwing. Ask your child to throw stuffed animals or pillows into a laundry basket to improve hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills while doing heavy work.

• Running, crawling, and pedaling

While not all children enjoy running for its own sake, this activity stimulates every muscle group and does some heavy proprioceptive work in the legs. If your child does not naturally like to run while playing, start small with short, fun foot races. Race your kid to the car after grocery shopping, for example. You can also do funny walks and crawls with your child, such as stomping in place, wheelbarrow walks, animal walks like crab walks and bear walks, snake slithers, and army crawls. Finally, riding bikes is an excellent heavy work activity. If your child can’t ride a bike yet or is afraid to try, start with scooters, balance bikes, or other self-propelled riding toys. You can even use a large skateboard your child sits or lies down on while scooting forward with their feet or hands.

• Household chores

Kids love helping out around the house, especially if the chores are active enough and presented to them correctly.

Make use of household chores to ensure your child is getting enough muscle and joint input throughout the day— and always remember the work doesn’t have to be done perfectly. Activities like helping with carrying groceries, laundry, doing outdoor work, taking out the trash, setting the table, washing the car, and vacuuming can help your child.

While these lists are a good place to start to introduce your child to new activities, none are exhaustive. The important thing is to find sensory-stimulating activities your child enjoys and build from there. With a little planning and effort, you can ensure your child gets enough activity and heavy proprioceptive work during the day.

At Springbrook Autism Behavioral Health, we use a number of proven, evidence-based autism therapies to address problem behaviors and build life skills. Contact the ABA Program at Springbrook to learn more.

Brandon Clark is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) at Springbrook Autism Behavioral Health in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. He is completing his doctorate degree in Psychology. Brandon began his career in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis in 2010. Since then, he has worked in treatment schools, private settings, crisis intervention settings, day program facilities, and owned a private practice for several years. Brandon is the author of the book, The Misfits; Told by a Behavior Analyst, detailing a collection of experiences from the treatment school where he first started. Currently, he is a Human Rights Committee member, Ethics Chair for South Carolina Applied Behavior Analysis (SCABA), and serves as a board member for Lowcountry Autism Foundation.