My Spot

Carson gets a little overstimulated, anxious, frustrated, or just tired often and he used to find spots to help him calm down. He usually picks a closet or under his bed but those places don't really work. He will tear a closet apart if he tries to go in there, and under his bed is so tight he cant be there for a long time. So I made him this spot, it is behind the rocker in his room. It is surrounded on all sides and is big enough for some of his favorite things. I made him a pirate pillow for his spot and as soon as I showed him he filled it with his animals. He likes to play computer back there and I put his pirate texture board there so he could play with it. He has only invited me inside 1 time to read to him. He has really enjoyed it so far and I think he will really benefit from having his own place that is safe and controlled by him.

AHHHH MUMMIES!

Proprioceptive input doesnt just have to be super active, anything that puts pressure on the body can be proprioceptive input, a tight hug, building them into a "sandwich" with pillows, and wrapping them like a mummy also gives great proprioceptive input. I got these ace bandages free at a teaching my hospital did. Carson loves being wrapped in them! We had a scary mummy party! Now every night before bed he asks to be wrapped. We do our bedtime routine with the abdomen and chest wraps. He reads and says prayers in them. This really calms him down and helps him relax before bed. Right before he lays down to sleep we take it off (he really wants to sleep in them so we may need to get him some lycra sheets). Since we have added wrapping to our bedtime routine he has slept through the night 3 times! This is a record. Pre-diagnosis and treatment he had not slept through the night 1 time in probably 6 months. Our bedtime routine also includes me smashing him into bed or making him into a sandwich in his covers, and rubbing his back, stomach or arms. He is sleeping SO much better since adding the proprioceptive activities!

This weeks task.

 Well this week at therapy we were charged with a few tasks, We were supposed to increase the complexity of his activities in order to provide more input and find parks with spinning toys. Here are a few things we did to increase the complexity of the activities. Instead of just swinging we had him swing on his stomach and throw a ball at bottles. Once he mastered that we would spin him and have him throw the ball at bottles. After that we did Carson bowling! He rolled from a pretty good distance aiming for the 2L bottles, he liked doing summersaults.

 After that we had him roll over the bottles, this provided great vestibular and proprioceptive input. He thought it was silly!

 After those fun adventures we set up an obstacle coarse. Climbing over and under, jumping and climbing. He loved switching things up and changing the coarse around.

 Bouncing on the ball is great input!

 Believe it or not after all of that he was still not done! He was ready for more and more. So instead of just jumping we put balls on the trampoline and had him "popcorn" them so they would hit him and give him proprioceptive input.

 Then he started jumping high and landing on top of the balls, he loved the rough and tumble play.



Those were just a couple ideas. We are doing our best to think of more, a great book to read for this kind of stuff is "The Out-Of-Sync child has fun" There have been some good ideas in there.

This was all done with items we had around the house. Balls, 2Liter bottles and our swingset and trampoline. 


As for the parks with spinning toys, they dont really exist. I have asked around and looked and looked but no such luck yet. So instead we got passes to our local theme park, there is alot of spinning there!

Heavy work

Since Carson is a sensory seeker he seeks activities which provide stong sensory input to his body. Stong smells, tastes and alot of physical activity. One great way to provide that input is to provide heavy work, this is anything that requires alot of muscle work to accomplish. What better heavy work than bowling, lifting, carrying and rolling the ball is alot of work! Also alot of fun for none SPD kids!

During the bowling Carson was attentive, organized, well behaved, took turns, fun, happy, interactive and a great listener! It was so much fun to see him so put together!

Once we left the bowling alley and entered the arcade it was a complete 180 degree difference. He was not attentive, very disorganized, running and wandering away, not listening, I couldnt get him to focus on me long enough to get out a word. He was a completely different kid. I dont know if its the lights, sounds, or all the distractions but he just was not the same kid. This is a classic sign of SPD, behavior that is incosistant, his behavior changed within seconds of the change in envioronment. Before the diagnosis I would have been infuriated at the behavior and probably gotten pretty angry with him. Now, I wont say I was fine or that it was not frustrating but I see it differently, I dont think its ok but, now I know its not always a choice for him , its a symptom of his disorder. I kept my calm, because me getting upset is not going to change anything. An SPD child wants so badly to behave and when they are unable to control their behavior and regulate themselves they can become very upset with themselves and this can affect their self esteem. I knew until I removed him from the situation that is overloading him he would not be able to change his behavior. Hopefully OT will help with this and help him be able to regulate himself. Until then I have only 2 options when something like this happens, stay and deal with it the best we can or remove him from the situation, sometimes I stay and sometimes I go. After we left I told him he had to spend some time in his room to calm down and to think about his behavior, after that he was ok. This is definitely something we will talk with the OT about.

Shaving cream paintings.

I just finished a great book called "The out of syn child." It is a wonderful book for parents, teachers and anyone who works or plays with an out of sync kid. I am now working on reading "The out of sync child has fun" a great book with sensory activities for kids. After reading the first activity I thought what the heck, lets give it a shot. It was a really good time I think the boys loved it, even Gavin with no sensory issues found it to be alot of fun. I got 2 pans and a bottle of shaving cream, each got a little mountain of cream to paint the pan and their bodies if they were comfortable. At first they were both hesitant and just used their hands.I then put food coloring in it to give them some color. After a couple minutes I looked over and Gavin was covered tummy to toes in shaving cream.
Carson took a little longer to adjust to the sensations but eventually he did the same thing, I didnt post it because he was in his undies but it was pretty cute! I would suggest next time just doing it in the bathtub, easier cleanup and a larger surface to cover and paint. It was fast and easy and just a quick shower to clean them off. Other great mediums are pudding, or wet sand.

Texture board.

After our experience at church, when Carson was unable to feel anything in his hands while blindfolded, we realized that he had some tactile hyposensitivity. He needs to build his sensitivity and tactile discrimination which will help him know how to hold a pencil, crayon, or marker. How hard to squeeze glue or when he is older be able to reach in his pocket and tell the difference between a quarter and penny. It is a very important ability to have. In order to foster his tactile discrimination I made him a texture board. I got the idea from a friend of mine, her son made a bunch of these for the school for the deaf and blind, they are used as a prereader for brail. They are made by using a 16inx16in plastic pegboard found at your local hardware store. After choosing your fabrics, each should have a different texture you can design whatever you want. My son LOVES pirates so I chose a pirate ship. You simply cut and hot glue it together. It costed about $5 bucks for the board and I got the fabric from my friend but finding scraps at the local craft store is easy and cheap. I still need to add the sea shells but once I do his will have around 28 different textures. There are rough ones like sandpaper, fluffy ones like the cloud, bubble wrap is bumby, silky, smooth and so much more. It was an easy project and Carson really likes it.

A small victory in a daily battle!

We attended Miss Nephi this week to watch my niece, I came totally prepared with fidget toys, Ipod to provide distraction and drown out the loud clapping noises, my moms Ipad for a games, books, ect... I really felt prepared.

Just as I had anticipated Carson did great at first, he loves taking in everything the lights, the sounds, the show, however once his sensory needs were fulfilled he became bored with the experience and started to look for other ways to entertain himself. Before long he became overstimulated, during the clapping and yelling for the contestants he started getting upset, telling me he HAD to leave NOW, he started breathing fast and his heart was beating fast. This was about to become a full blown panic attack.

Previously I would have responded in 2 ways, either tell him he is fine and make him stay which would have no doubt resulted in a panic attack and us leaving OR taken him out and allow him to calm down.

THIS TIME! I sat him on my lap and gave him a big tight long hug. This gave him a good amount of proprioceptive input and helped him center himself again. I covered his ears and sang softly into them you are my sunshine, his favorite song, that covered the clapping and screaming and gave him soft predictable auditory input. Then I offered him a fidget toy, I knew he was way to upset to get the benefit from it now but it let him know they were available and he could have whichever one he wanted. Then I got out the Ipod and let him listen to music which drowned out the clapping and screaming which was not predictable and very overwhelming for his auditory system. I then sat him on the floor between my chair and the chair in front of us, it was dark and quieter and the smaller space made him feel more comfortable. He played with the fidget toys, the Ipad, and other things I brought but he DID NOT have a panic attack! We didn't have to leave! He finished the entire show with no issue, he was a bit on edge, but nothing extreme! I was so excited, this was a small victory and it felt GOOD!

Fidget and Oral Motor toys!

During our first OT session they game me a few lists. One was to help Carson stop biting and picking his lips, he will bite or pick them until they are bleeding and have big holes or scabs on them. The items are supposed to provide strong oral input and fulfill those needs he is seeking by biting or picking his lips. So the Oral motor items are to help him stop that. The Oral motor items are the pinwheel, balloons, gum, and sour candies. They were just a few items on the list. He loves his new toys!

One of the other lists was a proprioceptive input list. Proprioception is the input received by the muscles and joints of the body. These receptors tell the body how much muscle to use to stand, walk, etc... Carson seeks input in his muscles and joints constantly. To get this he will climb, jump, roll, fall, run into walls, or do whatever it takes. The toys on the list provide a subtle input and should help him be more calm and focused in situations that don't allow him to run jump and be "crazy". They are toys that he can "fidget" with by pulling, pushing and mushing, they provide input to his hands and help keep him "centered" and able to focus. The idea being that if he is receiving a subtle proprioceptive input that he will not seek the more active forms until the appropriate times. The spider is filled with beads in the body and is stretchy. Along with the magnets its one of his favorites! The magnets can but pulled apart and put back, he loves pulling them apart and trying to keep them apart, he loves them because he can twist and pull them and try to keep them apart. The ball and be squeezed, pulled, and played with, the gecko is the same. We also found a ball that is plastic and weaved together that he likes to stick his fingers inside the holes. We are still keeping our eyes out for new toys! The notebook is his book for notes, ideas, and a journal.

Since he has been using them he does tend to be a little calmer and will even ask for them. He likes them during times he has to sit and be quiet or calm. His preschool teacher noted him playing with his hands during class so I will start sending one with him for school. I have also found him smelling, licking, and chewing the toys, another sign of SPD he is seeking the input and because oral input is very intense (that's why babies investigate with their mouths) he tends to put a lot of things in his mouth or smell them. Its a learning experience everyday! I am waiting to ask the OT if that is OK for him to do or if I should stop him.
While reading "the sensational child" I ran across a great Oral motor and proprioceptive input activity. Eating applesauce through a straw. Sucking thick food through a straw gives Oral input and using those muscles is proprioceptive! He thought it was pretty silly!

And finally Gavin, he is great for proprioceptive input, he loves to run, play and wrestle with brother!
Just a few new OT toys to get us started on the road to a self-regulated and calmer life! Having a sensory seeker I feel like I need an arsenal of items that provide oral, smell, proprioceptive and all other kinds of input at all times because I never know what he will want or need at any given time. I need a bigger purse!