Sensory diet is a group of activities that gives a sensory input to the child in order to make them alert, calm and perform at their peak. It is mainly designed for children with autism, ADHD and sensory processing disorders. Sensory issues are of four types which includes the following :
- Sensory modulation disorder: It can be either under responsive or over responsive
- Sensory discrimination and perception disorder
- Vestibular bilateral functional problems
- Praxis
Sensory diet can help the kids to reduce these sensory issues. It makes the kids calm in the case of over responsive and feel more alert in the case of under responsive. Each child is unique so, Sensory diet may vary from child to child according to their need. Sensory system consist of tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular, proprioception and introspections. An occupational therapist can design the sensory diet based on which sensory system is affected.
Activities that can be included in routine of sensory diet includes the following
- Stacking and unstacking chairs
- Jumping from pillow to pillow
- Jumping on trampoline, therapy ball
- Punching the punching bag
- Pushing heavy ball
- Pushing / pulling trolley bags
- Remove couch cushions and put them back
- Wheelbarrow walking
- Different types of animal walk like elephant, bear, duck, crab etc
- Carrying books
- Playing dough, clay modeling
- Weighted blanket
- Wearing weighted best
- Yoga poses
- Crunchy snacks, frozen fruits
- Listen to music
- Noise cancelling headphones
- Musical instruments like drums
- Scented lotions
- Swinging on swings
- Sliding down the slides
- Fidget toys
- Squeezing balls
- Sand play
- Slime
- Finger painting
- Sunglass
- Kaleidoscope
- Creeping
- Obstacle course
Occupational Therapists are trained to manage these activities and choosing a best occupational therapy center for your child is most important.
