For many children, the world can feel like a chaotic blend of sights, sounds, and sensations that seem impossible to navigate. A child will get upset about the hum of fluorescent lighting, the vacuum, or the feeling of a new pair of socks. These small things are disruptive to children with sensory processing disorder (SPD). Parents in Sydney are now looking to occupational therapy (OT) as a solution to help their children’s sensory problems to a place of greater control and less confusion. OT therapists help children become less resistant to doing sensory exercises and more capable of coping with daily interactions.
Occupational therapy offers a lifeline for a child with SPD. It teaches them the tricks and the tools they must use to traverse their sensory universe, and it gives parents what they need so that they will be able to assist their children through their journey.
What Is Sensory Processing Disorder?
Sensory processing is a term used to explain the way our brain takes in, processes, and responds to sensory input through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. In typical children, the sensory experience gets nicely blended so that they are able to enjoy the world. But in sensory processing disorders children, this gets jumbled up, and it is hard for them to respond to sensory inputs normally.
The SPD children may over- or underreact to the sensory input. For example, a child may complain about having some clothes on his body or get annoyed with some level of noise. Or they’ll do everything in their power to overload with superior-grade sensory input, like repeatedly rocking back and forth or dashing away from touch in the hopes of incidentally getting onto something to follow so that the system can get a chance to level out.
Symptoms of SPD can be very unique in each child, and, for parents, this makes it difficult for them to comprehend what exactly the child is experiencing.
SPD can affect a child’s daily functioning in terms of interactions with peers, schoolwork, or in performing home daily tasks. In most children, such sensory dysfunction leads to social or academic impairment and anxiety or frustration.
How Occupational Therapy Can Benefit
Occupational therapy for children with SPD tries to make coping and managing sensory input available and within their control range safely. It tries to enable them to develop tolerance to sensory input, acquire self-regulatory skills, and improve their efficiency in carrying out activities of daily living.
Families in Syndye with SPD children are forced to seek OT to treat their children’s SPD problems. The occupational therapists set the individual sensory needs of each child and make personalised intervention plans according to their needs. The individual treatment modalities may include some procedures that are designed to help the children tolerate different textures, sounds, and sensations.
An occupational therapist (OT) would usually use a combination of formal sensory activities and play activities to assist children in modulating sensory input. Incorporating these sensory activities into a child’s daily routine assists OTs in helping children learn new skills so that they can better process sensory inputs.
Key Techniques in Occupational Therapy for SPD
Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT): Sensory integration therapy is most likely to be the best and most practiced technique for supporting children with SPD. Sensory integration therapy consists of a range of varied play activities that are used to enable children, over a period of time, to become accustomed to new sensory input. For instance, if a child is having trouble with touch input, they are progressively introduced to an abundance of varied textures over a period of time through play like soft play, water, or sand. It is to desensitise children to sensory input which they have once found to be overwhelming.
Deep Pressure and Proprioceptive Activities: Deep pressure input is appealing to certain children with SPD, and it relaxes them and makes them feel secure. Occupational therapists may utilise weighted blankets, deep touch massage, or pushing or pulling heavy toys to give the child the proprioceptive input he or she needs. These activities will help children better regulate the body’s reaction to sensory input and feel more confident.
Vestibular Input: Vestibular input is the feeling of apprehension about internal movement and equilibrium. Some children with SPD experience movement as a means of regulating their sensory system. Occupational therapists utilise swinging, jumping, or spinning to help children stimulate their vestibular system in a controlled and safe manner. These activities ground children and regulate their response to other sensory inputs.
Environmental Adaptations: In addition to the immediate intervention, the OT therapists will also be involved in establishing environmental adaptations within the home and school setting to reduce sensory overload. Small adaptations such as lowering the light, decreasing the noise, or wearing noise-canceling headsets can alter the degree to which a child is able to perform in the world. OT therapists provide parents with recommendations on how to create sensory-friendly spaces that will facilitate less difficult and more enjoyable daily living for their children.
The Benefits of Occupational Therapy in Children with SPD
The advantages of OT go far beyond the mere management of sensory sensitivity. Occupational therapy allows children to make sense of their experiences and learn skills such that they become a part of the world they are living in. Some of the most significant advantages are as follows:
Increased Self-Regulation: OT teaches children how to self-regulate their behavior and feelings as they are getting sensory input. Greater sensory awareness in children enables them to better utilise strategies to self-regulate when they are getting too much in an experience and can learn to calm themselves when necessary.
Better Social Skills: Children with SPD may have difficulty socialising since they are sensorily sensitive. Through OT, children may become more capable of socialising, can be good friends, and can handle large groups of people.
Greater Independence: With improvement in processing sensory input in a more controlled manner, children become independent in everyday life. Brushing teeth, dressing, or doing homework, children with SPD can be taught the skills needed to effectively perform in everyday life.
Improved Concentration and Attention: Sensory problems tend to make kids very uneasy with focusing on activities. OT prevents kids from being diverted and makes them stick with improved concentration toward homework, playing, and other activities of importance.
Helping Sydney Families
Sensory processing disorder is a terrifying ordeal for families and children. Happily, in Sydney, there are ample resources and qualified practitioners to assist children with SPD. Occupational therapy is one of the most effective and strongest therapies to assist children in acquiring skills that enable them to manage their sensory experiences and be successful in life.
If your child requires outstanding tailor-made treatment to address his or her sensory issue, Ability Allied Health offers Sydney-based specialised OT services that will have a relevant impact on your child’s life. Our focus is to give compassionate and expert care that will make children with SPD become healthy, independent, and confident. We will guide you through the process of sensory integration and make it a reality for your child to succeed in the world. Any child, with the right guidance, can be a master balancer in the ocean of sensory input. Together, we can assist your child in finding their full potential.
