What Does Sensory Processing Look Like?
Hello from your friendly Austin OT! Of all the things I'm asked (other than how we get eggs from our hens if we don't have a rooster) is What Does Sensory Processing Look Like?
Well, you have come to the right person. Sensory processing is a passion of mine, probably because I myself was a sensory kid growing up. When I was young, I was an extremely picky eater who gagged at the sight of pasta, took naps smashed in the couch cushions and refused to wear anything with seams. My mother was a patient woman, to say the least.
Now, not to date myself too much here, but in the 80's and early 90's, we didn't know as much about sensory related challenges, and we certainly didn't have a Google to tell us what to do if our child ate only peanut butter and hot dog buns, covered their ears when the toilet flushed, spoke only at a deafening volume or refused to wear anything but a wardrobe that was more suited to the Golden Girls. Luckily loose and blousy was the look of the times!
What an occupational therapist can tell you about that now is that child most likely had a heightened tactile (touch) sense and seeks compression to help them feel calm and organized and loose clothes felt tickly or itchy. That same child probably craved the predictability of familiar flavors and was very anxious about new or hard to manage textures while they ate and probably had no idea they were speaking so loud, yet feared loud noises such as toilets and coffee grinders. As a sensory child all grown up, I can tell you that I now eat a balanced diet with a variety of textures and flavors, still prefer looser clothing over tight, and will blast my air conditioner at night so I can sleep under a heavy blanket.
As adults, we have spent a lifetime learning what we can and can’t handle and then in turn tweaking our environments to suit us. If you really dig, you will find most of us have our quirks and preferences and that it’s perfectly normal. Where the issue lies in a child struggling with sensory processing is when those challenges become an interruption into their daily lives. No one wants to see their child struggle or be unnecessarily unhappy, and when you get to that point where you know your child needs more than what you know to do, or you need a pair of outside eyes to take a look and find some strategies to help, that’s where your occupational therapist can step in and help shoulder some of your burden with you.
Below are a couple of links to comprehensively explain sensory processing, and what to look for in your child.