What is a sensory diet?
A sensory diet potentially works through all 8 senses to tailor a plan to each child’s needs through activities and strategies to provide sensory input. In this plan the frequency, intensity, timing and duration of sensory input is all put in the plan. It should be noted that children although provided with a specific plan, do not need the same thing every day, this should work as a guideline for parents/guardians to work to understand their children’s signs to better so they can understand what type of sensory their child may need in the moment. Everyone uses sensory strategies, they just tend to be more automatic for neurotypical individuals.
Who may benefit from a sensory diet?
Anyone can use a sensory diet. however, they are often used for those who have a hard time processing sensory input. The following diagnoses may be more likely to use a sensory diet; those with SPD, anxiety, ADHD, ASD, PTSD, DMDD, etc. Individuals with these diagnoses may be sensory seeking, sensory avoiding, poor registration or sensitive depending on their threshold. Someone with poor registration may benefit from alerting sensory input. Someone who is sensory seeking may benefit from regulating and calming input. A person who is more sensitive to sensory may benefit from modifications to better be able to handle and experience the world. Individuals who avoid sensory input may benefit from exposure over time to build a tolerance. It should also be noted that if a person is sensory avoiding for hearing/auditory, that does not mean they are avoiding all sensory. People can respond to different sensory in many different ways, that is where the importance of a tailored sensory diet is important, so it can have different sensory that may help poor registration, sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity, and sensory avoiding for different senses in one plan if needed.
How to utilize a sensory diet:
When created, these plans often appear as a schedule showing when to incorporate strategies and how to implement them. The child’s daily schedule is taken into account and strategies and activities are scheduled within that schedule without interfering with their routine. These strategies may even be modifiers of activities within a child’s routine. Below I will further discuss the 8 different senses and potential sensory input that could come from each.
The 8 senses:
1. Vestibular: A sensory system responsible for balance, spatial orientation, coordinating movement, head position and body awareness.
-Alerting vs. calming: calming includes slow controlled movements like swinging or hanging upside down where alerting movements include spinning fast and climbing.
Example activity: Astronaut swing can be used to help calm or alert depending on the motion used (linear/rotary).
2. Interoception: Encompasses internal sensations like hunger, thirst, emotions and body temperature.
Example Activity: Yogarilla or other mindfulness activities like deep breathing can help a person be more mindful of their body to better understand their body or feelings.
3. Auditory: Also known as what we here. This sense can also be used as calming or alerting depending on the input needed.
Example activity: Listening program, Vital links, has the potential to help with emotional regulation, concentration, motor skills and more. This specific program has multiple albums that each target different things. This program is great for auditory modulation and auditory defensiveness. This program is also best used with vestibular or fine motor/gross motor activities to obtain best results.
4. Olfactory: Also known as smell. Smell is linked directly to memories and has the power to calm and promote concentration depending on what scent is used.
Example activities: Essential oils/diffuser while working on handwriting.
5. Tactile: Also known as touch. This is often messy play with different textures to desensitize or regulate.
Example activity: Picking objects out of kinetic sand.
6. Gustatory: Also known as taste. This includes anything experienced by the mouth such as smell, texture, and temperature. Gustatory is the biggest concentrating sense for sensory.
Example activities: Crunchy chips which is alerting, or vibration tools which can work to desensitize, or blowing bubbles which is organizing.
7. Proprioception: A person’s ability to sense where their body is in space. This sense can be alerting or calming depending on how it is used, however both are regulating.
Example activity: Vibration plate while playing a game. This helps with body awareness in addition to many other benefits depending on what it is being used for.
8. Visual: Also known as what we see. Through visual scanning, eye tracking or visual closure exercises, this helps regulate the visual system.
Example activity: Copy a pattern made on the mirror. This activity works on convergence and divergence along with ocular motor skills.
In conclusion, sensory diets are important parts of many people’s lives to help them stay regulated. It is also important to note that this diet is not the only thing that will keep the child regulated, and it may not always work. It is important to use the sensory diet to better understand the child’s signs to best help them by understanding which type of sensory they may need in that moment.
References:
Beck, Colleen, OTR/L, (2024, March 5). What is a sensory diet?. The OT Toolbox. https://www.theottoolbox.com/what-is-sensory-diet/
Samantha Berger, M. (2024, June 4). Sensory diet: Examples & activities by an OT: Napa center. NAPA. https://napacenter.org/sensory-diet/
