Sensory Advice and Strategies for pre-school children

What is Sensory Processing?

Sensory processing refers to the brains ability to take in information through the senses, organise this information and then make a meaningful response to the situation. We gather our sensory information from 7 bodily senses;

• Touch (Known as the tactile system)
• Taste (Known as the Gustatory System)
• Smell (Known as the Olfactory System)
• Sound (Known as the auditory System)
• Sight (Known as the Visual system)
• Body Position (Known as the Proprioception System)
• Balance (Known as the Vestibular System)

For most people, sensory processing is an automatic process and allows us to interact with the world around us. For example when we hear a doorbell ring our brains interpret that as sound and then we respond to that appropriately. Sensory processing also helps us organise the importance of sensory information when we talk in multiple sensory experiences such as the doorbell ringing, the washing machine running, the itchiness of the label in our shirt and the smell of the perfume you’ve just sprayed. In this situation our bodies are able to ignore the less important information and take in the important information to prevent us from becoming overloaded and to allow us to react appropriately.

What are Sensory Processing difficulties?

Sensory processing difficulties can occur in both adults and children and impact on the way a person interprets everyday sensation, such as touch, sound and movement. They may feel bombarded or overwhelmed by the amount of sensory information they take in, causing them to avoid sensory rich activities like brushing their teeth or visiting a busy superstore. They may also take in to much information from one specific sensory system, resulting in them undertaking behaviours to feed that system further such as seeking deep pressure or watch TV upside down.

What do Sensory Processing difficulties look like?

Children who are overly or under responsive to sensory information can often present with many various behaviours and presentations that at first may seem unusual or not age related. Sometimes these presentations and behaviours can vary day to day and often be confused with anxiety, OCD or other traits. Examples of some sensory seeking or avoidant behaviours may be:

• Avoid or become distressed during certain sensory rich activities like washing hair or brushing teeth
• Seek out tight spaces, being squeezed or rough and tumble play
• Spinning, rocking and rough and tumble behaviour
• Avoid certain textures of clothing or food
• Chew none food related items, clothing or overly cram their mouths
• Become distressed in certain environments such as shops, nurseries or leisure facilities due to noise.
• Become distressed and actively avoid having their hair or nails cut.
• Seek water play or turn on taps to watch running water

How can the Children’s Occupational Therapy Service support me and my child?

The Children's EY's OT service do not offer sensory assessments and treatments for Children with possible sensory needs at present, however we do offer a monthly Parent/Caregivers sensory advice talk, which takes place at our base at Clatterbridge Hospital. The talk aims to:

• Equip parent’s/carers with the knowledge and skills to reduce the effect that sensory difficulties have on their child’s daily life.
• Provide information booklets on how to support your child with engaging in functional tasks they may find difficult to tolerate such as feeding, dressing and bathing.

To access this service, you must be referred to the OT EY's service by a health or education professional. For detail on how to access the service, please click HERE.

Sensory Advice and Support at Home

To support Parents and Caregivers, we have put together a number of handouts that offer sensory based advice and strategies for specific day to day activities some littles ones struggle with, such as self-care, toileting and feeding skills.

Please see the free to access handouts below in the documents section.