What is a sensory diet?

What is a sensory diet?

The “sensory diet” is a list of sensory activities that help the child stay calm and sensually organized, which allows them to comfortably acquire and consolidate new skills.

And to describe more precisely, it is an individually tailored plan for the organization of the day at home and nursery/kindergarten, including sensory and physical (“motor”) activities. Sensory diets are introduced both as an element of therapy, but also as a preventive tool against already known challenges in behavior and daily functioning.

Why is a sensory diet important?

Just as we try to eat a balanced diet (containing more fruits and vegetables and less chocolate) to stay fit and healthy, we need a balanced amount of sensory information in our bodies every day to allow them to function properly. A “sensory diet” provides the child with regular opportunities to “control” the imbalance in sensory stimulation that he lacks, seeks out or avoids, to ensure that the amount received corresponds to the level required by the body to function harmoniously.

Determined by the Si therapist. The sensory diet is regularly modified to meet the individual needs of the child as changes in their sensory processing or changing environmental requirements.

As a child learns sensory self-regulation (energy levels, behavior, emotions, and attention) through a sensory diet over the months, skills such as concentration, sharing, and role-play also mature more quickly. This allows the child to move from relying on others to dealing with tasks or situations on their own.

What elements are necessary for a sensory diet to be successful?

Sensory processing: the accurate processing of sensory stimuli in the environment and in one’s own body.

Planning and sequencing: sequential, multi-stage execution of a task/activity to achieve a well-defined result;

Attention and concentration: constant effort, performing activities without distraction, and the ability to maintain the effort long enough to complete a task;

Receptive language (comprehension): Understanding spoken language;

Executive functioning: Higher-order reasoning and thinking skills;

Usage: The child’s ability to obey commands and requests.

How can you tell that your child needs a sensory diet tailored to him/her?

If a few-year-old has sensory processing disorders that require support from a sensory diet, the child can show it:

A constant need to be on the move (to the point that, despite wanting to, they cannot focus on the task) or “boredom” with physical activity;

Inability to calm down after being in a busy environment

Difficulty controlling impulses;

Has trouble modulating the tone of voice;

Being anxious in a group or crowd;

Being too violent in play;

Lack of understanding of other people’s personal space;

Difficulty sleeping.

How to modify a sensory diet to make it most effective?

It’s not uncommon for “the more often the better” that once a child has reached the “right” state of organization and attention, sensory diet activities will help maintain this state for longer throughout the day. For sensory diet recommendations to be effective, it is important to incorporate them into play and daily life, ideally making them part of each day. Encouraging your child to choose activities that they enjoy from a list of effective strategies that are already known.

Record changes in your child’s behavior: Effective use of a sensory diet is a process of trial and error. Therefore, if possible, record the changes in behavior noted after engaging in a sensory activity and the intensity, frequency, and duration of this activity.

A sensory diet always consists of a series of activities aimed at different sensory systems and must be specifically adapted to the needs of the child. To determine what type of sensory stimuli are required, the therapist and parent work together to determine the types of sensory stimuli the child needs, based on formal assessment, as well as observations of the child’s reactions to different environments and tried sensory activities Sensory
diet activities that best suit one child may not necessarily be good for others. Different times of day and different environments may be more conducive to one type of experience than another.

Effectiveness depends on the child’s sensory processing on a given day or at that moment, as well as on the environment and requirements placed on the child. You may find that strategies that supported your child really well yesterday don’t help today. You may also find that certain strategies used at a given time will not be suitable that day, but others on the list will. Therefore, the activities proposed in the sensory diet must be fluid and variable, but provide a consistent type of support for each day.

Emilia Adamczyk