THE SENSORY MADE SIMPLE PODCAST

Transcript

Hello, my friend.

It feels like it's been forever since I've been on here chatting with you.

In truth, it's really only been three weeks, but it's been about five weeks since I've done a solo episode with you.

And I've missed it.

If you're on the email list or you follow me on social media, you know that JR and I took a little vacation to Denmark, and we had the best time disconnecting from social media and work and connecting with each other.

Travel is definitely our shared hobby, and I love experiencing new places, whether it be an hour away in Florida or all the way to Europe.

Do you have a favorite place that you've ever traveled to?

If you do, jump over to Instagram and DM me at Dr.

Sam Goldman.

I'm always looking for new places, and I would love to hear your faves.

My favorite place we've ever been to so far is Adelboden, Switzerland.

We went there in May, and it was like nothing I've ever experienced.

But as of this week, I am officially back to work and so ready to jump in with you.

And in this episode of the podcast, Episode Number 45, our focus is on discussing some of the signs of sensory issues.

When you're first starting out on your sensory journey, one of the questions that always pops up is, Sam, how do I know if my child has sensory issues?

So I wanted to walk you through that today.

The very first thing we need to talk about here is what qualifies as an issue.

Because the truth is, if you asked any single person in the world, they would have a sensory quirk or a sensory preference.

And I'll tell you some of mine because I do have some strong sensory quirks.

For example, I absolutely cannot stand the sound and the feel of saran wrap.

Even just the thought of it and talking about it right now literally gives me goosebumps on my arms.

I also feel similarly about having buttons on my shirts or dresses.

For some reason, the visual look and the feel of buttons is overwhelming to my brain.

But does that automatically mean it's an issue?

Let's break this down.

When we talk about a sensory issue, we want to look at how these sensory preferences or quirks affect our life on a daily basis.

So for example, with Saran Wrap, it's not something I need to use every day.

In fact, as a more eco-conscious household, it's not something I really need to keep in the house at all.

It's not something I encounter regularly.

And the truth is, if I did, I would be able to get past my dislike of it and use it.

I just wouldn't be thrilled about it.

The same goes for buttons.

I just mostly buy clothing without buttons.

But when I was a child, I attended a school that required uniforms.

And you guessed it, they had buttons.

And I wore them.

It didn't cause me a lot of distress.

It wasn't a daily fight.

I just didn't love doing it.

So in this case, these preferences are merely my preferences.

They don't cause an issue for me on a day-to-day basis.

On the other hand, let's talk about an example where it would be considered an issue.

Say you had a child who is more sensitive to loud sounds, like the hand dryer in the bathroom or the flushing of toilets.

Chances are, at home, you found some techniques that work, whether that be them standing outside when you flush the toilet or giving them the control to flush it when they're ready and can cover their ears.

But then you try to use a public restroom, where the hand dryers are going off constantly and the flushing is unexpected and uncontrolled.

And whenever you go in there, it's a nightmare for you and your child.

They're crying before you even go in.

They don't want to sit on the toilet.

They're covering their ears, but it's still too loud.

By the time you're done, both you and them have totally shut down.

And they may even be having accidents because they absolutely do not want to go into that bathroom.

This is where it more qualifies as an issue.

It's keeping them from participating in life and doing a basic need, which is going to the bathroom.

And this is something you likely need to do pretty regularly.

On the other hand, if you don't really use public bathrooms or you've figured out a solution, maybe it's not such an issue for you.

But for many families, it is.

So all of this to say, how do we determine if it's an issue?

As an occupational therapist, we usually determine if it's a sensory issue, if it impacts your life and participation on a daily or regular basis.

That leads us to our next question.

How do we know if it's a sensory issue?

We can have tons of issues on a daily basis that aren't sensory related.

We usually determine if it's sensory related by considering if the challenge is associated with one of our eight senses.

As a reminder, those senses are our sense of touch, vision, sound, taste, smell, body awareness, head movement, and what is going on inside our body.

Otherwise known as our tactile, visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, proprioceptive, vestibular, and interoceptive senses.

If these senses are new to you, especially the proprioceptive, vestibular, and interoceptive, do not worry.

I've got some education for you coming in December.

So what we want to do is look at each of these senses individually and determine if the challenges might be related to one of those.

I want to give you an example of this.

So maybe a child or adult is having difficulty getting dressed in the morning.

We want to really hone in on why it's a challenge.

Is it because they just don't want to go to work or school?

Or is it because the clothing they are trying to put on doesn't feel right for their body?

Are they upset by the tags on the clothing?

Do the clothes feel too tight even if they are appropriately sized?

Does it feel too scratchy or itchy on their skin?

In these cases, I'm starting to wonder if their touch sense might be a little on the sensitive side.

I'm also wondering about the proprioceptive sense, which measures and feels deep pressure.

Does the pressure of the clothing on their skin feel like too much?

From here, as an OT, I'm usually going to start to dive deeper into that sense.

I want to really see how their touch sense is functioning.

Are they only having a challenge with clothing?

Or is that same person also having challenges with brushing their hair, getting wet, and getting crumbs on their fingers?

Asking those questions is going to help us figure out whether that person's touch sense is hyper-responsive or extra-sensitive, hypo-responsive or under-sensitive or seeking, also known as craving, sensory input.

From there, we have a much better idea of how to respond and help.

For example, if it's extra-sensitive, my focus is likely going to be on helping them learn to manage when they do receive that input, as well as making modifications so they don't have to get tons of input throughout the entire day.

Alrighty, I went on a long tangent here.

Let's get back to the title of that episode.

What are some signs that an adult or child may be having sensory issues?

Well, I've already mentioned a couple to you, like challenges with loud or certain sounds, wearing clothing, brushing hair, getting wet, and getting dirty.

Some other signs could be difficulty with posture and sitting upright, being unable to sit still, having a hard time planning out body movements, like jumping jacks or pushups in physical education classes, squeezing things too hard or too soft, meltdowns with transitions, meltdown with unexpected changes in routines, extreme sensitivities to smells, not realizing when they're messy or wet, poor balance and coordination, being very spacey, and honestly so, so much more.

Because eight senses are a lot.

And to make it even more confusing, there's not only one type of sensory processing challenge.

As I mentioned before, someone can be hyper-responsive, hypo-responsive, or seeking, but they can also have challenges telling the difference between sensory input, and they might confuse them, or they may have difficulty getting the message to their muscles of how to respond and react.

So the best way to really figure out what is going on is to go through each sense and ask targeted questions about the senses.

I usually recommend you do this with an occupational therapist, as this is what we are trained in.

But I also recommend that you educate yourself before you do.

Occupational therapy evaluations can be extremely overwhelming because you go in and we talk about all of these senses.

But if you've never heard of them before or heard about the different types of sensory processing challenges, it can be hard to follow along in the evaluation and truly understand the education your therapist is giving you.

When you come in and already have some knowledge about these, you're going to get so much more out of your evaluation.

So my personal recommendation would be to book an evaluation because it can take a while to get on the schedule and then educate yourself as much as possible in the meantime.

Again, you will be spending precious time and potentially money on therapy, so you want to make sure you really get the most out of your time with that therapist.

Or if you're already seeing a therapist, educating yourself is going to help you better know what questions to ask, understand the education they're giving you, and carry over their recommendations at home.

And you know I'm not going to leave you hanging here on where to get great education.

Over the next couple weeks, I'll be introducing a new mini course to you.

And before you say, I can't, I have no time, this course is only 35 minutes and you leave with so much knowledge.

Parents in the membership who have taken this course have told me it totally transformed the way they look at their child.

And it's also for adults.

So tune in next week where I'll be telling you a bit more about it before our big launch the first week of November.

Talk soon.