THE SENSORY MADE SIMPLE PODCAST

Transcript

Welcome to Sensory Made Simple, a podcast dedicated to helping moms figure out how to understand your child's sensory needs and how to support them.

Whether it's tackling meltdowns, eating new foods, or just getting through the day without feeling completely drained.

Hi, I'm Dr.

Sam, a pediatric occupational therapist and busy boy mom.

And each week, I'll share simple, realistic tips that fit into your busy life.

Because believe me, I get it.

Adding one more thing to your plate feels overwhelming enough.

No complicated terms, just easy to follow strategies to help your child feel calm, confident, and understood.

So grab your coffee, chances are I've got mine too.

Pop in your earbuds and let's figure this out together.

A little note before we begin.

Please be advised that this information in this podcast is not medical or occupational therapy advice and is just for general and informational knowledge.

Okay, let's get to the show.

Hello, and welcome back to Sensory Made Simple.

Oh my gosh, it's still so weird to say that I'm so used to this being the Food Explorers podcast, but I am so excited to have finally relaunched and rebranded and be back with you.

I actually had recorded that last episode way beforehand, so this is the first one I'm recording under Sensory Made Simple.

And today we're talking all about what sensory sensitivity actually feels like, my view as an occupational therapist and as a sensory-sensitive mom.

So, something you might not know about me, you may know if you've actually been here a while, is that I definitely am more sensory-sensitive.

I do crave certain sensations like hugs and tight blankets and things like that.

But for most other things, I have a really low threshold and I react really, really quickly to sensory input.

So, things like sounds, smells, I tend to be a little bit more sensitive to.

And so, what I was thinking about after that last episode is, we talked about, we explained what sensory sensitivity is and what sensory overload is, right?

But it's really hard from the outside to look at our chat and really understand what that means, right?

We might know what it means, but we have a hard time kind of understanding what they're actually fully experiencing, and yeah.

So I thought that I would kind of share with you what it feels like in my body, and I think as I do that, you might actually start to think of some areas you might be a little bit more sensory sensitive, and I think it's going to help you be a little bit more empathetic with your child and relate to them a little bit more when they're experiencing sensory overload and sensory sensitivities.

So a little reminder maybe for those of you who listened to the episode a while ago or who are new here and maybe haven't listened to that episode yet, let's talk about what sensory sensitivity is.

Sensory sensitivity is when sensory input feels very overwhelming.

It feels like too much.

So somebody who's sensory sensitive actually reacts really quickly and more strongly to sensory information than maybe the general population would.

So let me give you an example.

Maybe we are playing outside.

We're playing with the water table.

We get a little bit of drop of water on our clothing.

For most of us, right, a little drop of water wouldn't bother us.

We would maybe wipe it off or we'd see, oh, we got a little wet and we'd go about our day and be like, okay, it's going to dry soon.

A child who is sensory sensitive to water, they might have a really big reaction to that.

They might start to cry.

They might need to take off their shirt and get totally changed.

They might have a total meltdown because they went right into sensory overload.

So sensory sensitivity means that someone is more sensitive to sensory input.

They have a lower threshold, meaning they react much quicker, much faster, and much larger to some kind of sensory information, like getting wet, than most people would.

Now, if you haven't listened to episode 71 of the podcast, Why is My Child So Sensitive?

Understanding Sensory Overload and Sensory Sensitivity, I do really recommend that you go back and listen to that one.

It is gonna help you understand this episode so much more.

Now, when it comes to sensory sensitivity, something that a lot of parents say to me is, oh, but they really love to crash, and I think they actually crave this, or they crave that.

You don't have to be sensory sensitive in every single sense.

Certain types of sounds, they might be sensitive to certain different touches.

It is a little messy, right?

And we need to kind of pull back the layers and really get into, okay, well, what are they sensitive to?

What are they not sensitive to?

And so I really, really promote parents taking a step back and taking a look just from kind of that big picture and seeing, okay, it doesn't have to be one or the other, right?

It can be in that gray area and really starting to understand, okay, what exactly is my child showing me and picking up those clues?

All right, let's get in to my personal experiences.

I will say, I actually do find some of these a little bit embarrassing, even though I know it's not something to be embarrassed of, right?

Sensory quirks, sensory triggers are very normal, and we almost all experience some kind of sensory quirk, right?

But let's talk about what makes it a quirk versus a true dysfunction or a true disorder.

I hate the word dysfunction disorder.

I really like to use the word difficulty, right?

So it's something that a child has difficulty with because of the world that we live in.

But okay, what makes it more of a difficulty versus just a sensory quirk?

So I like to say that every single person in the world has some kind of sensory quirk, right?

We all are more sensitive to something, there's something that bothers us, something that irks us.

For me, and we'll talk a little bit more about this, one of these is Saran Wrap, right?

That is a sensory quirk for me.

Again, we'll get back there.

But what makes it just a quirk?

Well, Saran Wrap isn't something I really have to encounter all the time, right?

It's something that I might come into contact once in a blue moon because I just don't keep it in my house.

So it's not really something I deal with on a day to day basis, and it doesn't get in the way of me living my life, right?

But something like we talked about that water, we encounter water every single day.

If a child's having a hard time with playing with water, getting wet, right?

We need to shower almost every single day.

We need to brush our teeth.

We need to drink water.

You might spill water on yourself multiple times a day when you're washing your hands in the bathroom.

If it is something that is affecting us on a day to day basis, that is where it becomes a true struggle, a true challenge that we don't really want to ignore, right?

We want to help them.

We want to make our days to days easier.

Want to make our days less chaotic.

We want to make the day more enjoyable for them.

So a quirk, I would say, is a sensory trigger that's there, right?

But it doesn't bother us every day.

Maybe it bothers us a little bit, but we're able to handle it, right?

We're able to go on with our lives.

A sensory challenge, a sensory difficulty, that is when it stops us on a day-to-day basis.

It is not something that a child is able to continue along on their path with.

It might cause meltdowns.

It might cause massive reactions.

And it is a true struggle for them.

Okay, so Saran Wrap.

Let's get back to that.

Can you tell?

Even I don't love talking about it, to be honest.

So I have an actual physical biological reaction to Saran Wrap, right?

The hairs on my arm stand up when I'm around it, when I have to feel it, when I have to work with it.

And I get goosebumps.

I am instantly irritable just from it being there.

Just talking about you, just talking about you, talking about it, talking with you about it.

Even that triggers it.

I can feel literally right now goosebumps on my arm because I am thinking about Saran Wrap.

Now, if I had to sit there with it, right?

I couldn't escape it.

I had to watch somebody playing with it for over and over and over for 20 minutes.

I would probably start to get pretty dysregulated.

I'd start to get feeling hot.

I'd maybe feel overwhelmed.

Then I'd probably get a little snappy, right?

So I could 100% tell you that if I was in my house right now and my husband was putting Saran Wrap on something and he was prolonging it or he was taking a really long time with it, I would probably get get a little snappy, right?

Not meaning to, right?

Not intentionally, but biologically.

My reaction, my body will get really upset, really overwhelmed until I would snap and be like, what are you doing?

Why are you taking so long, right?

It's not something that I would be able to control.

Now it's something that I need to be able to better control, right?

And that would make it more of that sensory challenge versus just a true quirk if I wasn't able to.

But it is something that I'm able to kind of deal with, right?

It's not something I encounter a lot, but it does make me very uncomfortable.

Now how does this relate to our kids?

We might not realize that they are experiencing a sensory sensitivity.

You might think that they're rationally upset by a texture or a sound, like why are you having such a big reaction?

But consider, what is going on in their body right now?

Are they covering their ears because that sound actually hurts their ears?

You might not think it hurts, but it might hurt them.

Are they experiencing goosebumps?

Are they experiencing that itchy feeling in their body?

You know, the itch, the shudder that they might feel?

I shudder sometimes from those things.

Something might be making their body feel not good from sensory input.

Just because we can't feel it, doesn't mean it is not happening for them.

And that is a really, really big thing to take a step back and consider.

What is actually going on in their body?

Alright, I'm going to give you another example.

So we are a big Disney family.

Not my husband, but me and my sister.

We love to go to Disney.

Now, there is something at Disney that ruins my day very quickly.

We live in Florida, right?

Florida is hot.

Now, everybody is sweating at Disney.

But for me, if I encounter somebody and their body is sweaty and they touch me, I literally cannot stop thinking about having their sweat on my body for the rest of the day.

It's impossible for me to stop thinking about it once it happens.

Now, again, I can make it through my day, right?

We can make it through Disney.

It is not sending me home, but it really makes me feel just yucky.

I'm uncomfortable, and it affects my mood a little bit.

Now, if I had to stay in a room with somebody, and over and over and over, encounter that same sensation, that same movement, that same transfer of sweat, I would probably start to react pretty intensely.

So I also want you to think about what happens when your child is not able to escape the trigger that they are feeling, right?

A lot of the times, we still try to go on with our day, right?

Maybe there's something we want to do with them.

Maybe there's something we're excited for.

We're trying to get something done as a family, and your child is having a really hard time with the sensation.

They're having a meltdown, and we're still just trying to push through it, right?

What happens to them physically when we're trying to do that, right?

If somebody was trying to force me to do that at Disney over and over, I would have a meltdown, right?

I would probably pop.

And so, I really want you to think about that.

What is going on for them when they are not able to step away from that trigger?

Now, let me put my OT lens back on.

Here's what I would say, looking at myself as an OT.

So, we're going to talk about my sensory profile.

We talk about sensory profile.

This is the overview of somebody's sensory system, right?

It is what we are taking a step back, we're looking at them, and we're categorizing, right?

The sensory system.

So, there are different categories when it comes to sensory processing.

We're not going to get into that in this episode.

You should actually download, I have a free guide that just launched.

I, sorry, I actually need to look this up, because I want to make sure that I have it for you.

I want to make sure that I am saying this right.

Okay, I actually just launched a new guide, the Sensory Survival Guide for Parents, and it's going to help you decode your child's sensory issues, and learn what their behavior really is telling you.

And in that, we actually talk about the different categories of sensory processing.

So I do highly recommend you take a look at that.

It's at drsamgoldman.com/sensorysurvivalguide.

Again, drsamgoldman.com/sensorysurvivalguide.

And again, I will link that in the show notes for you.

Okay, so if I was looking at myself as an OT, here is what I would say about my sensory profile.

So, I definitely am falling more into the sensory sensitive category.

I avoid more sensations than I look for them, but I do crave some sensations.

Now, what are my triggers?

Right, we talked about this.

We talked about Saran Wrap.

We talked about sweat.

Both of those are the touch sense.

Both of those are tactile.

That's just another fancy word for touch.

But I have a defensiveness, right?

So I am defensive to those certain kind of textures.

Now, something we didn't talk about today, and we will talk about it a little bit, is that I am more sensitive to sound, so noise building up, and to clutter in my house, so visually.

Now, how do I respond to those?

Right?

Well, we kind of talked about that, right?

My fight or flight response definitely starts to kick in as soon as I feel those sensations, right?

I start to get uncomfortable.

I start to get irritable.

That's my fight coming up.

I can tolerate the discomfort for a while, even though my heart starts to beat a little faster.

But if the exposure continues, if I cannot leave that situation, something for me that sets in is freeze.

So there's fight, there's fight, fight, there's flight, and there's freeze.

So when your body kind of just shuts down.

So a lot of the time, parents like, well, they didn't say anything, right?

They didn't tell me they were upset.

A lot of the times we freeze.

We are not able to, you're so, I'm thinking about it right now, and I'm feeling it, but I'm even having a hard time explaining it.

But you are so in fight or flight response that all of a sudden you get to freeze, and you are so overwhelmed.

You can't say anything.

You can't leave the situation.

You can't think about it.

You are just truly frozen.

And so a lot of kids experience that too, and they're not able to tell you.

So we really need to from the outside be able to recognize that.

So I really, really promote that you take a step back and look and see.

If you were taking a look at your child, if you were evaluating what your child is going through, what do you think their sensory profile is, right?

Are they falling more into craving?

Are they falling more into avoiding sensations?

What are those triggers and what senses do you notice are paired with those triggers?

And again, that guide is really going to help you with this.

How do they respond to the triggers?

What happens when they encounter a trigger?

What happens when they can't leave the trigger?

And how can we help them feel more in control?

Now as a mom, being sensory sensitive is interesting, right?

Being a mom comes with a lot of sensory overload.

And I thought this would be a really great thing to talk about with you guys because you are all moms experiencing sensory overload as well.

So, mess and clutter.

My brain feels physically uncomfortable when there is just too much clutter in my house.

It's not just that I want things tidy.

I literally cannot function.

I cannot think.

I cannot do anything.

It feels like my mind is buzzing and I cannot focus when the house is a mess.

And again, I am very irritable.

Noise and sound sensitivity.

So a lot of background noise, like the TV and toys and banging.

And for me also is like the fan on like on our microwave right above our stove, if that is on.

A lot of the times I won't even realize that it's on and I'm irritable and I turn it off.

And I physically feel my body relax.

And if I don't get quiet time during the day, I do start to feel, you know, not not as great.

But if I have some quiet time where I can recollect myself, my sensory cup can empty a little bit.

I feel a lot better.

Alright, how does this relate to our kids?

Some kids feel this way all day long.

Our very sensory sensitive kids, they are experiencing this all day long, right?

The constant sounds, the constant noise, the constant unpredictability.

When you are a child, you are always in those child areas where there is a lot of sound, a lot of noise.

You go to school, there is so much happening, right?

So if they are too sensitive, if they are experiencing sensory sensitivity, their nervous system is processing all of that input differently than ours is.

But this is also a great time to think about you.

Are you experiencing this sensory overload too as a mom?

What are your triggers?

What is your sensory profile?

Is it different from your child's?

A lot of the time it is.

How do you respond to it?

Because a lot of the time, our sensory profile, our kid's sensory profiles, don't always match up as much as we'd like them to, right?

They might really crave making noise and running and screaming, and we might crave that quiet.

But what can we do to meet in the middle with them?

How can we provide the input that they need to help them calm down with also providing the input we need for our body?

Okay, we are getting a little bit lengthy here, so I am going to start to wrap this up.

I like to keep these episodes pretty short and pretty sweet.

So if you've noticed that your child seems more sensory sensitive, good job.

You're at step one for figuring out their sensory profile.

Take a step back, think about their triggers.

Are they rare?

Are they happening constantly?

Write it down.

I cannot emphasize that enough.

Write it down, open a little page in your notes app, and just start to really pay attention.

Just jot down a couple of things, and when you go back, you can kind of look at it and start to peel back the layers like an onion.

How can you help your child when they're experiencing sensory sensitivities?

Again, go back, listen to episode 71.

There's a lot of stuff in there to help you.

Reduce exposure to triggers if possible, right?

If that's something that makes them really uncomfortable, teach them.

How can they manage that?

How can they reduce that for themselves?

Teach coping skills.

So teach them to understand their body.

What helps them calm down?

What helps them empty their sensory cup?

Adjust expectations.

So we, again, we try to push through a lot of times because we really want to do something or we just want to finish something, right?

And get through our day.

Understand what their body is going through.

And I hope this episode really did help you understand what they are experiencing as they go through this on a day-to-day basis because it is really overwhelming and it is really uncomfortable for them.

You may have noticed that this episode was a little bit different, right?

So I, in the past, would really actually script out most of my episodes.

I would have very detailed notes on what I wanted to say to you.

And I am trying to go a little bit more naturally these days.

I'm trying to go a little bit off the cuff, mostly because I have Mr.

C here and he keeps me very busy and I really want to be here for you, too, providing you episodes, providing you great content as much as possible.

So again, I'm trying to get back to these weekly episodes for you.

And so I'm making more of a general outline and talking to you.

So thank you for bearing with me as we kind of change into this new format and as I practice not talking off a script all the time and instead talking directly to you and trying to be more conversational, right?

Trying to talk to you just as a friend, like what I would tell my friends to do if they were in a similar situation as us.

Okay, so quick recap.

Sensory sensitivity is when a child is more sensitive to typical sensory information that they encounter on an everyday basis.

When does this become a true difficulty?

When it interferes with us functioning on a day to day basis.

What is happening in the body?

Well, for everybody, it's different, right?

I explained for me, I get irritable, I feel goosebumps, I shut down, I stop talking.

For you, you need to look at what your child is experiencing, right?

But it is real.

It's not kids trying to be difficult, it's not them trying to manipulate us, it is what they are physically experiencing.

It is a physical reaction in the body that is very uncomfortable.

But bravo, if you are here today, you've probably already noticed that your child has sensory sensitivity, and that is step one.

Now step two, download that guide, our Sensory Survival Guide for Parents, drsamgoldman.com/sensorysurvivalguide, and that will really help you walk through those next steps.

And I will see you back here next week on Sensory Made Simple.

Thanks for joining me.

Thank you so much for joining me today on Sensory Made Simple.

I hope you're heading off with a little extra confidence and some easy ideas to tackle those sensory struggles head on.

If this episode was helpful or gave you a tip you can't wait to try, it would mean so much if you would share it with a friend or leave a quick review.

It helps more moms like you find the show and support their child too.

And remember, every small step you take makes a big difference for your child.

You've got this, and I am cheering you on every step of the way.

See you next time.