Introduction to Sensory Processing Disorder Aids and Solutions

Once Dovi's first SSI check arrived, I went on a big shopping spree and bought him all sorts of sensory equipment. Some of them were hit-and-miss, others were a hit. Instead of bunching them all into one post, I will divide all my purchases into separate posts, one for each of the sensory issues that Dovi deals with. These posts and products will obviously not be in chronological order, as I bought stuff - and am still trying out stuff - all the time, and I'd rather make it easier for casual readers and serious searchers to find the post and product they're looking for instead of scattered around the blog in chronological order.

I will also review products that I did not necessarily buy myself but heard about or saw,

With this introduction out of the way, here are the senses of the sensory system:

Auditory
Visual
Tactile
Proprioceptive
Vestibular
Olfactory
Oral

The "Five Senses" are really: Sight, Sound, Touch, Taste and Smell. Dovi doesn't seem to have any extra special issues with sights, sounds, tastes and smells - Yes, he gets overwhelmed and overstimulated by too much light and too much sound and he'll retreat to his own world when that happens. He squints at lights when he feels too overstimulated or upset, and he'll cover his ears when he's getting dizzy from the activity (although that can be more vestibular as well). He has a finicky tastes but I never bought anything to deal with that so I don't have any posts to show what we bought for that.




The four senses I will focus on, which autistic kids tend to have the most issues with are Vestibular, Oral, Tactile and Proprioceptive.

Vestibular refers to movement; Dovi's constant need for motion had him running everywhere and spinning in circles. Also, at that time - age 2 1/2 - he still had a lot of crying jags and tantrums that came from his need for movement and calming. Putting him into a swing was one of the only things that helped.

Oral refers to the mouth. Dovi still mouths everything in sight. He needs to "Feel" things with his mouth to prove they exist, and to explore them. I tried to help fill that need with chewy tubes and a vibrating teether.

Tactile refers to touch. Part of Dovi's stimming is pulverizing food and throwing it about. I'll post about how I tried to fill that need.

Proprioceptive - this is still Dovi's biggest issue. Proprioceptive is deep pressure. Dovi needs to feel things deeply in order to know they exist and to know where he exists in relation to space. He needs squeezing, hugs, massages, etc, and he has an endless need to squeeze and smear things. Some of my solutions for this are homemade and others are store-bought.

Before I start the posts for these four senses, I will give you links to a few excellent sites with sensory toys and sensory solutions.

www.funandfunction.com -  I really regret not having known about this amazing site until recently. There are quite a few items I would have purchased from them, and I still plan to try some things.

www.schoolspecialty.com - this site came highly recommended by Alexandra, Dovi's incredible E.I. OT - she showed me what to order from there which would be really helpful for his sensory input, and I ordered a lot of things from there.

www.therapro.com - was the first sensory integration solutions web site I came across in my searches and I bought some things there.

Of course, being an Amazon Affiliate, I will link whatever is availabe through amazon, as I make a small commission on every purchase. But whatever isn't available on amazon, I'll provide you with links to.

Thus ends my introductory post to Sensory Processing Solutions as Dovi and I experienced them. More later IYH.