Preventing Sensory Overload.
There was a time in the not too distant past when my whole raison d’etre was preventing sensory overload in my home.
Sensory overload is what happens when you have a really particular kid who is extra sensitive to noise/taste/touch/environment/visual stimulation, mix that kid up with some thunder/particular food/clothes/school/fluorescent lights, and stir in some sleepless nights. Voila! You have created the emotional volcano that erupts from a child who is sensory overloaded and who then takes it out on anyone around. Especially if that person is you…because they feel safe and secure and loved by you and the calm and quiet place you provide for them. Except you do not feel calm and quiet inside. Inside, you feel like you are being rubbed on with a brillo pad…raw and pained.
I am not a big labeller, I don’t like to diagnose or treat ‘disorders’. I like to know and love kids and everything they bring to the table without putting them in a box. But, the day I read about Sensory Integration Disorder, I felt angels singing in my ears. Each of my kids is prone to sensory overload in different ways, and when I learned about how to make the world easier for them as well as taught them how to handle the overload, my life became much less complicated. It is always empowering for everyone involved when there is understanding and respect for how the other person processes things.
Naturalist has the hearing of an owl. (disregard if owls don’t, in fact, have good hearing. What do I know, I’m not the Naturalist. But I’m assuming they do because their eyesight is piss poor but they still manage to find enough to eat.) When she was 3, she refused to sleep because of the ‘not monster’. A monster who would come into her room and whisper “not, not, not” over and over until she went insane. This, in turn, drove me insane. This went on for yeeeeeears. Then we moved to Vegas when she was 5, and for a few days she slept really great! Then I unpacked a box of her stuff and she immediately exclaimed, “The not monster is back!”. After looking over the newly unpacked things, it turned out the not monster was the whisper of a second hand on a tiny clock. This hyper hearing affected her in school, since she would focus her hearing attention equally on the teacher, the kids, the fly on the window, the rustle of papers, and the kids playing at recess outside. Other sensory issues that made it hard for her to be in a classroom: flickering fluorescent lights, sitting upright in a chair, and moving from task to task on a set schedule. Taking her out of school quickly solved so many daily overloads she was having at the time. She also had huge sleep issues which were resolved miraculously by a lava lamp. She also sleeps in a hammock now. For a long time, I felt like I had to walk on eggshells around her, in order to prevent a huge emotional vent. But now that she’s 14, I honestly can barely remember those days. Being informed + her getting older = sensory overload free days! Now she can tell me what’s bothering her way before it gets overwhelming.
Golfer has a problem with sudden and loud noises. It started after one bad thunderstorm when he was 4 or 5. He began obsessing over the weather…if it looked stormy or windy outside he wouldn’t leave the house, and would place his hands over his ears in anticipation of a loud thunderclap that usually would never happen. He would lay on the floor unable to move out of fear of thunder, only able to cry and scream. Movies with sudden loud sound effects are right out. Loud crowds or music…right out. When we went to the airshow last week, even though he was so excited to see all his favorite planes there, he was unable to focus because of the noise when the jets would fly overhead. He was constantly on guard against having the loud noises return unexpectedly, and turned into a ball of stress. Then we got him the earphones or whatever the noise blockers are called, and it was like a new kid! I wish I’d thought of this sooner. I would have gotten a pair of these when he was 4 and 5. In fact, when I posted the pics I realized that lots of my facebook friends have them for their kids. I have such smart facebook friends!
And Sassy. Well. Sassy doesn’t like to wear pants. Or socks. Or shoes. She doesn’t like the feel of any of them. She does like flip flops, so moving to warm So. Cal. has helped because she can wear them anytime, unlike in the winter in Colorado. Socks are negotiable. Pants are non-negotiable. I mean, she doesn’t ever wear them around the house, but going out it’s important to have some on. I’ve tried skirts, dresses, shorts…no no no. But now, thanks to Lindsay Lohan, jeggings are everywhere! the look of pants, the feel of soft leggings/sweats. She keeps them on a lot easier. Another thing Sassy has a hard time with…touching messy stuff. She’s never been a big fan of playdoh or finger painting or eating with her hands. In fact, even sandwiches bother her because sometimes the messy middle dribbles out and forces her to touch it. Today I had an aha moment after remembering the cool way we’d eat hot dogs while in Germany. They would take a roll, impale it on a hot poker (making both a hot roll and a space for the hot dog), put some condiments in the hole then shove a hot dog into it. I never got messy eating one of those! I could hold the bread without anything leaking onto my hands. So I recreated it with some roast beef. I got a little roll, shoved my finger inside and made a space for some rolled up cheese and roast beef, dribbled in some mustard…and look! Non messy roast beef sandwich! I’ll have to try this again with PB&J!
Do you have any other tips for helping kids not get overstimulated?
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