A Calm Countdown: Embracing a Sensory Friendly New Year

Like many new beginnings, starting a new year can be intimidating with a child who can be overwhelmed by change! Considering how to prepare a child and make the new year exciting for them can also be overwhelming for a parent. Don’t miss out on all of the new year fun! We can help you embrace the new year with sensory-friendly activities and tips!

As you navigate the new year with the days leading up to or on the night of, use this as a guide to have your child try and identify these items or topics and discuss them! Explain why you count down, what the fireworks are for, and what you do in the new year with goals and gatherings! Explaining this time of year to your child can help them feel more excited and prepared for the intense sights, sounds, and smells that come with it! Providing them with topics and specific items and events to focus on allows them to feel in control of this often uncontrollable, unique time of year. 

Goals For The New Year

Everyone can set goals for the new year, including your child! It is an important skill to learn and incorporate into daily life (Toornstra et al., 2020). There is a lot of controversy on the benefits of goal setting, as people often don’t follow through with their goals. It can be a great time to think about what you want to work on for the year and start implementing a plan. Goal setting is the ability to develop new concepts, plan actions in advance, and utilize strategy to approach tasks efficiently (Toornstra et al., 2020). These are all important skills to work on with children, and this time of year offers the perfect opportunity! As parents, you can talk about goals for the year you have for yourself and what steps you plan to take to reach these goals. Modeling what you are working toward helps your kid feel like they are not alone in making goals! Tracking goals is shown to be highly effective in monitoring progress toward social-emotional learning and behavioral outcomes (Sanders et al., 2023). Utilizing this time of year to talk with your child about goals for their behavior, sensory challenges, and other things you want to work on this year gives them autonomy! Children are shown to work better and be more motivated toward reaching their goals if they feel they are part of making them (Jacob et al., 2017). You can plan a time for you and your child to sit down, and each of you can write out your goals for the year and ways you want to reach those goals. Below is an example sheet you can use to work with your child.

How We Support Your New Year At SENSE-ational Spaces

Handwriting Practice Holiday Sensory Addition: New Years Day: for practicing handwriting and another opportunity to talk about what the new year brings.

Wall Organizer Large & Small: for a calendar, goals, and holding important information.

Noise Filtering Headphones or Earplugs: to decrease the noise from holiday events and parties to ring in the new year.

Sensory Table: to make a DIY sensory bin to celebrate and get used to common things that happen during the new year.

Winter Scavenger Hunt Blog: activities to get out during the cold January and February winter days.

Why It’s Important To Support A Child With Sensory Needs During The Holiday Season

Our senses help us move through the world and make sense of it (SC Parents, 2024). Improper processing, whether taking in, understanding what it means, or reacting to a sensation, makes navigating the world a little more complicated. It is essential to help support your child during the holiday season so they can better make sense of the world and comprehend what is happening when they can’t entirely rely on their senses to tell them. When you can understand what your child is experiencing, it helps you support them properly. For example, meltdowns and tantrums, difficulty with transitions, and unpredictable emotional responses are all signs of sensory dysfunction (Bradford Jones, 2024, SC Parents, 2024). Some parents could see these behaviors as stubbornness and a child’s choice. These signs of sensory dysfunction are reactions to the altered signals and stimuli a child is receiving (Passarello et al., 2022). Understanding this can help you navigate and support your child to improve their sensory regulation and increase your family’s ability to partake in holiday activities!

How Occupational Therapists Help with New Year Transitions, Goals, and Children’s Success

An occupational therapist's role is to support children in participating in activities that are important to them and their families. This includes participating in the holidays, as social participation is crucial to improving health and quality of life by supporting occupational balance (Park et al., 2021). Utilizing sensory equipment and tools on the go, a child can regulate while still being able to participate in activities like others appropriately or allow their family to not miss out on essential holidays. Occupational therapists can also provide support in appropriate social skills to participate in family holidays following social norms. In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occupational therapy was shown to improve sensory skills, relationship-building skills, body and object usage abilities, language skills, and social and self-care skills (Jaicks, 2024). We create goals as part of our jobs with clients in collaboration with family to encourage motivation toward doing what they want, need, and love to do on a daily basis. We also encourage social stories to be utilized or schedules to provide routine and consistency while also supporting life and the unplanned activities that come along with it.

A New Year’s Eve Social Story

References

Bradford Jones, K. (2024, September). Sensory processing disorder. FamilyDoctor.org. https://familydoctor.org/condition/sensory-processing-disorder-spd/

Jacob, J., De Francesco, D., Deighton, J., Law, D., Wolpert, M., & Edbrooke-Childs, J. (2017). Goal formulation and tracking in child mental health settings: when is it more likely and is it associated with satisfaction with care?. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 26(7), 759–770. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0938-y

Jaicks, C. C. D. (2024). Evaluating the Benefits of Occupational Therapy in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Using the Autism Behavior Checklist. Curēus (Palo Alto, CA), 16(7), e64012-. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.64012

Park, S., Lee, H. J., Jeon, B. J., Yoo, E. Y., Kim, J. B., & Park, J. H. (2021). Effects of occupational balance on subjective health, quality of life, and health-related variables in community-dwelling older adults: A structural equation modeling approach. PloS one, 16(2), e0246887. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246887

Passarello, N., Tarantino, V., Chirico, A., Menghini, D., Costanzo, F., Sorrentino, P., Fucà, E., Gigliotta, O., Alivernini, F., Oliveri, M., Lucidi, F., Vicari, S., Mandolesi, L., & Turriziani, P. (2022). Sensory processing disorders in children and adolescents: Taking stock of assessment and novel therapeutic tools. Brain Sciences, 12(11), 1478. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111478

Sanders, S., Rollins, L. H., & McFall, A. (2023). Aiming High: Applying Goal Setting to Social and Emotional Learning Skills in the Elementary Classroom. Beyond Behavior, 32(1), 4-14. https://doi-org.pearl.stkate.edu/10.1177/10742956221145692

SC Parents (2024). A guide to understanding and supporting your child’s sensory system. Children’s Trust of South Carolina. https://scparents.org/blog/a-guide-to-understanding-and-supporting-your-childs-sensory-system

Toornstra, A., Hurks, P. P. M., Van der Elst, W., Massar, K., Kok, G., Curfs, L. M. G. (2020). Measuring Goal Setting in School-Aged Children: Studying the Effects of Demographic Variables in Regression-Based Norms. Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology, 6, 96-110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40817-020-00081-8