What is Sensory Overload?
Did you know that we have 8 sensory systems? They are sight, touch, smell, hearing, taste, proprioceptive, vestibular, and interoceptive. The proprioceptive system is located within the muscles and it detects deep pressure touch. The vestibular system provides you with awareness of movement and spatial orientation. The interoceptive system allows us to feel our internal organs and provides us with body insight.
To learn more about these 8 senses, check out these previously written blogs on the sensory systems series on our website:
Sensory overload occurs when your brain receives more input from these 8 senses than it can handle. Being in large crowds, loud noises, the sight of pulsing lights, and intense smells can trigger sensory overload. As a response to being overwhelmed by the input of such stimuli, the brain enters a state of fight or flight or freeze mode. Anyone can experience sensory overload, however, it is especially common in young children with health conditions. Sensory overload is associated with autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and sensory processing disorder. Children with any of these conditions are at a higher risk for experiencing sensory overload in their daily life. It is important to recognize the signs to watch out for and help your child to learn strategies in coping with sensory overload.
In this blog, we will discuss what sensory overload looks like in children, the signs to watch out for, activities you can do with your child, and strategies to help reduce the symptoms of sensory overload.
What does it look like in children?
First, let’s consider how a child’s behavior may look like when experiencing sensory overload.
Throwing tantrums
Feeling irritable more than usual
Intense desire to escape a situation or from a place
Feeling high levels of excitement
Restlessness or feeling uncomfortable in their own skin
Urge to cover ears when in a loud area or hearing a certain sound
Feeling anxious about their surroundings
Fearfulness of a situation, people, or an object
High level of sensitivity to texture (e.g. not wanting to wear wool sweaters)
If your child is exhibiting any of these behaviors, they may be feeling sensory overload. It is important to not label these behaviors as “misbehaving” or “being disobedient.” Learning these signs can help you recognize the source of sensory load. Pay attention to what is causing them to engage in these behaviors so you can differentiate between a sensory overload behavior and other behavior problems.
Activities to help with sensory overload
If your child is experiencing sensory overload, try some of these activities to help alleviate some of the symptoms.
Arts and crafts can be really helpful for a child experiencing sensory overload. Doing something with your hands can be a nice distraction from the triggering stimuli. Grounding activities are activities to help ground you back to reality when you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed. Grounding activities are especially important for children experiencing sensory overload. Scroll back through previous activities and tools that were previously written in our blog - click the links to learn more:
Although there is no one way to treat sensory overload, there are things you can do with your child at home or in the community to help relieve some of the symptoms and maladaptive behavior. Sensory overload is a condition that impacts one’s daily routine and occupations. We hope that you found this information helpful and gained new strategies needed to better support your child. If you find any of these tools and strategies helpful and would like to use it let us know how well it worked out. Also, let us know in the comments below what other helpful strategies you found that work well for you and your family!
References
Photo 1 - https://beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/newsletters/asd-sensory-overload-videos
Photo 2 - https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/best-noise-canceling-headphones/
Play-dough- https://www.senseationalspaces.com/blog-1/diy-homemade-playdoh
Sensory bottles - https://www.senseationalspaces.com/blog-1/four-seasons-of-sensory-bottles
Rice Sensory bin - https://www.senseationalspaces.com/blog-1/how-to-make-a-rainbow-rice-sensory-bin
Weighted vest - https://www.senseationalspaces.com/blog-1/weighted-vests