- Rodgers School
- Sensory
- Touch
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TOUCHThe skin is the largest organ in the human body.Among its many functions, the skin contains sensory receptors for touch, temperature, pressure and vibration.Below are strategies to reduce tactile defensiveness, or over-sensitivity to touchIn general, begin by encouraging play in dry, non-messy materials rather than in gooey or sticky textures. If the child still won't touch anything, have him/her use containers to scoop and pour the materials.
- When touching the tactile-defensive child, always approach from the front (no surprises) and use a firm touch, never a light touch.
- For the least offensive sensory play, try dry, clean materials: use both hands to locate small toys hidden in a bucket filled with bird seed, beans, pasta, etc. Practice pouring from one container to another
- Progress to water play and later add soap for sudsy water. Use lots of containers for pouring
- Progress to handling play-doh and other non-gooey materials such as Crayola Model Magic, play foam or moon sand
- Gradually explore different messy materials: start with finger paint bath bubbles in the bath tub
- Progress to real finger paints, smear shaving cream on a mirror or smooth surface, finger paint with pudding, whipped cream, and other mushy foods
- A child can brush his/her own arms and legs with a soft hair brush, surgical brush, or corn silk brush, then progress to letting you brush him/her
- Child, or you, can rub lotion into arms, legs, hands, feet, etc
- Food play is great for increasing a child's interest in touching different textures. Make pretzels together and spend a lot of time kneading the dough and forming it into different shapes
- More food play: make jewelry by stringing popcorn, Cheerios, Fruit-Loops, etc
- Deep pressure: try weighted garments, blankets, or weighted lap toys
- In school, define a personal space with carpet squares or tape on the floor
- In school, allow child to sit in the periphery of a group so that others are not behind him/her
Strategies to increase tactile awarenessMost of the same sensory activities that help a child tolerate touching or being touched also help the child who is a "sensory seeker" (has to touch everything). To diminish this behavior, try the activities in the list below- Play games like "What's in the Bag?": hide familiar objects that the child has to identify by feel
- By feel only, identify objects hidden in a bucket filled with bird seed, pasta, beans, sand, rice, etc
- Encourage discriminating among various textures and states: feel and describe objects that are soft vs hard, smooth vs rough, wet vs dry vs slimy, cold vs warm, small vs large, round vs cornered vs curvy, degrees of vibration, etc.
Last Modified on June 24, 2014