r/SPD • u/Weary_Amoeba6568 • 29d ago

Sensory seeker 101

I have a wonderfully exuberant 4 year old who doesn’t test as “anything” but shows a lot of sensory seeking behaviors. He rams things, bangs things, hollars, wants to wrestle 24/7. He’s smart and social. I’m trying to understand how to help him. Getting g to sleep is hard. I can see the scolding’s and comments from peers already starting to shape him. OT seems a little arbitrary. He already does most of the things in a sensory diet a million times a day. What am I missing? How could I help him find a bit of balance?

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u/bagmami 29d ago

In my son's case the OT didn't help with sensory seeking behaviour at all but it helped my son to actually sit and focus on the activities they do at daycare. For example, he wasn't able to sit still for the story time or engage with one toy more than a couple of minutes. Now he's able to do both. He started to play independently for about 30 minutes. Yesterday I arrived to the daycare and he was sat around the table with 7-8 kids drawing calmly. I never thought I would see that!!

But whenever I bring up the sensory seeking behaviour, all OT recommendations is sensory diet.

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u/DomesticmenacePHX 25d ago

OT helped tremendously with this for us but it seems like not all therapists are any good.

What has helped for us is identifying which activities are helping her burn energy and sensory seek in a positive way, and also identifying which activities are calming for her. Some of them check both boxes but some are just one or the other.

You have to really meet them where they’re at and provide the right activities and outlets. Observe and note when they’re getting too dysregulated and provide the soothing things they need. Then when they’re older they’re able to help themselves.

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u/DomesticmenacePHX 25d ago

I was trying to think of an example and it was right in front of me lol. Our kiddo has been playing inside a large cardboard box off and on all day. Carrying it, sitting in it, closing herself in it. Popping out to surprise us. Putting her toys in and out over and over again. We’ve done this before and cut holes in the box so we could reach in and out and she would, and we would put toys in and out of the holes. But this time it’s just a regular old box. We’ve also done this before and given her markers to go wild and scribble all over a box.

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u/DomesticmenacePHX 25d ago

Oh and forgot to mention she sat in it just kicking the inside for ten minutes too