If your child struggles with big emotions, frequent meltdowns, or difficulty focusing, you may have heard the term “sensory diet.” Despite the name, it has nothing to do with food. Instead, it’s a personalized set of activities designed to give your child’s nervous system the input it needs to stay calm, focused, and ready to learn. But what exactly goes into a sensory diet, and how do you know if your child needs one?
My name is Sara Pereira. I’m a pediatric occupational therapist and co-owner of Sensational Development Occupational Therapy, located on Long Island. I want to take a few minutes to talk about sensory diets, which are a very common intervention strategy that we use in the clinic and one about which we often hear misconceptions.
What Is a Sensory Diet?
A sensory diet is a tool or strategy that an occupational therapist and a family collaborate on and develop for use at home, out in the community, or throughout the school day. And the goal of a sensory diet is to maintain or achieve a calm, regulated, grounded state, or what we often will say, an “optimal level of arousal.”
Think about the activities that are prescribed or suggested as part of a sensory diet as being nourishment for the central nervous system. This doesn’t necessarily include food, although it may, if we find that oral sensory input is a calming thing for a child. In that case, we might suggest crunchy snacks or drinking thick liquids through a straw because that is something that we notice helps the child stay regulated.
What Do We Look at to Develop a Sensory Diet?
When developing a sensory diet, what we want to know is:
- What does your daily routine look like?
- What routines is your child experiencing throughout their day, or on a weekday versus a weekend?
- Where are they experiencing the most difficulty?
- Where do they have trouble staying regulated?
- Do they have difficulty with transitions?
- What is available to you in your home?
- Do you have a swing set in the backyard?
- Do you happen to have a swing in the living room or a sensory gym in your basement?
- Do you have a playground nearby? Is there space?
- What kind of space do you have?
- And what kind of toys and equipment do you have?
Factors to Consider When Setting Up a Sensory Diet
When setting up a sensory diet, three important factors need to be considered:
Frequency
When we’re suggesting therapeutic activities to be incorporated in a sensory diet and used throughout a child’s day, we’re going to start with, how often do they need to be done? How often does my child need this type of sensory input? Are we good with having sensory breaks just once or twice throughout the day, or is this something that I need to start incorporating more frequently?
Intensity
How intense does this input need to be? Can they simply jump on a trampoline or do a little bit of heavy work (like carry a weighted ball, or push a basket full of laundry down the hallway for mom)? Can they get a little bit of movement while seated on a ball or a move-in sit cushion?
Or do we need to work those muscles a little bit harder? Do we need to make big sandwiches with pillows, or push the heaviest things we can find, or unload jugs of water out of the car after a trip to Costco? Do we need to head out to that swing set and move really far and wide through space?
Duration
How long does this activity need to last? Can we have a quick sensory break where we jump on a trampoline or swing on the swing set before we transition back to homework? Or do we need to be out on the swing set (or doing whatever the activity is that we figure out works for a child) for a good 20 to 30 minutes and then we’re able to feel a little bit calmer, more regulated, and ready to return to an activity?
The Optimal Level of Arousal Changes to Meet the Needs of Different Activities
The goal of a sensory diet is to help reach and maintain an optimal level of arousal throughout the day. It’s also important to consider that we don’t expect children to maintain that even level of arousal all the time. There are appropriate times where a child’s arousal level may be low, like when they first wake up in the morning or before going to bed at night, or if they’re just hanging out on the couch on a rainy afternoon.
The other thing to consider is that there are appropriate times for them to have a high arousal level, such as when they’re out at recess or running around the backyard with their siblings. There are many, many times where a fluctuating arousal level is absolutely expected.
There are also many times where an optimal arousal level is necessary for safety, attention and engaging in childhood occupations, such as:
- During the school day or family activities
- At the dinner table
- When doing homework
- When doing self-care, like getting yourself dressed
- When following the natural routines of the family
Reach Out to Sensational Development for Help with Sensory Diets
Occupational therapists who are trained in sensory integration are well-versed in creating and tweaking sensory diets with families. It’s something that is ongoing and will be changed and adjusted as the child develops.
If you have any concerns or questions, or if you think a sensory diet could be right for your family and your child, please contact us at Sensational Development. We’re happy to help. We have therapists available to do consults, and we’re happy to work with families to develop a sensory diet for your child.
