A sensory seeker or avoider?
Is your child a sensory seeker or avoider? Take a look and see!
The Seeker – hyposensitive
The child will:
- See out certain types of input in order to meet their lack of sensory input their body is receiving.
- Craves proprioceptive input ie bumps/crashes into objects or people, plays rough, jumps around.
- Enjoy lots of vestibular input ie swings, spins, goes upside down regularly.
- Craves tactile input ie touches almost everything no matter how many times you tell them off!
- Enjoys seeking oral input ie will put everything into their mouths.
Sensory seekers therefore need more input and can appear extreme in many of their actions because of this. However, all they are trying to do is fill their sensory needs.
The Avoider – hypersensitive
The child will:
- Avoid certain types of input because it appears unpleasant to them.
- Be overreactive to certain input.
- React to touch or wearing certain clothing ie dislike cuddles, irritated by seams in clothing or tags saying they feel “itchy”.
- Cover their ears when it is noise ie dislikes hair dryers, vacuums, fireworks, shouting.
So, how that we have looked at the seeker and avoider – which one is your child?
Take a look at some of these links to help the above areas:
https://www.treetopsoccupationaltherapy.co.uk/how-to-create-a-home-sensory-circuit/
https://www.treetopsoccupationaltherapy.co.uk/wp-admin/post.php?post=1396&action=edit
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