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A sensory diet is a personalized plan of activities and strategies designed to help children regulate their sensory needs, improve focus, and enhance participation in daily life. These plans provide the sensory input a child requires to feel calm, alert, and ready to learn or interact with others. Sensory diets are particularly beneficial for children who experience sensory processing challenges, offering structured ways to balance sensory input throughout the day.
Implementing a sensory diet helps children:
By providing the right sensory input at the right times, sensory diets enable children to navigate their day with greater ease and confidence.
Children with sensory processing difficulties may overreact or underreact to sensory input, making it hard to focus, regulate emotions, or transition between activities. A sensory diet helps balance these reactions by offering planned sensory activities tailored to the child’s specific needs. Benefits of sensory diets include:
For example, a child who becomes overstimulated by noise can use calming activities like deep-pressure input to regain focus and comfort.
Sensory diets are ideal for children with sensory processing challenges, including:
Occupational therapists (OT's) work closely with caregivers and teachers to develop sensory diets tailored to each child’s unique sensory profile.
OT's assess the child’s sensory preferences, triggers, and patterns to identify activities that provide the right type and amount of sensory input.
Parents and teachers share insights about when and where the child experiences sensory challenges, ensuring the sensory diet fits into daily routines.
Activities are chosen based on the child’s sensory needs, such as calming, alerting, or organizing input. For instance, swinging provides vestibular input, while squeezing a stress ball strengthens proprioceptive awareness.
Sensory diets are customized to each child but often include activities that fall into specific categories of sensory input:
Sensory diets aim to help children feel more regulated and capable of managing their sensory needs independently. Goals might include:
Progress is tracked through feedback from caregivers and teachers, as well as observations of how effectively the child utilizes the sensory diet.