The second speaker was Beth Aune, an Occupational Therapist, who spoke for 3 hours. I would have listened to her for days on end, what a valuable source of information. So much knowledge, so much experience, so desperately what Mr N needs in his life. But I digress.
She started by discussing all seven of the sensory systems: sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, movement, and muscle awareness. She suggested using simple language and then waiting for a response, do this for everyone, not just our spectrum kiddos. As most of us know, she said women talk too much and then we don't even give anyone a chance to reply before we reword it, thinking they didn't understand. I can really work on this, with both kids and my husband.
Discussing the auditory (hearing) system, children on the spectrum can not differentiate between random noise and verbal words, there is no priority level in auditory input. Most of us can tune out noises in the room and listen to someone talking, they cannot.
When talking about the gustatory (taste) system she talked about how we do things to pay attention, chew gum, munch on ice, chew on a pen, etc. We are receiving sensory input when we do so and we just naturally do these things. Children on the spectrum just need more in order to feel good.
The Vestibular (movement) system provides sensory input to help regulate. This is why they pace, run, rock, spin, flap, etc. She gave the example of a 17 year old student that refused to walk around the track, he weight was becoming a concern and he really needed exercise. She put him on a treadmill, everyone told her he wouldn't walk, if he wouldn't walk around the track, he wouldn't walk on a treadmill. She showed him how to hold on and turned on the treadmill, then put it on an incline. She said the difference is when you are on a treadmill, you must walk, you have no choice. She said he started walking and loved it, he walked 30 minutes the first day. She said by the end of the week he was asking to get on the treadmill, he not only enjoyed walking he like the sound from the treadmill, the speed, it is very rhythmic and soothing. Another benefit of starting on the treadmill is there isn't a lot of visual sensory overload, nothing changes. When walking outside, you get all the visual input, walking past trees, lines on the sidewalk, grass, clouds, etc. Before long this same student was going on hikes.
While Beth mostly spoke about children who are school aged, a lot of the information is practical for Mr N and will be useful in the future. She talked about how this all effects these kids in school. The arousal state must be started, then the attentive state before they can start learning. If their sensory systems are getting no input then they can't learn.
She next discussed overloaded sensory systems. Once a child is over stimulated, it takes longer to recover. So helping them regulate their systems is going to help them avoid being over stimulated, in turn helping them stay focused in class and learning.
Beth talked about the importance of making learning interesting, making these kids want it. One thing she mentioned that made me feel a little better is that there is not mal intent with children. They don't sit around thinking how they can irritate you and how they can make you cranky. When discussing behavior she emphasized the importance of being flexible, instead of just demanding obedience, if there is a simple step you can take to avoid misbehavior, then do so. If they routinely knock something off a desk (which is probably sensory seeking) then simply move said item. Instead of using timeout, use a chillout, if they need a break, let them have a break. There are a lot of simple solutions that will help these guys avoid being overwhelmed. Allowing them to stand at their desk rather than sit, giving them sensory items to help them regulate. If a child breaks his pencil because he is pressing too hard, then buy the big thick pencils. They do not have the ability to feel how hard they are pressing.
She gave a lot of specific examples and suggestions for tools that help with sensory regulation, I won't bore you with the list, if anyone has a child on the spectrum and would like the list, just let me know.
She described the feeling of not knowing where their body is in space. When adults are in a chair and stand up, they can sit down without looking at the chair. These children will often plop into a chair because they don't know where their body is in relation to the chair.
One of the things she mentioned is something I've seen Mr N do many times. A child will throw themselves on the floor, then have you pull them up by their arms. They seem to like to be pulled across the floor by their arms. They throw themselves on the floor because they can feel where their body is when they do that, they like being pulled because they not only enjoy deep pressure (compression therapy) but also the pulling. She gave suggestions on how to help a child do push/pull exercises to help them regulate.
I could probably write another ten pages about her, but I'll leave it at that. She had so many suggestions, so much that I'll be able to use with Mr N. After hearing her describe her most sensory seeking child that she'd ever worked with, I realized the extent of Mr N's sensory issues.
One last thing, she said not everyone with sensory issues has autism, but everyone with autism has sensory issues.
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