What is Sensory Regulation?

Sensory regulation is our ability to manage and respond to sensory experiences throughout the day.

This includes what we

• see
• smell
• touch
• taste
• hear

as well as

• proprioception – movement and awareness of our body in the space around us
• interoception – what is going on inside our body
• vestibular – our sense of balance, positioning, coordination and spatial awareness

Our ability to manage and respond to sensory experiences directly impacts our emotions and therefore our behaviour.

This can look like:

• screaming when lights are too bright or with unexpected flashing (sight)
• refusing to eat at mealtimes because of the smell of the food or loving the smell of markers (smell)
• scratching and pulling at clothes in reaction to itchy seams and tags or tight elastic (touch)
• craving crunchy foods or soft brown foods (taste)
• getting irritated when listening to someone chew or breathe or cringing and covering ears with loud noises (sound)
• constantly moving, jumping, crashing, wiggling and not staying still (proprioception)
• not knowing the difference between hungry, being sick or an anxious stomach or not getting to the toilet in time and wetting (interoception)
• tripping, poor coordination, bumping into things (vestibular)

How do you feel when someone scratches their nails on a chalkboard?

Food for thought… this might be exactly what someone who struggles to process sensory input feels like when their shoes are on, or when the lights are too bright, or when clothes are too tight…

‘Simple’ things can result in meltdowns, especially in people with Autism as they have trouble self regulating and may need help to do this.

What seems like an overreaction to you, might be a completely valid responsse to what they are experiencing.

We can’t presume that everyone experiences the world the same way that we do, and understanding this helps us to

• build empathy – understand what someone else might be experiencing
• view behaviours differently
• helps us to work towards helping them to regulate

Sensory Tools to help with Sensory Regulation:

• sunnies to block out the sun (sight)
• block out tent or cubby house to hide (sight)
• limit strong smelling foods at mealtimes (smell)
• cut off tags, socks inside out and buy clothes a couple of sizes bigger (touch)
• chew toys to give oral feedback (taste)
• headphones to cancel out noise (sound)
• wobble chairs & movement breaks (proprioception)
• weighted blankets to give deep pressure (proprioception)

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Training Bites Library:

Advocating for kids who see, process and experience the world differently with ‘bite size’ pieces of information to help teach and understand a variety of behaviour, education and life skills topics.