A Different Kind of Sensory Swing

“You just have to have a sensory swing put in!  Declan would love it!”

I looked at Declan’s Occupational Therapist (OT), looked to the ground and smiled.

Sensing my hesitation, Declan’s OT continued, “It wouldn’t be hard at all!  I am sure there are rafters up there.”

We both looked to the ceiling in the basement.

“Yeah, I bet there are,” I confirmed.

“See?  It would be no issue at all.  Just call someone and have them install one!  It would be great!”

I smiled.  I nodded.  And we continued working Declan for all his sensory needs.

I loved Declan’s OT when he was two.  She taught me so much about how to help Declan.  I watched my child who ran around as fast as he could, stand in a trance to her deep pressure.  The child that ran into anything he could, was now being thrown into the couch – and laughing!

His sensory needs were being met!  And it helped!

With every activity, she provided me the sensory system she was targeting.  I learned so much from her about sensory integration with senses I didn’t even know about, namely the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive senses.

According to the article found here, the tactile sense is:

The tactile system includes nerves under the skin’s surface that send information to the brain.  This information includes temperature, light touch, pain, and pressure.  “Dysfunction in the tactile system can be seen in withdrawing when being touched, refusing to eat certain ‘textured’ foods and/or wearing certain types of clothing, complaining about having one’s hair or face washed.”

The vestibular system is:

The vestibular system refers to structures within the inner ear that detect movement and changes in the position of the head.

There are two kinds of dysfunction with the vestibular system.  Declan is a sensory seeker.  This is what it looks like in him

Hypo-reactive: The child may actively seek very intense sensory experiences such as excessive body whirling, jumping, and/or spinning.

The proprioceptive system is:

The proprioceptive system refers to components of muscles, joints, and tendons that provide a person with a subconscious awareness of body position.

Each one of these systems comes with a whole host of different activities designed to help stimulate or calm the individual based on their sensory needs.

And every week, I would watch Declan’s OT come into our house with bags of different activities to try.

What I especially loved about Declan’s OT is that she had all these different items to try out.  Some worked and I would make sure to have the item in our house.

Some didn’t, and that was okay – I just didn’t have to worry about buying something only to find it didn’t work for Declan.

Some items included –

The sensory seat – Big winner

The weighted vest – Big loser – Declan could not stand 20 seconds inside one before it was taken off.

Sensory bin – Big winner!

The brushing technique – BIG loser.

Lotion/Deep pressure – Big winner

Therapy ball – Meh

Sensory sock – Major winner – still uses it

There were a host of other games that we were taught to play to help Declan with his senses –  and like everything else, there were some he loved – like couch throwing, and some he didn’t – like  wheelbarrow walking on hands.

So, when it came to the idea of putting in a sensory swing in our basement, I dragged my feet at the idea.  Call someone to install it?  How much was this going to cost?  Declan didn’t care for his baby swing nor the swing at the playground.

What if he hated it?

So, I didn’t do it.  I stuck with what I knew worked.

Then…over the summer….I noticed something.

Declan loved being wrapped up and absorbed by or hammock outside.  Sometimes he would wrap himself inside super tight.  Sometimes he would rock.  Sometimes he would lay with his device and disappear.

But he was always content and sought it out.

Today, with the change of seasons, I wrapped up all the deck furniture to get it out of the cold, wet weather.

And brought the hammock to the basement for Declan.

The sensory swing may have been a great tool for Declan to use.

But using the hammock to meet his sensory needs works too!

Yay!