As your podcast DJs, we are answering a listener’s question today - how to create a sensory diet for a child with low registration. First, we dive into what it looks like to have a child with low registration. Then we give you our top 5 activities to complete with your child. Take some notes!
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, and The Harkla Sensory Club.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
As your podcast DJs, we are answering a listener’s question today - how to create a sensory diet for a child with low registration. First, we dive into what it looks like to have a child with low registration. Then we give you our top 5 activities to complete with your child. Take some notes!
Be sure to check out the show notes on our blog at Harkla.Co/Podcast.
Brought To You By Harkla
This podcast is brought to you by Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy and healthy lives. We accomplish this through high-quality sensory products, child development courses, and The Harkla Sensory Club.
Podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla with the discount code "sensory". Head to Harkla.co/sensory to start shopping now.
Welcome to the sensory project show with Rachel and Jessica. We're here to share all things sensory, occupational therapy, parenting, self care, and overall health and wellness from a therapists perspective, providing raw, honest, fun ideas and strategies for parents and families to implement into daily life. Thank you so much for joining us. Before we jump into today's episode, we have got to talk about a company that we recently discovered, Harkla. Not only do they make high quality sensory products and supplements, but the owners are also local to us in Boise.
Jessica:We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with them and our missions totally aligned. You know that we only recommend companies and products that we trust and use ourselves, which is why we're so excited to share this amazing company with you.
Rachel:Stay tuned to hear more later in this episode, as well as, get a special discount.
Jessica:Let's start today's episode.
Rachel:Hey, guys! Welcome back to the sensory project show. You're listening to your good friends, Rachel and Jessica, and this is episode 129.
Jessica:We got a question from someone on Instagram and they asked about how to create a sensory diet for a child with low registration. We've talked in the past about kids with higher arousal level and how to help them feel more calm so that they can do activities. But this is the opposite and we hadn't talked about it before. Here we are talking about it now.
Rachel:First of all, we need to kind of unpack what low registration even is a nd so the term refers to the person's ability to not notice or respond to important sensory information. They're basically having a low response. They're not responding, they're responding less than what a typically developing person or a person with a typical sensory system, how they would react to a specific sensory input.
Jessica:These kiddos have a high threshold to sensory experiences and they don't detect changes in their environment or in their sensory systems. These kids might appear passive, or just like uninterested.
Rachel:They're kind of the kids that are like bumps on a log.
Jessica:What does this mean exactly?
Rachel:These kiddos, they often seem lethargic, they're uninterested, or they're kind of just in a world on their own.
Jessica:Kids with low registration, or I mean, even adults, anyone with low registration, they're not in touch with their bodies and oftentimes, they might demonstrate low muscle tone, poor endurance and delayed motor skills.
Rachel:These kids often need more sensory input in order to help them be alert, to find that optimal level of arousal. But the problem is, they're not seeking it out. They're not jumping off the walls. They're not bouncing and going crazy. They're not naughty. They're the easy kids, who just kind of fall between the cracks, and that's what's challenging with these low registration kiddos is that you don't often know that they're not registering the sensory input. They're not going to tell you. You're not going to be able to see it with their body language unless you really know what to look for.
Jessica:Exactly. These are the kids that just they fall between the cracks, nobody notices them. They're, just like Rachel said, they're the good kids, they're the good babies, too. This is a huge red flag if you're infants doesn't cry, and if they don't react to input. We think, oh my gosh, it's such an easy, good baby. But it could be a red flag for low registration.
Rachel:Yes and by red flag, we don't want to freak you out. Just know that you should be aware of this. This is something to have on your radar so you can check it out and implement some strategies if you're finding that they are a child with low registration.
Jessica:Like Rachel said, these kids are not bouncing off the walls. Kids with low registration are not as enthusiastic about sensory activities and this really goes along with praxis. We've talked about Praxis before - the ability to come up with an idea, execute it, follow through, and these kids with low registration because they're not as in touch with their bodies, they're gonna struggle with praxis. They're not going to know how to complete activities to help wake them up.
Rachel:Exactly. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you're giving directions or addressing the child of low registration, give them more time for like shifting their attention to you. Because then you're gonna get frustrated, if you think that they're not listening to you. They're gonna get frustrated because you're telling them the same thing over and over and over again. But they just might not hear your first few words or sentences, if they're more lethargic or if they're attending to something else. It's not that they don't want to listen.
Jessica:Right? It's these kids, because they don't notice sensory input like they should. They might not hear you the first time that you're speaking to them because their auditory system is not registering that someone is talking to them.
Rachel:You have to think about all of the systems. It's not just movement and it's not just tactile input. Like your auditory system is a sensory system and we have to give it time to process and adapt and change and modulate what's going on in the child's environment.
Jessica:These kiddos are going to really, really benefit from using pictures, schedules, or lists, or some type of reminders for tasks. All kids need this or will benefit from this, of course, but particularly kids with low registration, because they're not taking in the sensory world as much. These pictures schedules can really help them to get back on track.
Rachel:Let's talk about our five top activities to help these kids with low registration and low arousal level.
Jessica:This is why you're here.
Rachel:Alright, so the first one is fast vestibular input and inversion. Things like swinging and jumping and running, or laying upside down over a therapy ball. With this input, you want to make sure it's like us fast, start and stop. Swing five times, and then stop them really quickly, as long as they're safe to do so. Shake, shake, shake their swing, so they have to stop and process that input and then swing in a different direction, five times and then abruptly stop them. Shake, shake, shake five times. Simon says is another good one where you can have them, run, run, run, and then stop, and then run backwards, and then stop, run sideways, and then stop. You can give them those instructions to make it a little bit more engaging.
Jessica:The key here is going to be really teaching the child that this type of input helps their bodies feel awake. If you're using the zones of regulation, you can also teach them that their bodies are in the blue zone a lot, that their body moves slow. We want them to be up in the green zone so they can learn and play. Teaching them that these types of fast movement activities help their bodies feel more alert and ready to learn in the green zone.That's going to be really helpful for increasing their independence for kiddos that maybe are at a level where they can't follow the zones necessarily. This is where using just pictures for these different activities is going to be really helpful and letting them choose which fast movement they want to do and making it really fun and exciting for them to do these alerting activities.
Rachel:Yes, and we love the brain works cards to make our sensory diet so that your child can pick the activity that they want, they can put it in order, they have to follow the sequence. We'll link that in the show notes as well - those Brainworks sensory diet cards. Another one that we love is alerting oral motor input. This is stuff that goes in the mouth like mint gum or sour gum, blowing bubbles, sour candy. One game that we like to do, it's like a minute to win it type game, but like taking a straw and sucking an m&m and holding it while you're transferring it from one bowl to the other bowl.
Jessica:It is so hard!
Rachel:It is! But you're getting a lot of input like you would be drinking through a straw. But you don't have to eat is what's great about this one. You can just play this game real quick and wake up the body and then go back to whatever you're doing or your child was doing.
Jessica:I really liked the idea of like those intense flavors, like Rachel said - the mints, gum, sour candy, even like Spicy foods. If your kids into spicy foods then incorporating more flavors and spice into their diet.
Rachel:Another thing that we love in this area is sour spray. We use the warheads sour spray, and there's another one called two tarts. The two tart sour spray is the more natural one that doesn't have the food dyes, but it's not as sour. But most of our kiddos love this sour spray, and they'll do anything to have a squirt of the sour spray. It's very motivational and also it really increases their awareness in their mouths, and it will wakes them up because you pucker those lips right up.
Jessica:I think for these kids with low registration, you can just incorporate it into their daily routine. Before breakfast, they get a score that sour spray to kind of help wake them up and then maybe after school or after some schoolwork is done, or before schoolwork, they get that score to sour strain, it's just part of their daily routine in order to help them wake up and be ready.
Rachel:I liked that you mentioned before breakfast because sometimes our kids with low registration, they might choke on their food more often because they're not registering where it is in their mouth.
Jessica:Or they're putting too much in
Rachel:Yes and so having that sour spray beforehand, it kind of wakes everything up and helps the body know where their tongue is, where their cheeks are. That way they can eat more appropriately and more functionally.
Jessica:Absolutely. We didn't really mention that very much in the beginning of this episode. But this low registration will for sure affect a child's ability to eat safely because chances are they're going to overstep. They're going to have too much food in their mouth because they can't feel how much is there. So using this hour spray, using vibration to the mouth before they eat, using strategies to take smaller bites. Maybe they're you're putting their food into like ice cube trays nd they can only take one piece out at a time. Just finding those strategies to help them be safe and more aware, use a mirror at the table is a great strategy as well.
Rachel:Yep, I'm glad you brought that up. All right, number three of our top five activities. We love to use bright, fast moving visual input. Things like spinning tops, there's a game that we have you like twist the tops on this little device, and then you push the button and it releases them. Then you can stack the top. That's a really fun one. Things like flashing lights, or those like sensory balls, tactile balls that have the flashing lights inside of them that you kind of bang or you bounce, and then the lights go on. We just have to disclaimer kids who have a history of seizures, make sure that you get the okay to do these flashing lights and these visual activities with these kiddos.
Jessica:Using high contrast visuals with activities is really helpful too. Oftentimes, these kids might struggle with reading and writing activities because their visual system is so under responsive. If you can incorporate highlighters, different color markers or pens, that kind of thing, then that can be really helpful as well.
Rachel:Let's talk a little bit more about today's sponsor, Harkla. Like we said earlier, they make high quality products Things like sensory swings, weighted items, compression sheets and supplements that everyone can benefit from.
Jessica:If Rachel can successfully install a swing in her house. If you didn't see her Instagram stories a while back, then you're missing out. You need to just watch them because it was great. But if Rachel can do it, then you can too. Not saying anything bad about Rachel, I'm just saying that it's so easy. It's a simple process that takes less than a day and provides results that will basically last as long as your house does.
Rachel:If you're in a clinic setting, this company is perfect for all of your sensory needs. Their equipment will withstand even the roughest of sensory seekers and with their lifetime guarantee, should something crazy happen, they will replace it.
Jessica:Stay tuned because at the end of this episode, we're going to give you a discount for when you purchase an item from Harkla.
Rachel:Number four fast paced music and metronome activities.
Jessica:This is a great way to get the auditory system going if your child likes music. Find some really fast music that they can listen to that gets their body moving as well. Maybe do some dancing with it.
Rachel:Dance party, yeah!
Jessica:Exactly. It's actually really funny because so we're recording this episode on a Monday. Logan and I are up, I'm doing some work, he's getting his online school stuff going. During one of his breaks, it was like, okay, let's go brush our teeth and he didn't want to do it. He's like, because it's been on the screen for like 2030 minutes, you know? I'm like, alright, we're gonna listen music while we go brush our teeth. What songs do you want? He's really into fireball by Pitbull. I turned to that song on on my phone and we went upstairs and we brush our teeth, and we dance while we brushed her teeth. He just was in such a great mood after we did that. Just getting your body moving and dancing to that music can be so helpful.
Rachel:I don't think I've met someone who doesn't smile, at least, with music that they like. If you're dancing, and you're having a good time, it's really hard for kids to stay serious and not smile and have a good time with you. I love that you did that.
Jessica:I think of the Baby shark.
Rachel:Oh yes!
Jessica:For some of our littler kids and for those kids who are just so unaware of their environment and what they're doing, because they have that low registration. Tthen that song and that music video, oh my gosh, it's such a miracle worker.
Rachel:Do you remember when we were working in the church and we had the piano?
Jessica:I sure do!
Rachel:I played baby shark on the piano and, I think, it was more for me. I loved it. Yeah, oh, good. Oh, yeah, he loves it as much he can.
Jessica:We love the metronome, so incorporating the metronome into activities is going to really help as well.
Rachel:We actually have a 30 day multi sensory processing course that incorporates different metronome activities. It kind of walks you through basics to advance on some metronome work. We'll link that in the show notes as well if you're making some ideas, rather than just clapping with the metronome. Go ahead and check that out.
Jessica:Totally. All right. Number five, last one. We like to use different scents, different smells. There are like lavender to help feel calm and ready for bed. Well, there's also scents that are alerting to the olfactory system. This can be a great strategy as well.
Rachel:Some of our favorites are citrus smells like grapefruit, lemon, orange. Now, whether you're using essential oils, or just like fruits in general, or lotion. Like you can use anything, it doesn't necessarily have to be essential oils. Spicy smells, what things smell spicy?
Jessica:Cinnamon smells
Rachel:Cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie space
Jessica:oh, yeah, pumpkin spice!
Rachel:Then mint is another good one.
Jessica:Always
Rachel:Don't just think about gum. I mean, think about, I use essential oils. There's there's lots of different types of mint smells. If your kid doesn't like peppermint try spearmint, or Wintergreen, or are there any others? Those are the three that I can think of.
Jessica:Those are the three that I think of.
Rachel:Polar ice.
Jessica:There you go. Some really simple ways that you can incorporate sense into your kiddos routine is to use jewelry. Maybe your little boys don't want to wear jewelry, well some boys do like to wear jewelry, you never know. But I'm thinking specifically for like girls who want to wear bracelets. Buy some of the fabric scrunchies, put the essential oil drops on the scrunchie, and then let them wear it as a bracelet.
Rachel:Totally. You can even just like grab a piece of cloth for a guy or bandana, put a little drop on there. Let them pick out a fabric that they like and just make a little bracelet and put a drop on on that so they feel regulated and good. But also less is more. We've had we've had kids come into the clinic who use essential oils and I don't know what happens but the entire clinic smells like that essential oil. A little bit goes a long ways. You don't want to stink up the whole place they're going.
Jessica:Start with one little drop, it really is enough. I was just thinking to look for the bandanas, you can wear them around your neck or if your kid really likes to wear ties. Lke I said Logan really likes his tie, he's bought a whole set of tires with his own money. You can use those.
Rachel:It's cute. Right now with all of our masks, I've put a drop of essential oil on my mask. You have to be careful with this one. Don't put it on the inside of the mask, put it on like the outside bottom corner where it's not going to touch your skin because it can bother skin. I mean, and it's it's strong. You really only need just a tiny little bit, but sometimes that can help these kiddos just will wake on up. They can smell a smell, they love that maybe they don't love it, but it wakes them up. So it's benefiting them.
Jessica:I think that if they don't like it at first, they might learn to like it. Because even if a kid isn't fully aware of how it changes their arousal level, what's going to happen is they're going to have that sense and they're gonna start have better, better days, better moments. They're going to be happier and even if you can't verbalize and say it's because of this, they're still going to associate it with that sense.
Rachel:Exactly. Going along with that, Jessica, it's important to try these strategies for least two weeks before you say, yes, it worked or no, it didn't work.
Jessica:Yep. All right. I that is it for low registration.
Rachel:I think this was a good episode. I'm glad we got this question. We should probably address real quick how to make a sensory diet with these activities. Now what you can do is just, we gave you a whole big list, choose five of them and or have your child choose five of them. Just go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, do all five of those. Keep it quick, maybe 10-15 minutes, and do it two-three times a day. There you go. There's your sensory diet.
Jessica:Then always, always, always just watch your child for adverse reactions. Watch their facial expressions, watch their eyes, watch their the colors in their cheeks, and if you notice any differences, keep track of it. Ask them how they're feeling, do they need a break, do they want to keep going? Just really keep an eye out because sometimes there could be too much input. Then you need to kind of scale it down.
Rachel:Yep and we always say when in doubt, prop it out, but first heavy work. If you're doing some of those number one activities, the vestibular activities, always, always, always incorporate with heavy work. Those proprioceptive
activities:big hugs, squeezes, compression and stretching to their joints. That way it's minimizing those adverse reactions.
Jessica:If you guys have questions, you can message us on Instagram. If you have a minute of your time, you can leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks for being here.
Rachel:Yeah, guys, we will plan on chatting with you next week.
Jessica:Boom. See you later.
Rachel:All right, you guys. One more quick reminder about today's sponsor, Harkla.co. A family owned company that provides therapy and sensory equipment, along with supplements. We love them. We love their mission. We love their equipment. We love that 1% of each month sales goes to the University of Washington's Autism Center, which funds cutting edge research and sponsors scholarships for children with autism to attend a summer camp.
Jessica:How cool is that?
Rachel:For real? I love it. They're great. They're local to Boise, which is really cool for us. But I mean, it's still cool for everyone else too. But if you're ready to jump in and check these guys out, go to Harkla.co. You can save 10% on any of their products by using the code sensory. Make sure you let us know what your thoughts are and definitely go check them out.
Jessica:We are so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world and work towards a happier, healthier life.
Rachel:Just a friendly reminder, this is general information related to occupational therapy, pediatrics, and sensory integration. We do not know you or your child; therefore, we do not know any specifics. Therefore, you should always refer back to the pediatrician and occupational therapists for more information.