Sensory Activities for Kids with Alisha Grogan

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Today, I’ve invited occupational therapist Alisha Grogan on the podcast to share simple sensory activities for kids to help them become calmer and more regulated. We talk about what sensory inputs are, how to tell if your kid is struggling with sensory sensitivities, and tons of ideas for helping them regulate their nervous system, especially in times of transition. 

Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 19 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. She’s also a mom of three kids between the ages of 10 and 15. She uses her OT background as well as her experience as a mom of ADHD and anxious kiddos to provide resources to parents around sensory processing, picky eating, emotional regulation, and executive functioning.

Behavior as Communication

One of Alisha’s favorite things to say is, “All behavior is communication.” And if you’ve been in my world for a while, you’re already pretty familiar with this concept. 

So often, I hear parents say that their child is manipulating them. But in reality, they are trying to communicate an unmet need. They’re trying to manipulate the environment or circumstances to get their needs met, and they’re using the best strategy they have at that time. As parents, we can see this as information, get out of criticism, and look for ways to guide our kids through the overwhelm they’re experiencing.

Unfortunately, many of the behaviors that can help kids regulate their nervous systems aren’t considered “acceptable” in our culture and society. Maybe stomping their feet, banging on something, or hiding under a blanket helps them get back into their body and feel more calm, but depending on where they are at the time, these behaviors might not be “allowed”.

Neurodivergence in our Society

As moms of neurodivergent kids, Alisha and I both see the special gifts our children bring to the world, and have often felt frustrated when others fail to recognize them. 

I believe that in many cases, the label of “neurodivergence” is based on what works best in our society - with the way we structure time, school, technology, noise, etc. We've created a pretty messy environment that then requires a lot of order as a society to keep it together.

But not every kid is built to sit quietly in their seat all day long. And what we'd label “neurodivergent” is actually a very vital and important part of our species that just doesn't quite fit in this society that we've created.

Alisha shares that her oldest son has been labeled gifted, while her middle son has ADHD. She says, “This system was created for my oldest son and the way his brain works. And it continues to propel and push him forward while it continues to edge out my son that is creative and spontaneous and has all of these other really wonderful gifts.”

It’s easy for parents to feel overwhelmed when their kid gets a diagnosis of ADHD, sensory issues, or autism. It is challenging, but we can also choose to see the beauty of it. These kids aren’t broken. It’s just a mismatch. A missed opportunity in our culture to let those types of brains flourish. 

But there might be hope on the horizon. Alisha says that she’s seen “some exciting stuff coming out with schools being set up in different ways, like movement based schools and different styles of teaching where kids are just excelling in really exciting ways.”

Sensory Inputs & Sensitivities

You’re probably familiar with the 5 senses we hear about most often - sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Alisha shared 3 “hidden” senses that we all have, as well.

1. Propreoception. This is body awareness. When you do things like jump, give or get a hug, lay under a heavy blanket, you’re getting a lot of proprioceptive input. It is also the sense that grounds almost everybody. 
2. Vestibular. This is deep in our inner ear. Our movement is perceived by fluid swishing around in combination with what we see visually. If the two aren’t synced up, you get that carsick feeling. This is not typically an issue for young kids, but becomes more common as we get older. This is why kids can spin and spin and spin. And it’s so important for development that they get this kind of stimulation. Alisha says that, according to research, kids who don’t process vestibular input correctly can actually have reading difficulties down the line. 
3. Interoception. This is the sense of all of our internal sensations - think hunger, fullness, or tightness or lightness in your chest when you’re feeling anxious or joyful. These physical body sensations send a message to your brain about how you are feeling.

Sensory inputs stimulate our senses. Sensory sensitivities happen when we struggle with those inputs. 

There are two main types of sensory sensitivities, Alisha says: seeking and avoiding certain types of sensory inputs. Sometimes, you might also see kids not really registering some kind of sensory input. These sensitivities can happen with any of the 8 senses, with the exception of proprioception. 

She goes on to say that our needs don’t fit into separate boxes - movement here, emotions over there, sensory needs someplace else. They are all interconnected. And as with our emotional needs, when sensory needs aren’t met, dysregulation follows. 

One common sensory sensitivity is the way certain clothes feel on kids’ skin. If they are wanting to avoid this input, but they have to continue wearing the clothes that are so uncomfortable for them, they are going to become more dysregulated. Their brain is only able to handle so much dysregulation before it moves into meltdown mode.

You can see this with a seeker, too. If a kid has a high need for proprioception and vestibular input, and they’re expected to sit at a desk all day, they might lash out at school. Or you might see that they hold it together at school, but then they melt down when they get home. 

Channel Your Inner Preschool Teacher

Times of transition are often challenging for kids. Times like getting in the car, school drop-off, starting homework, cleaning up, sitting down to dinner, getting into the bath, and bedtime are hard times for a lot of families. 

If things get a little nutty as you’re moving from one activity to another, use sensory activities to bring your kid back into their body and transition to the next thing. For example, “We’ll get in the bathtub once we do our 5 jumps,” or, “We’re gonna leap like a frog into the shower.”

I like to tell people to “channel their inner preschool teacher.” Play Simon Says, have them jump 2 times before sitting down at the table, do a little red light, green light. Make it fun! 

These don’t have to be a strict routine (not trying to overwhelm you here!). They’re just tools you can use when you notice that dysregulation is coming on. These types of activities, as simple as they are, get kids out of their emotions and into the executive functioning part of the brain.

Sensory Activities to Avoid Meltdowns

If your kid is dysregulated and it doesn’t get dealt with, it will continue to grow until they hit that fight or flight meltdown mode. Our goal is to help them avoid getting to that point. 

The first step is for you, as the parent, to be aware of your child’s patterns. Alisha says you can start to notice:

1. Circumstances or times of day that seem to be challenging for them 
2. Signs that your child is starting to get dysregulated (behaviors)

Look for patterns in your kid. When are they acting out? What’s the trigger? Is there a common circumstance, environment, or time of day? Maybe you start to notice that your child gets dysregulated when they’re in a really busy environment or when they get home from school after a long day of sitting.

What are the first clues you see that they are getting dysregulated? Do they want to move their body? In what ways? Do they want to be close to you? Do they want to be alone?

There is so much variation in what triggers dysregulation and what kids find soothing. 

Movement. Alisha says that movement is usually a pretty safe strategy to start with.

Try different types of movement or activities with your child, and see what they respond to. Try jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline, stomping their feet, or spinning in circles. Watching how they want to move their body naturally can also give some clues. 

Rhythm. Alisha also says that rhythm is organizing to the brain (you might remember this from the 3 Rs of Emotional Regulation). So bouncing in rhythm or singing a rhythmic song can be really soothing.

Pressure or compression. This is another one of Alisha’s go-to categories and might include hugging, squeezing, burrito blanket, etc. Pressure is related to both proprioception and the tactile sense (aka touch). However, she says it can be tough for kids who have tactile sensitivities, including sensitivity to clothing or textures. 

Some other examples of this could be slowly squeezing down their arms, legs, or hands or doing wall push ups and counting together. 

Experiment with different strategies. Test some things out, and ask your child or their teacher how their day was afterwards. If your kid is old enough, ask them how their body feels and if that activity was helpful. Alisha says that if you ask at the right time, you’ll be surprised at how insightful your child can be. 

She says, “Don't get discouraged if you try something and your kid doesn't wanna do it or they don't like it. That is a clue to their sensory needs. And it's also important to understand that sensory needs fluctuate throughout the day and from day to day depending on all of the different things that are happening in that moment.”

Alisha also recommends that you engage in these activities together. Let your child self-moderate and guide their movement. Pause and check their reaction. How are they handling it? 

Finally, put some limits on these strategies. Kids who are huge sensory seekers will probably want to keep going and going, getting a little wilder all the time. When you give a rhythm and timeframe to it (e.g. we’re going to do 10 jumping jacks), it helps engage and organize the brain - it’s tracking the rhythm, it’s counting and gets a little dopamine hit when you reach number 10. Even when you’re using pressure/compression, you can hum or count as you do.

It may sound like a lot of work to engage with your child this way. But you know what else is a lot of work? Having a kid run around at Target and not listen and be completely dysregulated. Dealing with loud, overwhelming meltdowns. So if you’re going to put in work one way or the other, let’s do it intentionally.

Alisha leaves us some words of encouragement:

“If you are just starting to dip your toes into sensory processing, take one little step at a time. You probably already have instincts about a lot of this stuff - more than you might be giving yourself credit for.”

You’ll Learn:

• What’s actually happening when you think your kid is manipulating you
• 3 “hidden” senses that we all have 
• The 2 main types of sensory sensitivities
• LOTS of simple strategies you can try to help soothe your child’s senses (including some that we used with our own neurodivergent kids)

Connect with Alisha Grogan:

• Check out her website for tons of resources at https://yourkidstable.com/ 
• Get the FREE Sensory Essentials pack
• Follow her on Instagram @yourkidstable