Recently I put together a Sensory Box for Cami and Delilah. My hope was to begin to empower them with a tangible tool they could use to help themselves when the world around them felt too overwhelming.
I imagined they could reach for their sensory box instead of ........ pulling my hair, kicking wildly, or falling out in the floor in a heap of helpless sensory overload.
I will add other pieces to the box in the future, but I started it with several items of texture and movement, in hopes this sensory input could could peacefully replace the sensory overload they were feeling in a particular moment. Some of the toys light up or can be molded, giving their little brains something specific to focus on and begin to calm down.
The girls love their little boxes and I would love to hear ideas of other items I could include if you have knowledge in this area.
Something I was not prepared for was the hilarious conversation surrounding these boxes. Yesterday, D was having to wait for me a few minutes while I finished the dishes before we could start on a project I had promised them.
So the two girls are sitting at the table. D says, "I think I'll get my Sensory Box".
C says, "Are you getting ready to have a meltdown, Nan?" (Nan and Cam are their sister names for each other)
Cam continues, "Nan, Nan, are you going to have a meltdown"? NAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN, ARE YOU HAVING A MELTDOWN? IS THAT WHY YOU NEED YOUR BOXXXXXXX?
Still no response from Nan who is quietly playing with the items in her box.
Cam yells, "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM, I THINK NAN IS GOING TO HAVE A MELTDOWNNNNNNNN".
Hmmmmmm, me thinks someone else needs to get their sensory box and climb inside it....LOL
And then I had a funny vision of Cam and Nan as 70 year old women and Cam saying, "Nan, are you getting ready to have a meltdown? NAAAAAAAAANNNNNN........ANSWER ME"!
So it was really funny in the moment. Maybe you have to need a sensory box to understand. By the way......my laptop is my sensory box..... you just gotta understand.....I need it often. LOL
1 comments:
We made a sensory box for the Tongginator years ago! One thing our OT recommended was to secretly head to the local Pet Smart and look at *blush* the dog and cat toy aisle. It worked. Lots of sensory toys came from there and the Tongginator didn't know the difference. (It was cheaper, too.)
Also, if your girls tend to need oral stimulation, check out chewy tubes. They are excellent and we survived on those for a long time.
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