I’ve mentioned before that Little A has sensory processing disorder. The doctor’s and occupational therapist have identified her as mainly sensory seeking, especially in the tactile, vestibular and auditory areas. We have had to come up with a “sensory diet,” not necessarily involving food but rather sensory input and output that helps with regulating her daily activities with the overall goal to help her function well.
Seriously, it sounds hokey and all hullabaloo, but it is not. I assure you. I have seen and felt and SLEPT (and therefore LIVED) the difference with some of the necessary “diet” suggestions.
One of things that helps is playing with playdoh. The tactile work is both calming and focusing and covers a range of sensory experiences- tactile, visual and smell (sometimes we even add scent to the playdough!)
This is a tried and true recipe from my mother who originally got it from a sweet little old lady named Evelyn (who I remember visiting her home as a little girl and eating vanilla cookies and playing in her english garden full of peonies and poppies. Yes, memory lane).
Here it is:
play dough
1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour (all purpose works great)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. canola oil
2 tsp. creme of tartar (it’s in the baking aisle in a little blue/white box)
food colouring (a couple drops)
optional: i sometimes scent the dough at the end of cooking with coconut or vanilla flavouring- just so it smells pleasant (but not TOO appetizing-not to eat!)
combine all ingredients into a saucepan. cook on stovetop over low-medium heat, stirring constantly. the dough will slowly pull away from the sides of the pan and start to form into a ball. once done (a couple minutes of cooking)- transfer to a cutting board (it’s hot!) let dough cool about 10 minutes before shaping and using. store dough in plastic bag.
(the dough lasts a couple weeks-month depending on how often it’s used).
to better things,
steph
