Autistic Child ~ Problems With Balance and Coordination

Parents of children with Sensory Processing Disorder, or SPD, know very well that besides sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell there are other senses many forget. Depending on how you want to count it, there are between 14 and 20 different senses. Two that I will talk about today are: vestibular and proprioceptive. Those last two senses have to do with balance and coordination.


Vestibular sense, or sense of balance or also known as sense of equilibrium, detects motion, gravity and provides us with our sense of balance. Our vestibular sense tells us which way is up, how our body is oriented in relation to up, and how our body is moving in space. The two items that cause this awareness are gravity and movement. The inner ear contains parts (the nonauditory labyrinth or vestibular organ) that are sensitive to acceleration in space, rotation, and orientation in the gravitational field.


A child diagnosed with an Autism disorder with a hypersensitive response to movement may refuse to participate in physical activities wishing only to watch from the sidelines. Hypersensitivity to movement and fear of movement are both indicators of a Vestibular Disorder.


To help an autistic child who in hypersensitive to movement, parents and caregivers can encourage much needed movement stimulation through play. Cushioning the child between two adults to give him security and then moving at various speeds will allow him/her to experience movement.


On the other side of the coin, we have children who are hypo-sensitive to movement and cannot get enough. Children who excessively crave movement and appear never to get dizzy, also may have disorders of the vestibular system. These children crave and need the vestibular stimulation that movement provides. They become the hyperactive, rough players putting themselves often in risky situations by bumping into things, climbing, spinning, swinging for long periods of time.


For these movement seekers, the best way is to allow and encourage movement but in a safe environment. Have a ‘safe room’ to move, jump, spin, climb, swing… There are many toys and wearable items that are commercially available for vestibular stimulation but the important thing is to ensure your child’s safety.


Proprioceptive sense or the kinesthetic sense provides the brain with information to be able to sense the position, location, orientation and movement of the body and its parts. It is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.


Neurologists test this sense by telling patients to close their eyes and touch the tip of a finger to their nose. Proprioception is what allows someone to learn to walk in complete darkness without losing balance. The proprioception "receptors" are located within our muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, and connective tissues. If this proprioceptive sense is not receiving or interpreting input correctly, then it is referred to as  Proprioceptive Dysfunction.


As a result of proprioceptive dysfunction, some children are under responsive to proprioceptive input. Children with difficulties may perform slowly, or not be able to perform at all, when asked to follow multi-stepped directions. These children may sit still for hours if left alone. To make them more alert, caregivers must aid them to move by engaging them in pushing, pulling and stretching and contracting their muscles.


Some children with Proprioceptive Dysfunction, will be unable to stand on one foot and have difficulty with any balancing tasks. Others might have difficulty learning to go up and down stairs. You will see difficulties in activities such as skating, running, riding a bike, skipping or hitting a ball.

The child who is a Sensory Seeker is the child who might crack his knuckles, bite his nails until they bleed, chew on his fingers, chew on erasers, pencils, clothing collars, sleeves, or other inappropriate objects that bring into question safety and hygiene. This is where our Kid Companions step in as an Occupational Therapist recommended oral-motor tool. Your sensitive child can chew safely, discreetly and their fashionable shapes let your child blend in with his peers.

In an earlier post I wrote about a Sensory Diet. The professional, who will work with parents to plan a Sensory Diet for their Autistic children who need sensory input, will advise them of their child’s individual needs, help them plan activities and will recommend tools/toys that will benefit their child. So you have an idea of such products, I have shown you four.

Have you made accommodations in your home for your Special Needs child?

PacificPediatricSupply.com has many products for vestibular stimulation and proprioceptive input.

The weighted compression vest are made to calm and provide steady proprioceptive input, as the combined pressure and weight functions as...

Not a luge, not a bike, not a scooter, the EzyRoller moves like a snake, without chains or pedals...


The unique design of the Platform Swing makes it easy to detach and reattach...

Sensory Gardens for Kids

First it was the Sensory Box and, literally thinking outside ‘the box’, schools and families are using a sensory garden full of plants and accessories to stimulate the senses. Plants and accessories are selected on the basis they will provide experiences for seeing, smelling, hearing, touching, and tasting.

Mid-April is the perfect time to start a sensory garden for children with sensory issues so they can enjoy and be part of the garden. This project can be as small as a planter or window box to a real, backyard, walkabout garden with places to stroll and sit. The design and layout can provide a stimulating journey through the senses, heightening awareness and bringing positive learning experiences. Or on a small scale, an herb garden is a good way to start as herbs have a wealth of sensory awakening attributes.


Live in a city? See post: Urban Sensory Gardens~ Versatile Balconies. 

When I was a child growing up next door to my grandparents, one of my fondness memories is helping my grandmother with their vegetable garden. We spent hours together, sixty years of age difference apart, caring for the garden. Then while raising our three children, we always had a vegetable garden which must have left fond memories for them also as now our grown children each have their own vegetable gardens in their backyards. From buying the first seeds to eating the produce from your very own garden each step in the process is a teaching and sharing experience to the sensory child and to all children.


What plants and accessories to choose?
An objective in sensory garden design is to encourage users to interact with the plants, often directly, for instance by breaking off leaves to smell or taste. So all plants must be non-toxic, hardy and sturdy enough to withstand handling.


Touch: Chose plants that are durable enough to withstand frequent brushing or handling.

Look for textures in soft flowers, fuzzy leaves, springy moss, rough bark, succulent leaves, prickly seed pods. Enjoy the textures of sage, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, both types of parsley, mint.

Accessories can include rocks and sculptures in a variety of shapes, sizes and textures. Use sculpted handrails for safety and added textures.

Smell: Rosemary, sage, tarragon, fragrant creeping herbs, such as thyme, are planted among pathways, walking or wheeling on them will release their aroma intense smell like rosemary or peppermint.

Roses are a good choice in flowers if you know how to deal with ‘its’ thorny issues’.

Crushing and smelling a plant part works well.

Sight: Use plants in all shades of green foliage with various leaf shapes, and different colors of flowers. Choose colorful plants that change through the season offering a new facet with each one.

Mobiles, bird baths and sculptures can add visual stimuli as well as sunlight and shadows dancing along all surfaces.

Accessories for enhancing visual pleasure include color flood lights, torches, mirrors, and gazing globes.

Taste: Have herbs like mints and chives to provide both scent and taste opportunities. Cherry Tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, edible flowers, fruit trees and the endless vegetables will offer the taste buds an array of choices.

Hearing: Kids will hear the sound of wind rushing through the leaves, grasses rustling and seed pods of some plants rattling.

Have non-plant materials (wind chimes, fountain bubbling).

Birdsongs will fill the garden if birds baths, bird-attracting plants, bird feeders and bird houses are provided and maintained.

Accessories for bringing sounds to the garden include waterfalls, fountains, water harps and wind chimes.

The beauty of a Sensory Garden is that you can have the sensory stimulation benefits and like the saying ‘you can have your cake and eat it too’.

What benefits do you see in a Sensory Garden?

Holidays Ring "Hollow" For Some Special Needs Kids

Holidays and celebrations, like Easter, Thanksgiving, and birthdays, should be a happy time in families. When I think back to those days of celebration, when our children were growing up, the memories I have are not at all happy ones.

If I had known what I know now about my child’s sensory issues, we surely would have done things differently. Thirty years ago Sensory Processing  Disorder (SPD) was not talked about, not written about and certainly could not be googled, tweeted and discussed on Facebook.

[picture: my oldest, now an adult with a special child of her own...]

Being the oldest one of our family and having a huge kitchen, it always fell on my shoulders to welcome relatives and share a meal for these occasions. So this scenario has many reruns with a few different scenes and endings. However, in retrospect, the main theme was always the “Perfect Storm” for a highly sensitive child.

Let’s walk through a typical ‘special day’ of celebration. In our home, we would all rush about to get ready to attend a church service. Like was the tradition back then, going to church meant wearing your ‘Sunday Best’. To a sensitive child that meant stiff, itchy, ready to scream uncomfortable clothes and shoes!

So some sounds are hard to endure for these children. To her, the high pitched voice of the choir member singing the solos was like the screech of a nail on a blackboard. And did I mention the church bells, especially the smaller ones that ping, ding and dong during the service. Now let’s listen to the human noises that make this poor child shiver in her black patent leather shoes with the tight little straps. Coughing, sneezing, blowing noses…what torture for a sensitive child to be surrounded by such noises.

Special occasions in church come with huge, colorful , flower arrangements. To a sensitive nose the mixture of the sent of flowers, ladies’ perfumes, men’s aftershave, leather coats and burning candles all make for a nauseated feeling accompanied by an awful headache.

To this child who does not want to bring attention to herself in any circumstances, walking up the church aisle, going to communion and greeting the other church goers after the service must have been her own little crucifixion. And added to that were the photo taking sessions at home, the gift unwrapping done one by one while all the others watch, the endless questions by well meaning relatives and the requests to play the piano for the ‘happy gang’.

Finally it is time to eat. Table is nicely set, guests are seated, food is plated and begins another round of agony for the sensitive one to sit through. The oldest member of the relatives is deaf and very set in his ways. The preparation of his cup of tea is another irritation for the one sensitive to high pitched sounds. With his spoon, he mixes his sugar while all the while tapping the sides of his cup…he is deaf so the tapping changes to bagging the sides. This is the last straw for the poor child who has kept everything in for much too long, a vocal tic like the barking of a dog is heard. The table guests become all quiet and my deaf, too old to have figured it out, father-in-law says: “ Since when do you have a dog?”

Pain written on her face, she gets up and escapes to her room. With a lump in my throat, tears in my eyes and a vice-grip squeezing my heart, I try to make light of the situation. I connect to my robot mode to continue my role as host of another ‘special day’ that we should have celebrated differently---if I had only known.

For all those who understand Sensory Processing Disorder, what accommodations do you make for your special child on these special days?

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*Spread Valentine's Love: Help Children with Autism Celebrate!
*Learn to Be Flexibley: Reduce the Anxiety of Getting Gifts