Sensory Play

One of the best things I can do for my little peanut is provide her with lots of opportunity for sensory play. Sensory play basically excites her senses, exercises them, gives input, and helps to organize her. It also helps her overcome her sensory deficiencies. Lots of kiddos with autism have sensory processing deficits and given my baby girl's lack of stimulation for the first two years of her life..she just didn't get the input that she needed as a babe to develop those brain sensors. This is a big part of why she is so anxious in new situations and so hesitant to try new things. Touching a crayon is terrifying to her because she has tactile defensiveness. Overcoming it means providing her with lots of tactile activities that give her the input and experiences she needs. Playing in the sink full of water and bubbles is great to awaken her senses and lessen her tactile defensiveness. (And she thinks it's a load of fun these days!)
I remember the first time I introduced her to water. She hated taking a bath. Having the water touch her was way too much input and she would scream bloody murder the entire time. She loves the water now. She even loves bubbles though "bath foam" is a whole other story. We are working on tolerating that shaving cream texture on her skin and hands these days during bath time therapy.

She enjoys playing with her toys in the water too. When I first got these toys out during bath time, she was terrified and wouldn't even look at them let alone touch them. Now these little guys spend many hours in the water with her riding in boats, jumping over the edge of the tub, and squirting water from their squirt holes. Oh, we have come so far my friends.

She gets that little stool off the shelf each morning for our sink play. She carries it to the sink and places it in front so that it is just right. Then she climbs on and goes at it. There is always lots of water everywhere, but that smile and a little fun is worth mopping up a bit.