Sensory Processing Disorder: Tools for Tactile Stimuli

Welcome to part 3 of my Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) Tools of the trade series. This post HERE is the one that started it all, with a huge summary of what SPD is and our struggles with it with Froot Loop. Keep reading for some tools and toys that have helped us on our SPD journey. 

I think this is the sense we struggle with the most with Froot Loop. He had quite a few of the warning signs below: 

Extreme reactions about hair washing, brushing, or cutting, nail cutting/trimming, or teeth brushing, irritation over tags in clothing or clothing in general, hyper or hypo sensitivity to cold, hot, or pain, playing individually all the time, avoiding touching others, frequently dropping things, gripping things too hard, crumpling/tearing papers or napkins, etc, difficulty with fine motor tasks, being an extremely picky eater, fear of large groups of people, an intense dislike of shoes/socks or being barefoot, walking on tiptoes, extreme reactions to wet/messy/sticky/gooey textures, or not noticing messy hands/faces or being obsessively clean.

Yep. All of that. From the very beginning. They're really working on this at preschool. His fine motor skills are about two years behind. 

So, here are several of the tools we've used. There's a lot here, and there's even tons more than these.

I keep one of these Wood Fidget Puzzle in my bag at all times for the boys to use while we're waiting in line or in the car or whatever. (trust me, just get the 2 pack)

Froot Loop calls this toy his Rusty Robot. It was a hand me down from his cousin. 

Part of the sensory integration we use is to expose Froot Loop to as many textures as possible to try to get him used to them. We're hoping this will reduce the aversion to these textures. One of the things we got is an Atom Ball. It's squishy and a little sticky. He hated it at first, but now he picks it up now and then.

One of MY favorite toys is the Tangle. It's just fun. This set here is the Tangle original, fuzzy, textured, and metallic. It's a fidgety toy, but it's also soothing for some reason. He keeps these in his little basket on his table.

You seriously cannot understand how satisfying these Fidget Toys are until you try them. It's so simple... a marble in a mesh enclosure. I carry one with me all the time now.

Water Beads are great! For extra sensory input, use them in a water table, like THIS ONE

Daddy had one of these Expanding Spheres lying around and he let Froot Loop play with it one day. It seemed to be a hit. It's a cool plastic ball that grows and shrinks.

Froot Loop got this Metal Pin Art for his birthday last year. He still refuses to touch it. He will put large objects in it, but he refuses to put any part of himself in it.

We won a Water Wiggler toy at our favorite arcade. I thought it would be a fun toy for the boys to squish and squeeze. We've gotten lots of giggles from this toy. 

Here's another toy I have on me at all times. I actually have two... one for Froot Loop and one for me. I LOVE this toy. It is so satisfying. I even love the little "click" from moving the pieces around. Oh, Wacky Tracks, I love you so much.

These texture balls are so simple and yet a great tool. They actually belong to Cocoa Puff (see post HERE), but Froot Loop often likes to play with them too. Sometimes he adds them to his ball pit. I also purposely work with him on textures with these balls.

These puffer balls feel so weird. We got two of them at the same arcade as the wiggle toy. They are not a favorite, but they are sure funny when they are played with.

Silly Putty is a good tool to use since there's tons of different ways to play with it. 

Porcupine Balls are another fun toy. They're soft and spiky and provide good tactile input, especially for little hands.

Ah, the classic Koosh Ball. Fun even for those of us without SPD.

I found this Wood Brush randomly. It's made for beards, but it has a nice texture for running along arms and legs and backs and little bellies. 

Hape Number Qubes are pretty awesome because they're in the physical shape of the numbers so little hands and fingers can explore what numbers feel like. Cocoa Puff got these for Christmas and since he is currently learning his numbers, loves to count with these. Bonus! 

Taggies makes these awesome blankets with ribbons around the outside. I have made several of these for baby showers. I remember both Froot Loop and Cocoa Puff fingering the ribbons when they were babies. I found myself even playing with them. It's a good tool to put in the lap of an SPD kid.

Of course, there's also Play-Doh and texture books and so much more.

That wraps up part three. Part four is coming, which will focus on olfactory tools. There's a lot of tactile tools out there... what did I leave out? 

For part one (auditory): click HERE

For part two (visual): click HERE

For part four (smell): click HERE

For part five (Movement/Vestibular): click HERE

For part six (Proprioception/Body Awareness): click HERE

For the introduction/overview of SPD: click HERE