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Dear Melissa,
My 3-year-old daughter is identified as having
Sensory Processing Disorder, and she just LOVES her blanket. She sleeps with it
every night and rubs her hands on it as she falls asleep. Throughout the day, she will even take
“breaks” from playing with her sister, go to her room and fidget with her
blanket for a few minutes before coming back into the playroom to rejoin her
sister. My husband is concerned that we
are encouraging an abnormal behavior. What should we do about this?
To be honest, this is not the type of thing that really has much research behind
it. So, I will give my opinion as an OT who has worked for years with kiddos on
the Sensory Spectrum.
In my opinion, all
kids (and adults!) do their own quirky, sensory, self-soothing activities. When these activities are repetitive and
frequent in nature, it is referred to as “stimming.” In general, as long as the stimming behavior
does not interfere with daily living and does not break social norms, I say “leave
well enough alone.” The stimming serves
a very important function to calm the body down. If you suddenly take away the
calming activity, it can often lead to meltdowns. These are no fun for anyone!
Again,
people regularly have all types of self-stimming behaviors. Many people twirl their hair, pace while
talking on the phone, chew gum, twirl their pencil, jingle coins in their
pocket, etc. These are all self-calming
behaviors which society has deemed to be acceptable. Once again, as long as they do not interfere
with daily living or social norms, they are not problematic.
However,
what do you do if you decide that the stimming behavior is interfering with
daily living or social norms? For example, it could be problematic for the child to take the blanket everywhere, such as to the park
where it would get torn and dirty. Or one might be concerned if a child wants to hold her blanket all the time and never plays with her sister.
Addressing a stimming
behavior needs to be done very carefully.
If you simply take it away, 1) it
can lead to extreme sensory meltdowns, and 2) the child will replace it with
another self-stimming behavior, possibly one that is even less desirable! Therefore, when trying to stop a self-stim,
make sure you replace it with a similar activity, but one that will not
disrupt daily living activities or break social norms.
For a child who is carrying a blanket everywhere
she goes, you might start with limiting blanket usage to her room or in the car. You can set a timer to ensure that she does not use it for extended
periods of time. You might also try to find a
similar fabric to the blanket that could be tied to a belt loop or a bracelet
so that the child could fidget with it throughout the day.
This is the perfect
time to work with your child’s Occupational Therapist or Child Psychologist. They will know your child and her likes/dislikes. Together, you can create even more ideas to
help replace the stimming behaviors with more appropriate activities .
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