Autism Soccer: Sensory Processing Disorder

Showing posts with label Sensory Processing Disorder. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Sweet Treats for Children with Autism

Birthday parties and Halloween can be tough for your child when it comes to candy; here are some helpful alternatives.

It is a known fact that most individuals with autism present an over or under response tendensie to sensory input. This quirk is called hypo/hyper-responsiveness (depending on the case), and it includes a child’s response to the flavor, smell and texture he perceives from food.

In this order of ideas, these particular cases either avoid or crave for very specific flavors, food textures and even colors. In some cases, a child might want to eat from only certain food groups, such as grains or dairy.

Some are fixed to certain food types, such as pasta or bread or sweets, which are the center of this particular article.

These doses of sweetness provide a powerful sensory input that many children would crave for. This craving can be even more powerful for an individual affected by autism.

The inclusion of sweets in an ASD child’s diet

It is important for your child to venture out of the sweet comfort zone, Autism Soccer suggests exploring healthier alternatives to provide the sensory input and properly nurturing the body. The key for this lies on creativity and patience.

Here are some of the alternatives we have lined up for you and your child:

1. The crunchy texture of cereals is appealing to some, but they contain way too much sugar. Make it healthier by crushing it to make a crumb powder. Sprinkle it on a more nutritive alternative such as an unsweetened cereal or homemade porridge or oatmeals. This will provide the specific input while introducing a healthier option.

2. There are some children fixated on carbonated drinks like soda. For this, try flavoring plain carbonated water (that doesn’t contain sugar) with natural fruit juice for a healthier, less sugary option.

Another practical option is to freeze some fruit juice in ice cube trays and put a few of the resulting fruity cubes in a cup of fresh sparkling water. The final product’s temperature of ice cubes helps soothe your child’s oral sensory cravings.

3. Who doesn’t love milkshakes? Homemade milkshakes are another tactic for providing nutrition with a healthy and so necessary touch of sweetness. Try blending some fruit or a sweet vegetable (go for carrots one day) with low-sugar yogurt or even ice cream.

4. Here’s a useful one: Use straws, they make it look all more appealing and offer an extra sensory input. Get your child a crazy-shaped straw with his/her next milkshake or juice-sweetened seltzer.

5. As odd as it sounds, freshly cooked vegetables provide a kick of unexpected sweetness. Slice sweet potatoes into strips and bake them for a sweet snack that’s also crunchy in texture. When in season, you might try sweet peas in the shell or some sliced zucchini, sweet and texturized..

6. For some children, cake is a must. Trick him and bake him a low-sugar version of zucchini, banana or carrot bread. If you add applesauce to the batter for extra sweetness and softer texture, al the better.

Here at Autism Soccer, we take into consideration all aspects of a healthy child’s life and make into useful, practical and educating articles for you; so don’t hesitate into writing your comments and questions in the section below, as well as following us on our social networking.

There are some sweet and tasty alternatives for special occasions to treat your child without spoiling the fun for them.

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Friday, April 20, 2018

Autism and Fashion

Fashion translates emotion, attitudes and culture in a language that we all understand.

The fashion world is something that draws everyone’s attention to a greater or lesser extent, after all, we all need to get dressed. For people with autism, fashion can represent an adventure: from choosing socks soft enough to not irritate their sensitivity to touch, to learning to combine patterns and colors. Knowing this, some designers and fashion houses have implemented adjustment and alternatives in terms of clothing for people living within the autistic spectrum. In today's article we will explore a little the influence of the autistic spectrum in the world of fashion.

Fashion Alternatives for People with Autism: Textures, Shapes, and Fabrics

Sensory processing disorders are common among people with autism. Their central nervous system has a difficult time receiving and organizing sensory stimuli correctly, leaving them either overly sensitive to stimuli, or not quite sensitive enough. This manifests in many ways, but here's one good example, according to experts like Kristie Koenig, chair of the Occupational Therapy Department at New York University: “You know that scratchy feeling you get from a tag in a new t-shirt? Imagine that agitation multiplied by 10. That’s what a dysfunctional sensory perception can feel like”.

To help people with this special condition, Caravan Design (2015) launched the Sensewear Fashion Line, thinking especially to help ease the sensory process of people within the spectrum. In general, Sensewear isn't ordinary apparel, it's an exotic-looking line of prototype clothing designed as an example of how apparel could help treat people with sensory perception disorders. Emanuela Corti and Ivan Parati, Dubai-based designers who make up the Caravan design collective, imagine the collection of jackets, shirts, and scarves as sort of garment-therapist prototypes for people who undergo sensory occupational therapy.

Wearing a Sensewear jacket isn't like wearing an ordinary jacket. It doesn't just keep you warm, it can give you a “hug” sensation, thanks to its inflatable lining. When you put on a Sensewear scarf, it does more than wrap around your neck. It can also emit soothing aromas that bring back pleasant memories. Very useful for calming the nerves.

The Sensewear line imagines clothes as a toolkit for handling those uncomfortable sensory moments. Because they're modular the way all clothes are, they easily adapt to different situations. Most importantly, they let patients learn to soothe themselves, which empowers them and could take pressure off therapists.

All these pieces are meant to be incredibly versatile. Corti and Parati — who were furniture and product designers before working on this particular line —, worked with researchers at the Dubai Autism Center, who told them that sensory reactions vary with every person in therapy. “Every kid reacts in a different way to the therapist, so they have to try everything with them”, Corti says. “So the idea was to give the pieces different interpretations”.

As you have read, sensitivity is an important issue for people within the spectrum, an issue that some kind, caring people are taking measures of by now. Who knows how many wonderful pieces that we all can enjoy they might come up with? Only time will say it, but as of now, we have hope for new fashion alternatives that can be useful and practical for those with autism.

At Autism Soccer we care about all manners of advancements that provide comfort and integration to all the members of our community, so don’t hesitate into following on our social networks and leave your comments in the section below!

Clothing not only has to be pretty, it must be functional for those who wear it, no matter the condition or lifestyle

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Thursday, December 29, 2016

What is the Sensory Processing Disorder?

Although specialists are looking for a solution, Sensory Processing Disorder is a condition that affects many children.

Some conditions and diseases tend to have no symptoms, but when those diseases have symptoms, people might confuse them with others. That’s why I will talk about the Sensory Processing Disorder today, which is a condition characterized by the difficult of the brain in terms of receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. It might also affect the proprioception and balance, which means that people who suffer from this might have walking and coordination problems. However, the sensory system of the people who suffer from SPD are oversensitive by the touch or the sound, among other things.

On the other hand, this condition is often diagnosed in children, but sometimes also in adults. The fact is that if children are diagnosed at an early age, parents might help them prepare for what they have to live in the future. These kids often feel left out and disconnected from the rest of the world, and it might lead to problems in their growth process if they are not properly guided.

Symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder

Each individual can show different symptoms to the same condition, but most of them are interconnected or related in a certain way that makes the job easier to -specialists when they have to identify this disease. Some of those are:

Walking problems: Walking or moving after being slightly bumped might be hard for these people, because their coordination is affected by SPD.
Strong responses to stimuli: In most cases, this condition ocationates radical responses to stimuli by leading to outburst and problems in the day-to-day interactions.
Delayed motor development: Fine and gross motor are often delayed, creating handwriting problems.
Problems to sleep: Noise is a nuisance to these people, which might interfere with their rest time.
Eating through the commotions: Flavors are often incredibly hard to manage by them, and it might lead to problems in the eating process.
High tolerance to pain: These children and adults have difficulty in feeling pain, that’s why their high resistance to pain makes them prone to accidents.
Emotional withdrawal: Children and adults with this condition are commonly withdrawn. Usually, they are labeled as introverted by other people.
Aggressive responses: People with this condition are especially jealous with their personal space, which make them act against people who surpass that space.

How to manage their condition

It is important to keep in mind that in order to manage this condition the specialist must know the behavior of each child. Here are some advices to manage this:

Create sensory integration activities: These are ways to create a development in their senses by making different activities.
Work with playtime: There’s no better way to interact with a child than playing and using this as a method to connect with them.
Join in with professionals: Physical therapists and MDs are great at helping you reach the goals when it comes to children’s development.
Use the DIR Model: Acronym for “Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-based model”. It’s an integral activity that helps to have a better relationship between parents and children

Sensory Processing Disorder is a particular condition that requires work from every single patient with specialists. That’s why it’s important that only specialists in the subject take care of people with this condition This is exactly what makes Autism Soccer a good option, because they have the professionals skills that are important when it comes to working with different conditions in order to create the best environment for them to feel safe and included. Contact them now!