How Sensory Processing Differences Show Up in Daily Life

We’re returning with our second installment of our sensory processing series to talk about how sensory processing differences impact a child’s ability to move through daily life.

If you missed Part 1, where we introduced the eight sensory systems. You can read it here. 

Our sensory systems are active all day long to help us stay regulated, focused, and engaged in meaningful occupations. For children, these occupations often include dressing, eating, playing, learning, and building relationships. 

When a child’s sensory systems have difficulty receiving, interpreting, or responding to sensory input, participation in everyday activities may carry additional challenges to navigate. These differences in sensory processing reflect the unique ways our nervous systems function to make sense of the world.

Here are some common examples of how sensory processing differences may present throughout a typical day. Remember, these are just examples — each child’s sensory profile is unique, and presentation can vary across environments and developmental stages. 

Morning Routines

If your child experiences differences in tactile, proprioceptive, or vestibular processing, you may notice that they:

• Experience discomfort in, or elect not to wear, clothes with certain tags, seams, textures, or fabrics

• Experience discomfort during self-care tasks such as brushing hair, showering, brushing teeth, or cutting nails

• Move slowly or have difficulty starting the day

• Experience challenges with sequencing the steps of a morning routine

• Become easily carsick when riding in a car

Learning and Education

If your child attends school in person, they may experience higher demands on their nervous systems due to the busy, multi-sensory nature of school environments. 

Bright lights, background noise, shifting visual attention, seating arrangements, and group instruction can quickly fill one’s sensory “reservoir,” or their capacity to process and respond to sensory input. 

Children with differences in visual, auditory, olfactory, and proprioceptive processing may:

• Miss important parts of verbal instructions due to competing auditory and visual input

• Experience challenges with following multi-step directions

• Fatigue quickly when maintaining a seated posture

• Experience challenges with filtering out visual distractions

• Become dysregulated in the presence of loud noises or bright lights

• Experience distress when eating with peers due to sensitivity to certain smells and sounds

Play and Social Interaction

Play can involve interpreting sensory and social information simultaneously. 

Sensory differences during play may present as:

• Avoidance of or distress in crowded play spaces

• Differences in body awareness (e.g., bumping into things in the environment, over- or underestimating the amount of force needed for a given task)

• Hesitation or even fear during movement-based games involving climbing, spinning, stairs, running, or touch

Evening Routine

If your child’s sensory reservoir is “full” or close to overflowing by the end of the day, they may experience increased dysregulation at home, which is often the environment where they feel safest to decompress. 

In the evening, you may notice:

• Increased dysregulation

• Challenges with winding down from the day and transitioning to sleep

• Heightened sensitivity to touch, temperature, and/or noise

Summary

When we understand a child’s sensory patterns, we’re better equipped to create supportive environments that honor their nervous system's needs. 

Part 3 of this series will focus on affirming strategies to support your child’s sensory regulation across environments. 

If you have ideas of topics you’d like us to explore, send us an email at hello@blumekidstherapy.com. 

References

Dunn, W. (2014). Sensory Profile 2: User’s manual (2nd ed.). Psych Corporation.

Koomar, J., & May-Benson, T. (n.d.). Adult/Adolescent Sensory History: Caregiver Questionnaire [Assessment tool]. SPIRAL Foundation. https://www.thespiralfoundation.org