Sensory Support Checklist for the School Year
For those of us in the Midwest, fall means cooler temperatures, leaves falling, and football games everywhere. It also means back to school time for most families, and those who have kids with special needs and sensory challenges, that also can unfortunately mean more struggles and rough days.
If your kiddo fits that description, and has been found to struggle with things like Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, OCD, Anxiety, ASD, or similar, please use this checklist throughout the year to help them have more success than struggles!
Sensory processing difficulties are often at the root of each of those above conditions, but getting to the root cause of the sensory issues themselves is really the key to helping your child succeed, and that means getting your child’s nervous system working better.
The function of the nervous system is to perceive the environment, and coordinate the behavior of all other cells. When children have behavior issues, it’s important to understand they are just the net effect of two things:
- An overly stimulatory environment (busy, noisy, demanding, etc.)
- Poor perception and coordination of sensory information
Therefore each of these steps in the checklist are designed to either calm the crazy world we live in today, or improve your child’s ability to adapt to it. That simple.
The best steps to take to help your sensory-challenged child:
- Get them plenty of sleep each and every night so the brain can reboot and restore from all the ‘noise’ of the day
- Get them some form of movement and physical activity BEFORE they head to school, as this helps arouse and organize the brain for the day, giving it better focus and organization
- Supplement their diet with Omega 3s and Vitamin D, both crucial for brain function
- Speak to the school about finding ways to reduce the amount of time your child is stuck in a seat and allowed to move about to reduce any pent up energy
- Reduce screen time as much as possible as excessive screen time is a clear contributor to the rise of SPD and ADHD
- Seek help from a neurologically-focused, Pediatric and Family Chiropractor, as many parents report having a calmer, more focused, less emotional child after specific adjustments to improve perception and coordination within the nervous system
This list is not fully exhaustive of all the things you can do to help “calm the storm” that is Sensory Processing Disorder for your child, but each of them will go a long way to helping them have more success than struggle this year!
Article originally posted on Premier Wellness Chiropractic’s blog
Dr. Tony Ebel is a pediatric and wellness certified chiropractor, who specializes in neuro-developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, seizure disorders and other special needs cases. He has extensive education, experience, and passion in these areas, and has a large family practice in Crystal Lake, Illinois, serving this population, as well as general family wellness. He holds post-doctorate certifications in pediatrics and wellness, and also has hundreds of hours of continuing education and training in the areas of autism, ADHD, sensory challenges, seizures, neuro-immunology, and other pediatric topics.
Dr. Tony now frequently travels throughout the country as well as internationally, providing his Perfect Storm lecture and seminar to other chiropractors, staff, and related professionals, and also has done over 100 public/parent lectures on this topic and others. He has been a featured presenter at the world’s largest autism seminar, Autism One, held each year in Chicago.
He has a beautiful wife Kristina, three incredible daughters, Addison, Alaina and their latest addition, Emilia, and an amazing little boy Oliver who himself went through “the perfect storm” spending 6 weeks in the NICU with a very grave prognosis of lifelong epilepsy, autism, and severe developmental delays. However, thanks to the early application of chiropractic care, Oliver never had a single seizure, or a single delay, and today is a vibrant and healthy 6-year-old stud! Dr. Tony is a health and wellness “junkie” who loves CrossFit and juicing, spending time with his family, and sports.
