Too loud, too bright, too fast, too busy!

5 steps to support sensory overload in children

School is back. As children, families and educators begin to adjust to their new learning environments, new classroom, and new relationships it feels timely to introduce the concept of sensory overload and how this can be supported across all environments.

Meet Connor

Connor’s mother shared “he would hide under the stairwell, make repeated sounds and rock himself back and forth while curled in a ball; this is how I knew he was overloaded.”

Connor was 4. He experienced sensitivity to noise and touch. This made him more susceptible to sensory overload as his brain could only tolerate a smaller amount of input before he reached his limit. Parties and celebrations were particularly challenging for him and often resulted in sensory overload due to too much noise.

WHAT IS SENSORY OVERLOAD?

Sensory overload is often a result of too much seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, moving and tasting for our brains. Overload happens when the demands placed on us are too intense and too frequent and it overwhelms our ability to cope. It’s when your brain takes in more information than it can process.

 We are more susceptible to sensory overload if we are sensitive to certain types of sensory input and if we are unwell, tired or stressed. Sensory sensitivity (or low threshold) means than we notice sensory input more than others and find it difficult to ignore irrelevant sensory input as readily. This input may be coming from our environment or from within our body. 

It is also important to remember that sensory input can have an accumulative effect; as the day progresses we process more and more sensory input. If we do not take breaks or embed sensory regulating activities into our daily routines, we can reach overload faster.  For parents with young children, the hours between 5-7pm can be particularly challenging! There are so many sensory demands after a full day of childcare, school or work; preparing dinner, bath time, eating dinner, getting children to bed at night. It’s no wonder that both children and parents can become more reactive and are heading towards overload. This is a completely normal experience.

Recognising the signs of sensory overload:

It is important to remember that sensory overload looks different for everyone. Some indicators in children may include:

• Going quiet or becoming louder

• Talking faster, using a high-pitched voice

• Covering the face, crying

• An increase in movement or fidgeting

• A change in skin colour (going pale or red). This may also coincide with feeling hot or cold.

• Wanting to be in control of everything

• Requesting to leave or running away

• Shouting, hitting or kicking

• Difficulty paying attention

• A decrease in movement and stiffening of the body

• Inability to communicate or connect with others.

Meet Ella

Ella’s mother described her 4-year-olds overload like this:

“She used to go red in the face, become flushed and would talk very quickly and in a higher pitched voice. She would have trouble doing things that she usually finds easy, like putting on her shoes and refuse to eat. This is when I knew I had to slow things down and meet her where she was at. Sometimes offering her water bottle and having a drink helped.”

The bottom line is, when sensory overload is approaching, the nervous system is heading towards fight or flight and if nothing is done to support individuals in these states, shutdown may follow. Shutdown usually means the individual will go quiet, does not respond and stops processing information. This is a survival states that serve to keep us safe when the world becomes too much.

This video from the National Autism Society shows five teenagers talk about their experiences of sensory overload, including how it feels, what they find difficult and advice for how their family and friends can help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4itIAAG6l8A

5 steps to take when your child or learner is experiencing sensory overload:

• Reduce your verbal communication or stop talking if possible. This is easier said than done, but really important. Words provide auditory input and often continue to place demands on the child. 

• Reduce demands. Stop whatever the child was doing or what you were doing with the child. No learning can take place while experiencing over-load.

• Guide the child to a comfort space or quieter area of the house or learning environment. Time away from the environment or situation causing distress will support the nervous system to shift into a more regulated state.

• Offer a sensory support: This may be a drink from their water bottle, a crunchy snack, some headphones with favourite music, colouring, something to squeeze, a soft blanket and toy to snuggle with, your soothing touch.

• Give time and space: Some children seek physical connection through a cuddle or hug, others benefit from a more hands off approach but continue to benefit from knowing you a close by and connected. Ensure you remain in eyesight and ear shot and let your child know you are here for them.

Behavior is complex! Please reach out if you need support understanding your child’s behaviour.