Sharon Collon [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the ADHD Families Podcast. I'm your host, Sharon Collin and I'm so happy you are here. Have you ever been told that your child is a sensory seeker or a sensory avoider? Or perhaps there's chatter about sensory profiles. You not know what that means 100%. Or if you do, how do we incorporate the strategies into our everyday busy lives? To chat about sensory to chat about sensory profiles. I bought in the incredible Rebecca Torpy. She owns Sensory Smart Kids OT and she is an absolute gun in this space. I can't wait for her to share all her practical tools that she discusses in this episode.
Sharon Collon [00:00:41]:
We're chatting about sensory profiles, what that looks like for our kids with adhd. We're talking about how it manifests in children with ADHD compared to neurotypical children. We're talking about sensory seeking and sensory avoiding behaviors and also some of the most common sensory challenges and the strategies we can do to support our gorgeous kids. We talk about things like weighted blankets and all the Facebook ads that we get for sensory tools and what where we should invest our money and what we should skip for the time being and how parents can use sensory tools at home to be able to support their kids with behavioral challenges as well. It is an absolute cracker episode and I can't wait to share it with you. Let's get to it. Welcome Rebecca, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today.
Rebecca Torpy [00:01:30]:
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here and to be able to shine a light on sensory processing and how you can understand your child's sensory preferences and make that a little bit easier for your family to be able to manage in their day to day life.
Steph Geddies [00:01:44]:
Oh, it's going to be such a great topic and I've already heard and you know, we've had chats before and I know that you are an absolute gun on this topic and I can't wait to share your knowledge with this audience. But before I get too excited, can you tell me a little bit about your background and what led you to specialize in sensory processing and occupational therapy?
Rebecca Torpy [00:02:05]:
So I went straight into OT after high school. It was one my first preference at uni. I grew up in a little country town where we really knew everybody. So you sort of knew you were able to speak to all the old people, all the young people. There was no special school, so if there was any children that had disabilities they were in the local primary school with us. And it was just very much part of everyday life. So I think being exposed to that and just seeing how practical it was and the idea that you could go in so many different directions so I could choose one degree and that could be anything. And then I was introduced to sensory processing in my final year placement at uni.
Rebecca Torpy [00:02:43]:
Just was like so many light bulb moments and I just really found it interesting. I got more excited about it when I moved over to the uk. There's sensory integration practices and I was luckily enough, lucky enough to work in one of those and do some further education. And I just loved it. It felt like I wasn't even working like, loved looking at things through a sensory lens and I knew that was something that I wanted to do, to be able to break things down, look at the sensory patterns, what's underlying behavior and how we can change our environments in that way. I've just always really enjoyed that. And I think my favorite thing, even when I wasn't doing si, but just working with parents and being able to break down what is happening from their. For their child on a sensory level.
Rebecca Torpy [00:03:27]:
And that look in their face and the relief when they realize that, oh, my kid's not naughty. What do you. So they're, they. I knew they were trying. I knew they were trying and you know, just this relief that, okay, it's not, you know, it's not that they're not doing the wrong thing, they're working really hard and actually we can do something about this. Just that being able to give them that lens to look through to understand what the world might be like for their child and it can just change their perspective and just give them so much more empathy.
Steph Geddies [00:04:00]:
Many of our listeners may be unfamiliar with the word with the term sensory profile. And I know it gets thrown around a lot, but I'm not sure that anyone's ever broken it down on the podcast before. Could you explain what that means and why it's particularly important for children with adhd?
Rebecca Torpy [00:04:16]:
There's two things to think about. So sensory profile is something that we refer to in terms of what you like and what you dislike. You know, what are your triggers, what are your glimmers, what do you lean towards in terms of sensory input that you want? There's also a sensory profile, which is a parenting questionnaire and one of the models that many OTs will base it on. And that's been created by Winnie Dunn, who's an absolute legend in the OT world. And that looks at sort of all of the different sensory systems. What it helps us understand is some different categories that our children might fall into in terms of their. Not just their sensory preferences, but also how they respond. So some children will be more active in how they respond to sensory input and some will be more passive.
Rebecca Torpy [00:05:03]:
So we generally have a sort of continuum in terms of what we can tolerate. So some people like a lot of input, some people don't like it. So for those kids that are sensitive, they may actively avoid that by doing things to get out of, you know, that activity, or they might passively do that, and that's generally then when we might see behaviours so they don't necessarily do anything to stay away from it, but then they become upset or later they complain about it. So the sensory profile breaks it down so that we can see which areas they've got preferences in and which areas maybe they don't respond to as well. And then that gives us great information to take into school. So if you've got a child that always wants to touch things and like really needs to have something in their hand and, you know, they're the ones that are like, you know, touching the person next to them or they're picking at the carpet or every time you go into a shop they're picking something up or, you know, poking their sister, whatever it is. They're the kids. I mean, for example, we'll give them a fidget toy that's not always going to work for everybody and that's a huge can of worms in terms of what is going to be the right fidget for them.
Rebecca Torpy [00:06:12]:
But giving them something to meet that need means that they're not going out and taking that into their own hands quite literally, so that they're. We sort of have some tools and some knowledge of why they might be needing that and how we can support that.
Steph Geddies [00:06:28]:
Love this. How does sensory processing issues typically manifest in children with ADHD compared to neurotypical children? Because it's not an ADHD specific challenge. Right.
Rebecca Torpy [00:06:41]:
Everybody in the world has a different sensory profile and has different sensory preferences. We can develop more tolerance to things because of exposure and we're going to. And our experiences too, in terms of, you know, our positive and negative experiences in relation to the sensory input. But we'll all have different preferences, even neurotypical people. There's a sort of categorisation of sensory processing disorder, which doesn't really get talked about as much. But we do know that there does seem to be a much higher incidence in sensory differences in how sensory information is processed in adhd. And there's been a recent study, just this year, looking at the differences and seeing that There was a marked difference between ADHDers and neurotypical people in terms of their sensory preferences. And this doesn't just happen in children, it lasts with us.
Rebecca Torpy [00:07:37]:
So they looked at differences. Some were more sensitive, some were more seeking, some had sort of higher thresholds and some had lower thresholds. So they looked at, across multiple different journals, specifically at adhd because there's been lots of research into autism and sensory differences, but not as much into adhd. And I think one of the things that we know with ADHD is the differences with our ability to regulate and that emotional regulation and sometimes having more challenges with that emotional reactivity and sensory inputs can have a huge impact on that too.
Steph Geddies [00:08:16]:
It seems to be like this, that, that, that we become over time sensory avoiders and then our children become more sensory seekers. I've got, my best friend was saying it's like you could go your whole day without being licked. I'm getting licked. She's like, I get licked. And we always have a bit of a giggle about it. But I'm wondering what role that overwhelm and burnout has a play in our sensory, has to play in our sensory profile.
Rebecca Torpy [00:08:42]:
Huge. So if you think about our window of tolerance and how regulated we are, that is going to make us more or less sensitive or more or less tolerant. And sometimes we just don't have the coping strategies that we might have had. You know, if you're feeling sick or if you're feeling really tired, you know, the light seem brighter, the noises seem louder, that scratch just seems to irritate you more where you might not have felt like that previously. So think. What I really like to describe it is when we're thinking about, I guess it's sort of playing into that regulation too. So we've got our sort of window of tolerance of how much we can cope with before we maybe go sort of have an over responsive reaction or we sort of shut down. So if you're already feeling closer to that level of dysregulation where you're feeling like you can't really tolerate a lot, a little bit is going to feel like a lot.
Rebecca Torpy [00:09:39]:
But if you're maybe first thing in the morning and you've just been to the gym or you've read your favorite book or whatever it is that really makes you feel great and regulated and nobody's been putting these demands on you and then your children come in for a hug, how much more do you want to accept that you're absolutely ready for that? Like our regulation and our state of Arousal can really impact how much sensory input we can tolerate. And that's where OTs can come in and support you well. And, I mean, you can do this yourself. You don't necessarily need to have an OT explain this to you, but it can be really helpful if you can think about what's supporting you to be more regulated before you're exposed to input that might be more challenging for you. So, for example, if touch, that tactile input is something that you're finding is more challenging for you to process, it might be that you need to be doing more things before that, so that especially that unpredictable touch. So the more dysregulated we are, the more we want some control, too. So if you don't really like touch, and then you're going out into an environment that anybody could be touching you, that's not going to feel great. So, you know, for those kids that really don't like that light touch, and they're going out into a crowd or they've got a lineup at school, they've got to put their bags away or go and get their fruit snack and everybody else is in there, or you're in a shop, or you've got, oh, you know, we've got to go and pick up your sister from gymnastics, and you're standing at the door where everyone's trying to squish through all of those little light touches, that unexpected touch things coming from behind you.
Rebecca Torpy [00:11:16]:
You've got no control, no aware of it, and it's really hard to sort of predict what's happening. So when you're going into those situations, so for yourself, you can do things to help you stay calm. But for those kids, it's really important to try to put into their, you know, have those little micro transitions where you can put some really organizing input into them. And that's why looking at our whole sensory system is really important to find out not just what the triggers are and not what does make us feel uncomfortable, but also what is it that makes us feel more grounded, that really helps us get into that regulated state. Trying to get that in before you're dysregulated. If you think about sort of your band of tolerance and when you're up the top, that's where you really only need one more little thing before you tip over into the edge of feeling dysregulated and then either pulling away or snapping or telling someone to go away. If we can try to put that regulating input in when we're lower, so when we're still regulated, we're bringing ourselves down and we're really improving our regulations so that we're going to have even more of those little disruptors that we can cope with before we feel too overwhelmed and have a response that maybe we weren't really wanting to like snapping at our kids or just turning around and pushing the person that's, that's done that or whinging about it.
Steph Geddies [00:12:44]:
Thinking about that regularly, regular regulatory input that you just mentioned, what would be some examples of that for people generally?
Rebecca Torpy [00:12:53]:
And we need to know what works for people with adhd. We have an interest driven nervous system, so things that you're actually interested in are really helpful. But in terms of sensory input, our proprioceptive system is sort of like our cheat code. So if you're not sure, generally that heavy work for your muscles and your joints is going to be really helpful. So that's triggering that proprioceptive system, which is our universal modulator. So it helps to sort of dampen things down when you're feeling too high and lift things up a little bit more when you're feeling too low in terms of your alertness. So that is things like pushing, pulling, deep pressure. So you know, like in here in the clinic where you know, we're jumping and crashing, we're on swings, where we're pulling ourselves along, we're climbing up ladders.
Rebecca Torpy [00:13:46]:
But at home that can be, you know, if you've got monkey bars, going to the park and running around, getting on your bikes, a bit tricky because that's probably more vestibular input. So things where you're sort of staying in sort of a single line rather than lots of spinning and things that are more alerting. It can be pushing the shopping troll, it can be carrying the groceries in from the car, it can be pushing furniture around. Anything that really, you know, gets those muscles to be working hard and ideally that we're getting puffed. The other thing that ADHD kids seem to hate and parents is being told to take a deep breath. So if we can actually activate our body to the point where we need to be taking those big deep breaths, that's also really helpful. And if we can do that before we have to go into a more challenging situation, then we're going to be more readily able to cope with that when we're there.
Steph Geddies [00:14:41]:
I remember my son's OT who was fabulous, used to get him to do things like blow up balloons and like blow out candles and like move things along like little sailboats along by blowing them and things like that.
Rebecca Torpy [00:14:55]:
Yeah, absolutely. I've got a session booked for this afternoon, and we're going to be doing soccer, but blowing the little ball, so, you know, using their interests. But let's get down on the floor, take some really big deep breaths, and see how far can we get that ball to. To go. And you're going to push in against me. That's way more fun than, let's do some deep breathing.
Steph Geddies [00:15:16]:
Yeah.
Rebecca Torpy [00:15:16]:
And then we're also down to the ground, so we're getting that deep pressure. We may be moving around on all fours, crawling heavy work, things like your wheelbarrow, walks to the bathroom before you brush your teeth in the morning, having crab races down the hallway. Those little things that you can add into your day, particularly in the morning, if you can get that impact put in before you even go to school, before that, those demands. And, you know, you're going into that really overloading environment where it's noisy and there's lots of different smells and sights and people are moving and you don't really know what's happening, then that's a great way for your kids to start the day. Like, if you can walk to school, that's amazing. But it's not always possible.
Steph Geddies [00:15:56]:
I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, a lot of parents need to be blocking this as well. Like, we're so hyper aware, especially in this community, so hyper aware of what our kids need that we ignore our own needs. What are some interesting things that parents can do to perhaps remind themselves to check in on this?
Rebecca Torpy [00:16:15]:
Well, I think putting the same lens on yourself, stopping and thinking. And I know saying stopping and thinking is hard when we're talking to parents, because how much time do you really have? But if you're listening to the car, this, in the car, you know, just pause and think, well, what do I do to help me feel better? Like, are you a coffee drinker? Are you someone that goes and has a walk at lunchtime? Sometimes it's the things that we do at work or in the car that we might notice more than the things that we do at home. Because once we're at home with our kids, often what we need can go out the window. So if you're someone that likes to, you know, go for a walk around the block, you know, drink cold water, is it. Is it deep breathing? You know, is it meditation? Are you a gym person? Like, are you a runner? What is it that actually makes you feel better trying to put that into your day before you start tackling the tricky part? So it's not as easy as just getting up and going for a run before the morning routine starts. Because we know that our chaotic lives don't always mean that can happen. But it might be something to aspire to. It might just be that when you wake up, you're doing 20 push ups in your bedroom before you even go out to the chaos of the kitchen.
Rebecca Torpy [00:17:28]:
Or it might be that you're working out with your partner if you have one, that on certain days when you come home from work, you're going to take the dog for a walk before you come inside. And then that's just that way of sort of ending the workday. Reregulating. If you've got a, you know, dog that's pulling you along, that's a bit of extra heavy work in there. You've been outside, you've got some, yeah, some heavy work. You're deep breathing before you're coming in, ready for the onslaught. And it also gives you that minute just to remind yourself that, okay, I'm coming in, I'm ready. It's not personal.
Rebecca Torpy [00:18:04]:
You know, my kids have just had this huge day at school where they've held onto all of their emotions and for a lot of our kids, they spend so much energy just, you know, concentrating on not moving that by the time they get home they need to tell you all the things that went wrong for the day or whatever you've done wrong. So even just having that minute to remind yourself that, yep, they've had a tough day, I'm their safe person, I'm going to take it out. So sometimes even, you know, those words, you know, those scripts can be helpful for us too. But also like if you are a parent that's sensitive to noise, you know, loop like or some types of, you know, headphones are really good being and just ones where you can still hear them if they're actually in danger. But thinking about how you can add those little moments of joy for yourself and those sensory glimmers and things that can reregulate you is really important too.
Steph Geddies [00:18:58]:
I love that. I noticed that in our house, my husband uses the shower. Like he'll transit, he'll come home from work, go straight into the shower. That's this kind of like transition regulate before he can. And I notice that I drive to the sea so not always am I able to do that. But if I'm getting like really sensorially overwhelmed, we only live five minutes from the sea. I'll just drive there and just like breathe in ocean air or something for five minutes and then come back and then I'm able to, to cope. But it's interesting how so many people use the shower and, and the ocean for those kind of strategies too.
Rebecca Torpy [00:19:32]:
Yeah, water seems to be really, really regulating and nature. So whether that's going for a bushwalk, the beach, even being out in the garden, I know for myself sometimes when I get home, just going out and throwing the ball to the dog. So I'm outside for five minutes and it dampens down the noise as well. Can be a really nice thing. And then the dog stops scratching at the flywire. So I'm not having that great, great, great sound that's irritating me. Can be really helpful. And I think it's also really important to remind our parents that your regulation has a huge impact on your children.
Rebecca Torpy [00:20:10]:
So if you're overloaded, then, you know, you think about all the things that come up. We get this cycle of dysregulation. So your child's dysregulated, you get more dysregulated and vice versa. So no parent wants to dysregulate their child. We're never doing that on purpose. But it's so easy to forget ourselves, especially if when you're, you know, we've got some neurodivergence as, as a parent and kids are so highly attuned to our emotional state. So as we get, you know, our pitch changes or we're a bit louder. So if you can have that circuit breaker, that can be really helpful.
Rebecca Torpy [00:20:44]:
And knowing that as it as the parent, that's, you know, one of your most important roles to be able to show that. And we often get our parents, when we're working with them in therapy to be the person that's actually modeling it. Because a lot of our kids with ADHD really don't like talking about their feelings and don't want to admit that they are frustrated or things are hard. So often we get our parents even to sort of do it in over the top way of being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's so loud in here. Oh, my goodness, I'm really overwhelmed. What am I going to do? All right, let's go. Or, you know, use a really silly voice. And rather than try to sort of be more firm with them and try to calm them down, sometimes actually showing it, it's like, you know, I'm going to take some deep breaths before I can answer this question or do, you know, I just need to.
Rebecca Torpy [00:21:38]:
Let's go outside and talk about that because it's really noisy in here. So let's go and do that somewhere else because I'm finding it really hard to. To listen to everyone at the same time. Or, you know what, I'm just going to put. Dinner's only ready, but I'm just going to put it on hold because I've just got to go into my room for two seconds and just wash my face and then I'm going to feel better before I come back because I just got a little bit overloaded or a bit stressed about everything or something like that is a good way of being able to actually model it to them.
Steph Geddies [00:22:10]:
I love that because I think, you know, we. Sometimes we forget we're so in the. In the moment, right? Like we're in, you know, going through the motions that we can have such a powerful impact by showing that we're like, we don't have to have it all together all the time. It doesn't have to be this, like, big fake face. It can be like saying, I'm getting a bit overwhelmed in here. This is a bit too much for me. So I'm going to go do X, Y, Z and so I can come back and be a bit more regulated.
Rebecca Torpy [00:22:42]:
Yeah. When I used to work with the zones of regulation with kids, one of my favorites was that would often say, has anyone been in the red zone? And there'd be one kid like, I'm never in the red zone, but my mom is in the red zone a lot. And you can just see the mum being like, no, I'm not. That's because this. And you can just like, yeah, I've just got a little window into what's going on in your house and you, you're all triggering each other. Or you could say, you know, the kids coming in super loud and mum's just like, every time you hear that big loud noise, you see this little shudder and it's like, okay, we need to step right back and think about what's going on here. Because there's no way that these parents can be regulating when they're not feeling calm themselves. But pretending that they're fine is not what we want our kids to see.
Rebecca Torpy [00:23:27]:
We want them to know that we experience all the emotions because we're telling them that it's okay. So they need to see parents and caregivers and often it's quite fun for them to be able to go, oh, you know, when does dad get shouty? Or when does mum get shouty? And does, does her voice go up or does her voice go down? And you know, what does that mean? Oh, so that's a sign that, you know, maybe they're getting pretty frustrated and I mean we could help them by giving them a break, but you know, it's just good to remember that everyone feels like that too. And maybe your voice goes like that but you don't realize. So maybe we'll think about how we can remind you when you're starting to feel like that so that we can do something about it.
Steph Geddies [00:24:07]:
Love that. So there's a lot of Facebook ads about weighted blankets, vests. I mean there wouldn't be a day that goes past in our big support community that someone doesn't post one of those little handheld devices with the vibrating thing for sleep.
Rebecca Torpy [00:24:23]:
I'm, I'm really interested to know how they work, but I haven't got one myself.
Steph Geddies [00:24:27]:
We, we bought one, my mother in law bought one for the boys and I don't even know where it is. Like it was not a success like my, if we could find. But you know, it's. I don't think, I didn't think it was great. The boys were like annoying and so then probably eaten it by now. But let's talk about the things that work and the things that perhaps you haven't found as successful because I am very aware that our community spends an awful lot of money on Etsy Facebook ads or trying to find the perfect chart, the perfect sensory tool, the perfect this. And I'd love for you to give us a bit of a shortcut as to what things we should look at and what things we should, we should not look at.
Rebecca Torpy [00:25:05]:
I'd probably say if you're going to invest in anything, I would invest in seeing an OT and finding out what your children's preferences actually are. Because you don't have to sign up for weeks and weeks of therapy. You can go in and get an assessment if that's not available to you because I know there's, you know, cost can be a real barrier then thinking about what watch them when they do different activities and look at when they look the most sort of balanced, I want to say because it's not necessarily calm when they look the most like themselves. So in heavy work is always going to be a winner and you don't need really much to do that. Having, you know, you can do animal walks, you can do wheelbarrow walks, you can push and pull. I love a scooter board because it's a great way of getting kids down on the floor and you can get them from Kmart for $15. Stepping stones, crash pads probably if you've got a child that's really, you know, a moving seeker, some sort of crash pad or a play couch where they can actually get themselves onto it is going to be a good investment in your house because they will use the couch. So they'll find something.
Rebecca Torpy [00:26:17]:
They'll use the couch, they'll use the bed, they'll use each other. Or get an old doona and stuff it with pillows and old soft toys or the offcuts from Clark Rubber and have something at home that you can actually, you know, crash and bash and land on so they can get that feeling of really heavy work. I love Lycra. We have lots of Lycra in the clinic. So Lycra body socks. Like you get inside them and you like push yourself around in them and they kind of look like those growsuits when your babies are little that they go into those Love to Dream or like Maggie Simpson or Lycra tunnels. But just really be aware of what your child likes. So some microtunnels and these, this is why it can be really hard to, you know, order these things online and they're not actually what you're hoping for when they turn up.
Rebecca Torpy [00:27:03]:
So if you've got a child that does not like to be contained and can feel a little bit trapped, a really skinny, high pressure Lycra tunnel is not going to be for them because they're going to get in it and they're going to feel panicked. But if you've got a child that loves that squeezing, then that's the right one for them. So if you've got, Again, if you're LinkedIn with someone and they've got things that you can actually try in your sessions, that's going to be much more helpful. Some toy libraries are even starting to have some of these, you know, like the sit and spins or the scooter boards in their collections. And you can join toy libraries for sort of, you know, 50 to $100 a year. So it's quite an inexpensive way to. You have to do that. Blow toys even like your party.
Rebecca Torpy [00:27:47]:
No, I'm going to say party toys, but they're often noise makers, so that doesn't work for everybody. But so like little blowpipes that don't make lots of noise can be a really good one to get some deep breathing. Bubbles are always good. Like I love a weighted blanket and some kids really like it also. The weighted toys can be good, but the weighted toys will be quite condensed in terms of where the weight is so then it's only. They're only getting that weight sort of just on their lap or if they're laying down just on their chest. I've got a really cool weighted lizard. It's about two kilos, but because it's longer, it sort of stretches out.
Rebecca Torpy [00:28:25]:
So you can have it all over your chest or you can wrap it around your shoulders and you have that deep pressure. But there's so many things now that you can actually get off the shelf, so checking those out too can be a good way. We're really lucky here. Where I live in Geelong, we've got a company, a sensory shop, and they have things there that you can. You can actually go and see it and touch it before you buy it and you can see how heavy it is. Not everybody is that lucky. And when there seems like there's so many different things popping up in your ads, it's really hard to know what the right thing is. The other thing is a swing.
Rebecca Torpy [00:29:02]:
If you've got kids that really love sort of that smooth movement, a sort of spandex Lycra swing is a great thing to add into, into the house if you can do it safely.
Steph Geddies [00:29:18]:
Love those suggestions. So, thinking about parents who are feeling overwhelmed with supporting their child's sensory needs, what advice would you have for them?
Rebecca Torpy [00:29:32]:
I guess it depends on the type of overwhelming you're feeling. Like just because their kids are, you know, loud and busy and they're finding that's overloading their own nervous system. Or are you thinking more in terms of, like, just there's so much information and I don't know where to start.
Steph Geddies [00:29:48]:
I think it's as in like the parents are thinking, okay, this is another thing I have to do. I'm really tired for. And obviously they know the benefits, but that it is another task. Right. Do you have any advice for. For them?
Rebecca Torpy [00:30:01]:
Yeah. If you can build it into your day, and it does take a little bit of thinking first, but if you've already got a bit. If you can build something into your morning routine, you're the middle of the day and your evening, then that's going to have a flow and effect we often talk about. We call it a sensory diet. And it's kind of like having your three sensory main meals and then little snacks in between. And if we get a. Just like with food, if we get a really good, you know, we fill ourselves up with really good nutritious food that's going to last us the day, we might have a couple of snacks on the way through. But we're going to be able to last longer than if we're just having a little nibble here and a little nibble there and we never really fill our tummies up right.
Rebecca Torpy [00:30:43]:
So with sensory input, if we can start the day with you know, sort of 10 to 15 minutes of some really good targeted sensory input that is going to pay off later. We're not going to see kids seeking out that as much. So if you can get some movement into your mornings and if you so things like you know, saying earlier those, you know, can you do animal walks? Can you do bear walks up and down the, the corridor? Can you like most of our ADHD kids love a job and love a challenge. So if you can be, you know, you're brushing your teeth for two minutes and your siblings gonna see how many times they can bear walk up and down the corridor or you know, from one bedroom to the other or how many push ups they can do or if you've got younger kids, you know, how long they can hold a yoga position. And then we swap and can we while we're, you know, maybe before we're getting dressed, we're getting you know like doing some big body squeezes just along our body, having a bit of a big squeezy cuddle. If you can do that in the morning, it takes a few more minutes but it should have a sort of a longer term payoff. And again before bed, it sounds counterintuitive but some rough and tumble heavy work in that sort of hour before bed can be really, really helpful too. And so when you're getting out of the shower it might be if you're, you've got a kid that likes, you know, that deep pressure, it's like wrapping them up with a towel and then giving them a really, really, really big bear square, you know, big squeeze.
Rebecca Torpy [00:32:19]:
And then it might be, I don't know, grabbing like some pom poms and blowing them, you know, back to their bedroom. It might be doing some yoga all together as a family or you know, doing some burpees and star charms. It's really about what your child will tolerate. Wrapping them up can be really good. Rolling a therapy balls and other really easy cheap ones. And if your kids are the sort of kids that you put, you know, that therapy ball in and we're bouncing off each other and into the walls, then go for a peanut ball again. A good, good one from a therapy shop, you know, might be $60 or $70 but they're probably worth it. But you can get them from Kmart, they're just not as good or they won't last as long.
Rebecca Torpy [00:33:02]:
Like, I bought a good peanut ball five or six years ago and it's still going strong, but that's a really great one to roll along each other's back. So we give them steamrollers or getting in between the couch cushions and then like stacking them up and pushing down so you get that really nice heavy work. You can add those little things. And they're fun and they're a bit silly and they're often a novelty. So also watch for what hypes your kids up. And don't, I would say don't give up the first time they go silly because you've introduced this. Because it will take a few turns for them to realize that this is good for them. Anything that's different is going to be a little bit alerting and a little bit, you know, funny and silly and we'll get the giggles and it's easy to go, nope, this actually isn't helping.
Rebecca Torpy [00:33:46]:
This isn't worth it. But I would say persist for a few nights before you give up on it and then watch for what your children are looking for. Playtime after dinner, if you can do it. You know, if you've got monkey bars at home or a swing or a trampoline, adding that in before the bath routine can be really helpful too. So just trying to give them those opportunities through the day and absolutely, if you've got challenges with the after school activities, if you can stop off at a playground and, you know, hang, you know, hang on the monkey bars or, you know, somewhere where you've got to climb, have your snack outside, go for a run, burn off some of that energy that they've been holding in before you can get to the next activity. That can be huge too. Fidgets in the car, music that they like. If you've got to, I mean, it's not ideal, but if you need to give all three of, you know, if you've got three kids, all three different music in their headphones to support their regulation, then it's going to help.
Rebecca Torpy [00:34:44]:
And sometimes we just need to be okay with it not being what we think it's supposed to look like. As a parent, I think we've all been given this manual that you pick your kids up for school and you ask them what their day was and you go and do these really important activities after school. Because we're making, you know, we're supporting their interests and we're giving them all the opportunities we can. But sometimes that's putting more demands on them. So sometimes it is literally right, my kid likes a crunchy snack. Or they're really good with a smoothie through a straw that they can buy it on. So we get in the car, I'm like, here you go. And then we drive and we don't even talk.
Rebecca Torpy [00:35:19]:
And then they'll tell you when they're ready. So sometimes also lowering our expectations in those sort of high stress transition times. Really important.
Steph Geddies [00:35:28]:
I love that you've provided so much value. If you were going to leave. Oh, if you were going to tell us one thing you wish every parent of a child with sensory processing challenges new, what would that one thing be?
Rebecca Torpy [00:35:42]:
That there's no right way to experience something. And that we all have different sensory preferences. And if we can know what ours are, I know what helps us. We are so much better equipped to thrive in the world.
Steph Geddies [00:35:57]:
Love that so much. Now tell me I didn't have that written down.
Rebecca Torpy [00:36:05]:
Of course. You ask all the guests that. And I was like, you're gonna say, what are your final thoughts? And I was like, I don't have that.
Steph Geddies [00:36:12]:
Oh, you nailed it. So tell me where people can find you.
Rebecca Torpy [00:36:17]:
Our website is www.sensorysmartkids. ot.com I don't know why I didn't do an AU, but we're.com and I'm sensory smart Kids on Instagram and on Facebook.
Steph Geddies [00:36:29]:
Absolutely love chatting with you today, Rebecca. And I can't wait for you to come inside the ADHD Families membership as our expert in October. I'm so excited.
Rebecca Torpy [00:36:39]:
Me too. I'm very much looking forward to that because I think we can delve a little bit deeper into some of those strategies that we talked about. And hopefully your members have listened to this and they can come along with like. Right, okay, so you said this, but now I want to know this. And that's what I love. I love that problem solving. So that's what we love doing as OTs.
Steph Geddies [00:36:59]:
Thank you so much.
Rebecca Torpy [00:37:02]:
Thank you.
