*Jake narrating* Hello my name is Jake and this is Serena. We want to tell you a little bit about ourselves and our lives .
*Serena narrating* We are both in the same class at school but we have very different ways of sensing the world around us and can sometimes find it a bit tricky.
*Narrator* Please ensure that you have watched the online sensory talks prior to viewing this video so that you have a better understanding. Thank you.
*Jake narrating* But thankfully there are lots of things that can help us such as the Planning Wheel which We’ll talk to you more about later in this video.
However, sometimes the information can be too much for me.
I get lots if information from my environment – this means what’s going on around me.
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From what I see…
- What I hear…
- What I smell and feel
- And from what I eat. Delicious, yummy scrummy!
Seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting are all called our senses. There are other senses too and all these senses help me make decisions about what I like, dislike, and how I respond.
That means that I can get easily upset and I find it difficult to manage my feelings. Sometimes I even get a bit cross if I can’t complete the task I am working on. This is known as having a low threshold to what’s going on around me.
The OT says I can find it tricky to process all the information that my brain is collecting from all around me.
But I know my senses can help me. Not liking the smell of mouldy vegetables is good because it tells me to not eat them. Yuck!
I just needs more sensory input from my environment; like a tap on the shoulder to get my attention.
The OT says I needs lots of input from my environment and I have high threshold to what’s going on around me.
*Serena narrating* But I’m very different to Jake, When Mr Brown, our teacher says my name, I sometimes does not ‘hear’ him talking to me even though I can actually hear perfectly well.
*Jake narrating* The trouble is when our senses react in either of these ways – high or low threshold – We can find it hard to carry out day to day tasks like getting ready in the morning, concentrating at school or even going to the supermarket when its busy.
This means that I often miss out on instructions and can get into trouble as I loses my concentration. It’s not that I am reluctant to stop what I’m doing, I genuinely do not register when someone is talking to me. Some children in the class think I’m a ‘Daydreamer’.
And these feelings of not being successful in everyday tasks can make us feel upset and overwhelmed.
That’s why I love the ‘Planning wheel’ - it really helps me when I am overwhelmed with too much information. Let me show you how it works’.
Step 1 - I pick the activity I want to get better at… like brushing my teeth!
Then, with an adult I think about how it would help me if I change the environment when I do the task. I can then add these changes on my Planning Wheel.
So, by brushing my teeth in the bedroom it’s much better because there’s not an echoing sound that hurts my ears and no bright lights in my eyes. Cleaning my teeth in the bathroom can weirdly also make my tummy feel sore.
Step 2 - I think about changing the task so I can make it easier and tolerate the activity more, such as using non flavour toothpaste. Normal toothpaste is too strong and makes my tongue feel like its burning!
So I put the change of task on my Planning Wheel. After I have completed my Planning Wheel, I have a go at the activity with the changes to the environment and task to see how I get on.
If one of my ideas in the big wheel isn’t working I take it off and change it, for example, I am now finding that an electric toothbrush with a soft head works well for me, and I am going to add that ‘I prefer to use an electric toothbrush’ into the Planning Wheel.
It’s amazing- I feel like I have say in what and how I want to do an activity. I have become so much more confident and happy, all thanks to the Planning Wheel. So give it a go! – It takes a bit of practice but it’s really helped me, and I’m sure it will help you too!