What is a sensory diet?

A sensory diet is a treatment that can help kids with sensory processing issues. It includes a series of physical activities your child can do at home. It has nothing to do with food. An occupational therapist can design a sensory diet routine tailored to meet your child’s needs.

Your child’s OT will observe her to see what sensory input she seeks or avoids. The OT takes those preferences into account when coming up with a routine. Here are some standard activities they draw on to create a sensory diet:

• Jumping jacks
• Log rolling (rolling back and forth)
• Swinging on swings
• Climbing ladders and sliding down slides at the playground
• Hopping up and down
• Push-ups (which can be modified to pushing off the wall or on their knees)
• Bouncing on a therapy ball with feet on the ground while clapping
• Rolling on a therapy ball on their belly, forward and backward
• Rolling a therapy ball on their back while they lie on the ground to “make a sandwich”
• Yoga poses like downward dog or happy baby (also known as Zen bug), holding a position for at least 10 seconds
• Facing a wall and pushing as hard as possible (variations include standing sideways and pushing against the wall with a shoulder, or pushing while sitting with the back against the wall, holding positions for at least 10 seconds)
• Heavy work activities at home with supervision, like sweeping/dry mopping, dusting, vacuuming, lifting and carrying grocery bags from the car into the home
• Animal walks such as crab walk (on all fours facing sky) or bear walk (on all fours facing ground)