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Homeschooling Sensory Seekers

September 4, 2013 by Emilee Evans

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Homeschooling with Special Needs
Day 2 of my 5 Days of Homeschooling with Special Needs is “Homeschooling Sensory Seekers.” Although our three children are very different in many ways they do all have one thing in common – sensory seeking. Our oldest is on the Autism Spectrum, and as you may know, many children on the Autism spectrum exhibit sensory related behaviors as well. His are fairly mild in the sensory avoidance area but plentiful in the sensory seeking area. Our daughter and youngest son both have Sensory Processing Disorder (I will be sharing a post soon on how Autism Spectrum and Sensory Processing Disorder are NOT the same) and both have sensory seeking and sensory avoiding behaviors.
I’m sure you’re wondering now if our days get pretty crazy. The short answer is “yes.” I have to be very in tune with what behaviors are present that day and work with them the best I know how. Sometimes one is having a high sensory day while another isn’t getting enough sensory input. So it CAN be a tough balance, but I just handle each day as they come. Tomorrow I will be covering Sensory Overload.

So, what is sensory seeking?

Sensory seeking happens when the person (I don’t say child because I have Sensory Processing Disorder as well – it is not limited to just children) isn’t getting enough sensory input. They will act “hyper” as some people may call it because they can’t sit still. They may chew on their pencil, kick their feet a lot, jump out of their seat often, draw all over their paper, and overall have a hard time concentrating. It can be exasperating, but instead of throwing in the towel we should look at ways to accommodate their needs and still make it through the homeschool day.
Every person is different, but I want to share some general tips we have found helpful for our household!

Change their seat

Many times movement can help with sensory input and still allow them to concentrate on their work. Instead of using a standard chair switch it up to something that can offer that such as: an exercise ball or wiggle seats. I also saw in a store recently a bungee chair. Even a rocking chair or swivel chair may be a good solution if you have one. The important thing is that they are able to move around easily without the need to get out of their chair often.

Take frequent breaks

We take a break in between each subject. Sometimes it’s simply a 5 min break or up to 15 minutes if that is what is needed. If I can tell one of our kids is in desperate need of sensory input I will suggest they jump on the trampoline for a few minutes. We have a small indoor trampoline that I got in the fitness aisle of a store, which was more reasonably priced than others I had seen, but it is still a little trampoline. We do also have a large one outside now as well. I don’t generally use the one outside in the middle of our homeschool day (though we will at the end for PE or just to play) because getting them to come back inside can be quite a hassle!
If you don’t have a trampoline available you can play quick, high-activity games that get them running and moving!
Homeschooling Sensory Seekers

Provide other resources

Does your child fidget with or chew on their pencil? Our oldest son does this. Instead of replacing pencils a couple times a week it made more sense to give him things he COULD fidget with and chew on such as: fidgets, chew tubes, a chewable pencil topper, etc. That way he was still getting the input he needs without ruining the pencil and getting the materials from the pencil in his mouth.

Do more hands-on work

As I mentioned in my Homeschooling with a Chronic Condition post, it’s not always easy for me to do a lot of hands-on work depending on the day. Luckily, not all days are “bad days,” and a lot of hands-on work is the perfect solution when your child is in need of additional sensory input. Let them get dirty, make a mess, do their work outside, etc. You may feel at first it’s counterproductive, but you’ll learn that the more input they get will also mean better results on their schoolwork as well!

Have patience

The best way to tackle the day when your child is sensory seeking is to have patience. I know this can be a hard one because I, for one, am NOT a patient person overall. I find starting our day with Circle Time and prayer (and some at-home therapy) helps me to gauge their overall “mood” for the day. If I know one, two, or all three are having a day where they need additional sensory input I adjust the day’s plan accordingly and prepare to be patient.
I know you’re probably thinking “how do you prepare to be patient?” I simply change my mindset and expectations. There will be a lot of jumping out of chairs, yelling the answer, fidgeting, etc., unless I have fully utilized all the resources above, so I know to be prepared and not instantly correct with sharpness but rather with a reminder and redirection. If I discover I misjudged and needed to include more fidgets, then I do so. I also find praying that I will acknowledge that and move forward to have the best day we can really helps me to not overreact but respond lovingly and with consideration.
So where do you get those type of products? NationalAutismResources.com has a variety of products like the products I mentioned.
My 5 Days of Homeschooling with Special Needs was meant to be part of a large blog hop by other Schoolhouse Review Crew members. Although my posts are coming very late, you can still check out the blog hop by clicking on the picture below! Many different topics were covered, and I know you will find something amazing!
Summer Blog Hop
 
autism products

Starting NaBloPoMo

August 1, 2012 by Emilee Evans

Here it is – the beginning of a new month! You know what I love about August? My birthday is this month! haha ๐Ÿ™‚ I have also started sending out birthday discounts for those on our mailing list that included their birthday in their profile! It’s quick and easy to sign up and YOU choose what information you’d like to receive! We do have a choice to subscribe to our blog for daily e-mails in the right side of my side bar where it says “Subscribe to Pea of Sweetness by e-mail.” But maybe daily e-mails are a bit too much for you – then subscribe to our newsletter to choose a weekly option instead! You can also sign up for deals and specials for my businesses and take advantage of our new birthday discounts! ๐Ÿ™‚
Also this month, for the first time ever I’ll be participating in NoBloPoMo (NaBloPoMo is short for NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth.) The theme is “Sweet.” NoBloPoMo challenges bloggers to blog daily during the week. We are given “prompts,” which I may or may not use depending on if I have something else to blog about! haha Usually I have A LOT to blog about, but then I never actually get it done! Like at this moment I’m holding a sleeping toddler (I can’t believe he fell asleep at a normal bed time!!), and I have a lot of other things to catch up on, so my more in depth posts that I’ve been “saving up” are still going to have to wait! Sorry! They’re coming! ๐Ÿ™‚ So I will be following today’s prompt for sure!
Today’s question is: What is something sweet you ate today?
Well, right now I regret ANYTHING I ate today because I have had an awful stomach ache since just after dinner! Blah! Surprisingly, I didn’t eat anything sweet today. How crazy is that?! That is definitely out of the ordinary for me! haha I did have a vanilla iced coffee, though, so although it’s not something I ate – it’s the only thing I had today that was sweet!
*Edited 8/7 – I will no longer be participating in this particular NoBloPoMo, but I am still going to strive to post something original each week day!* ๐Ÿ™‚

Unpopular

April 9, 2012 by Emilee Evans

Our Easter yesterday definitely didn’t go “as planned.” I was having a hard time waking up from hardly getting any sleep that night and my husband ended up getting sick, so needless to say we stayed home all day when our plans were to go to Church and the Easter Egg hunt after service. We didn’t do a whole lot around the house, either, because we were just kind of “blah.” We did get in some Skype time in the evening with our families, though! I could have easily sat on the computer all day and even answered business e-mails, post business info, networking, etc., but I didn’t. Why? Remember my post about my Day of Rest? Yes, it’s that important to me. Even though I wasn’t really capable of doing a whole lot physically with the family yesterday (and my husband more so wasn’t able to) I wasn’t going to break my commitment. It really got me thinking about something, though. It’s an “unpopular” decision. Some business owners may not even understand – or even think I’m crazy for taking an entire day of rest to reflect on God and family. As you can read in my post about it, I struggled with it for a long time, too!
This is not my only unpopular decision when it comes to business. In fact, I probably have more than a few! I’ve been living in this area about 5 months now and often feel like the “odd man out” or “unpopular” because it’s also the season for Relay for Life. I don’t support Relay for Life because of my pro-life beliefs. People think I “don’t get it.” The truth is we lived with it for while because my husband had cancer twice. People need help, and the big organizations are NOT that helpful – if at all. I’ll save all of that for another time, but basically if you TRULY have a heart for supporting someone going through cancer help them directly! Don’t give your money to the big organizations to turn around and use it for their overhead and supporting things that you may not believe in! There is a great article here that is wonderfully written on the subject! Again, I’m sure I will touch on it at some point as well!
So why make unpopular decisions – particularly if I know they’re unpopular? What if the top business person in the world told me I really should do business on Sundays and support any organization that is popular in this area so my business “looks good?” I still wouldn’t do it. You see, I know where my riches are – in Heaven. Of course, I don’t want to be unsuccessful in business, but ultimately God is my guide. I feel those unpopular things are exactly what He wants me to do – commit an entire day to Him and my family and stand up against organizations that are in contrary to what He teaches us. To sum it up in one word – TRUST. I trust that by following His guide I WILL be successful and our needs will always be met. I will pass down these VALUES to our children, which is an awesome inheritance! Am I saying by making these unpopular decisions I won’t be financially rewarded? Not at all! Again, I trust that God will reward me for being faithful to His Will! Ultimately, though, if I absolutely had to decide between earthly riches and Heavenly riches I would most definitely choose Heavenly riches! God, though, is gracious in that he doesn’t make us choose just one or the other. I feel MORE confident in my success here when I’m following Him closely! I encourage you, though, to focus on where you’re expending your efforts. Are you focusing them on the riches that you can’t take with you or the riches you’ll inherit in Heaven? What legacy are you leaving to your children – work really hard and spend most of your time in business and representing things that are contrary to your faith or that you truly trusted God in your journey? I’m ready to continue to step out and say “I trust God,” even though I know it’s unpopular, because I know we’ll be rewarded!

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