Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Sensory seeking dd3- need ideas

Dd3 is energetic to say the least. She attends 3 hours of preschool every day. Nothing tires her out. She is constantly bouncing off things, jumping, climbing, spinning around, pouring things out. While it is cute, it gets too tiring for me or her nanny to keep her from getting hurt. She holds on to the breakfast bar and tries to climb the vertical surface. She climbs the couch from the back and slides down the front head first, almost hits the wood floor, etc etc. How can I calm her down and teach her safety? She does have a long attention span and will sit with focus on activities she chooses. She does not listen to anyone unless she wants to. Any advice is apreciated.

She sounds a lot like my son at that age. Three and four were hard ages for him. He started Occupational Therapy about six months ago and it has really helped.

Has she had an OT eval? My dd10 was an extremely sensory-seeking child when she was young too... and she had a very short attention span. Things we did with her that may or may not help your dd:

We got one of those gnarly-looking sensory cushions to sit on. She didn't sit often, but when she did, it kept her from squirming non-stop.

We had her wear a leotard (gymnastics type, tight-fitting) under her regular clothes - part of her squirminess was due to weak trunk muscles.

We had her swing. Swing for as long as she wanted to - a LONG time. Fortunately she loved to swing It helped use up some of her energy, and it also helped to build up her strength in her trunk muscles.

She had listening therapy for about 9 months when she was 5. That helped her with focus.

Not the same thing as listening therapy, but putting headphones on (not just ear buds) and playing music helped her focus when she was working on art of schoolwork etc - she *still* uses them in 5th grade while she does her homework - it helps her to have the distraction of the music to stay focused.

Have you had your dd's vision checked? Unbeknownst to us, all the years our dd was a high-energy bumping-into-everything, falling-off-all-chairs preschool kid.. she also had severe double vision. Once she'd had vision therapy, most of the bumping/falling/etc behaviors disappeared.

And have you considered ADHD, or is she too young to consider it? We used to have doctors and teachers always telling us they were convinced our dd had ADHD (and *not* the inattentive type lol). She's been evaluated for ADHD and is very definitely *not* ADHD per the diagnosis guidelines - but she's still, at 10 1/2, a child who is very active, needs to have breaks and be active and burn off excess energy.

Best wishes,

polarbear

sounds like both my sons (4 and 2.6) ... they both get OT but I don't see the OT doing much difference. But if you don't have a small indoor trampoline yet, I'd get that. It's constantly in use in our house ... it's one of those with enclosure ... something like this one ... the one we have goes to 100lbs so I'm sure it will last us awhile!

Thank you for sharing your ideas. We have not done an OT eval bcos I never thought that her high energy level is a medical problem that needs help. I just assumed she has too much energy and she doesn't know what to do with her body so she tries everything. I am curious to find out what prompted you to get an OT eval and therapy- what should I look out for?
To polarbear's reply, her vision seems to be okay. She is never accidentally bumping off things. It is always purposeful. She will arrange cushions and pillows to create a cascading step or tower, place it strategically next to the window seat and create other elaborate setups for her to climb, jump off, slide down, etc. Also I haven't researched ADHD but she does have long attention span (1-1.5 hours at a stretch) for activities she enjoys like jigsaw puzzle or pouring liquids from one pot to another. I am also looking for ideas to get the energy out of her system through some structured activity. The idea of an indoor trampoline is excellent. I know she would love it. Thanks everyone.

also, with my older one ... he's like running on re-chargeable batteries. The more active he is the wilder he gets (and the less he sleeps too) ... So I actually need to try keep him calm rather than have him do too much physical activity. ... I've had friends and family tell me that I just need to get him out more, have him run in the back yard more, take him to the gym, etc. ... but I found it actually make things a lot worse because then he just can't settle down. Different structured brain and hands on activities seem much better for us (going between his games, play-doh, tv time, painting, some outside time but not too active, cafe where kids can play ... sort of like a children's museum, etc.).

Also, I wouldn't dismiss ADHD as an option ... a lot of kids with ADHD can still focus really well on activities they like / choose ... it's all the other activities they have problems with.

You are describing my dd. going to the bouncy house or playground or swimming only makes her more hyper not tired. Lol!

Gymnastics, dance, soccer? We have a rock climbing wall at our Y that is just CALLING my dd2's name (but of course dd is still too young) . Instead she very carefully erects elaborate stairs from diaper boxes, cases of bottled water, upside down laundry baskets in search of hidden candy and treats in the cupboards.

Gymnastics and swimming are great.

I think a lot of people were mentioning OT because the term in the title, "sensory seeking", is a term associated with sensory integration dysfunction/sensory processing disorder. OT's can do assessments that identify the sensory issues that are adversely influencing a child's ability to function.

We got an OT assessment because my son was having trouble in preschool. Without getting into it all, if you looked at the results of his OT assessment compared to his preschool environment, we were basically sending him to his own sensory hell everyday. It was no wonder he was miserable there. We pulled him out, started OT and he started K as an early entrant six months later. He still sees his OT and he is doing great in K.