Your child is anxious
Anxious children can also have problems in sensory processing. They react without control to some sensory stimuli. Most of the time they try to maintain their balance by keeping their head up straight in a tense way instead of using the support and the solidity of the ground. As a result anxious children do not like to be moved and very often they move very little themselves. Although it is important that they will have more physical exercise and start to enjoy this, it is necessary for them to experience more body awareness and start to use the ground for support. Finding support on the ground or on their parents’ lap will relax them and their fear will diminish.
The following activities and games may be suitable:
- Domestic activities
- Provide enough physical exercise
- The use of weights
- The use of vibrating material
- Sitting on a ball or ball cushion
- Sitting on a ball and moving to music
- Sitting on a ball while watching television
- Exercise pressure with a ball
- Lying on top of different materials
- Swaddling or wrapping up in a blanket
- Rolling, walking on your knees or on all fours over different materials
- Skating on rugs
- Touching and moving on your lap
- Something to feel
- Playing with shaving cream
- Playing with rice
- Playing with chestnuts
- Rubbing in body lotion
- Massage with different materials
- The use of the foot massage bath
Els Rengenhart © 2009