Tips for Exploring Nature for Kids with Sensory and Visual Impairments
- Oct 8, 2015
- 3 min read
Finding ways to get kids excited about spending time outdoors is usually dependant on the child's own curiousity and preferences. Kids with visual impairments sometimes also struggle with being over- or under-stimulated or other sensory processing challenges that can interfere with their comfort levels in different environments. Going on a trek through the park where the wind is blowing, noisy birds are chirping and there are no patterns to the trees, bushes and plants around you, may actually be relaxing for many people, however for some kids who are blind and struggle with sensory processing, this is the scenerio for chaos! There is too much going on for their brains to process all of the sounds and textures. This overstimulation then ends up causing the child to completely shutdown or even act out by shouting and hitting himself or others. (There are common behaviors to look for but remember that every child is different!)
Taking time to explore nature in a controlled environment can be good way to get sensory kids outside. Organizing short times outdoors and incorporating another activity helps take the pressure off and places the focus on something more specific. WonderBaby.org published an informative article for taking kids with visual impairments on an Outdoor Sensory Scavenger Hunt. It gives tips for preparing the activity so that it is accessible to kids who are blind, as well as ideas for extending the trip into other activities like making a tactile book and more. Visit "How to Organize a Sensory Nature Scavenger Hunt" on WonderBaby.org today!
Madilyn's Struggles with Sensory Processing Issues
Since Madilyn was born, she has struggled with sensory processing challenges that interfere with the need to explore her environment with her hands. The first instances we noticed were oral aversions. She refused to suck a bottle and despised anything foreign near her mouth. As she became older, we saw her repeatedly put her left ear to her shoulder to block sounds, and later found out that she is deaf in her right ear due to a missing sensory-neural nerve VII- explaining why she never assumed the position on the other side! Also, she would withdraw her hands from anything soft like a stuffed animal (the most common gift, of course!) or things that had a rough texture. She didn't seem to mind hard, smooth plastic and grew to love electronic toys as a toddler- hooray! It saddened me to see all the things she missed out on due to her sensory processing issues, however I didn't know there was actually a term to describe it or that there were certain things we could do to help her until she was 7 or 8 years old. I remember the afternoon I stumbled upon the first research I found online that described Madilyn to a "T" and the excitement I felt to have this valuable information!
From the time I was five years old and until I moved out for college, my family lived in the country. In elementary school, I was always outside building treehouses or constructing something. My parents planted a garden every spring and I loved picking out plants to grow. So, it isn't really surprising that I want to share these types of activities with my daughter now that she is getting older. Her sensory processing struggles have interrupted many of the outings we've attempted over the years but now we're excited that she has become much more comfortable with being outside without o\as much of the overstimulation. She is learning how to process all of those sounds and textures in a way that works for her! It wasn't without a lot of work and patience on everyone's part either though!
Now, Madilyn's favorite place to be outside is by (or in) the ocean. She fatigues easily on long walks so hiking is something we'd love to eventually encourage her to do, but until then we spend pretty days exploring at the park, in the yard, or on the coast (thank you, New England). We've found a few different ways to make these outings more exciting for her, yet still controlled so that she can handle the sensory stimulation. One way she loves is by incorporating technology. Yes, technology mixed with nature! Lots of what we 'sighted people' love about nature is the scenary, right? That's why we use the TapTapSee app to give Madilyn access to these images as well. It's an accessible app we have on the iPhone where she can point the camera and double tap to snap a picture. The app then processes it and gives a description. Sometimes the descriptions are rather short but other times they're very informative! I haven't figured out exactly why it goes one way or the other yet... Above is a demo of the app being used outside on the sensory nature scavenger hunt!
Find more ideas for Playing Outdoors on our Pinterest board!
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