Music For Kiddos Podcast
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Sensory Avoiders and Sensory Seekers, what’s the difference? And, why is it important for us as music therapists and music educators to know about this?
We posed this question on the most recent podcast episode titled Sensory Avoiders. As part of this mini-series about sensory processing in music spaces, this blog post and episode 45 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, are focused on the topic of sensory seekers.
If you listened to the previous episode of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, you know that I wholeheartedly believe that no kid is a bad kid. There's absolutely no such thing. But sometimes, this sensory seeking behavior can be interpreted as a child being “a handful” or “a troublemaker.” In reality, that child might just need to learn to listen to their body, learn what it needs and what “feels good.” So then as adults, we can help kids figure out a safe way to have a satisfied sensory system.
This perspective might just be the missing piece of the puzzle that can really increase empathy for kids who have a lot of energy or big emotions.
Sensory Seekers
Sensory seekers tend to react to less or minimally to your average sensory input. For many kids, it means that their bodies are constantly telling them to move and to seek sensory input. I can imagine that this kind of sensory seeking need would require a child to constantly seek input in order for their body to have this sensory satisfaction and to feel good. When a child is experiencing that need, it would be a lot to ask them to pause, sit and pay attention in a classroom setting.
Let's talk about the five senses and what the five senses might look like in a child who is a sensory seeking.
Hearing: As far as hearing goes, perhaps children that are sensory seekers might not really be bothered by loud sounds. Maybe you catch them wearing headphones one day and the volume is up way too loud and they haven't even noticed. Maybe they don't react as quickly to something like a fire alarm. They might speak loudly or they seek these loud sounds. Sometimes seeking a loud sound can be singing loudly, yelling, talking loudly, etc.
Touch: Maybe they touch everything, they’re constantly touching a lot of things. Maybe they're the kid who walks down the grocery store and puts their hands on all the cans as they're walking by. Sometimes parents have a hard time understanding why they're touching something disgusting or something gross (mud, dirt, etc.) , but they are seeking those sensations. It's possible when it comes to touch as well, that they may have a hard time understanding personal space and they may stand close to somebody.
It may be that when it comes to touch, that that kids who are sensory seekers have a pretty high tolerance for pain because again, it's the way that their body is processing sensory input.
Smell: It's possible that they could like strong smells, and things with strong smells like candles or lotions can actually help them regulate and feel calm.
Sight: When we're talking about sight, you know, maybe they really like bright lights, maybe you catch them looking at the screen of a tablet really, really close to their eyes. Maybe you catch them looking at a Christmas tree really closely. They may also like spinning or moving objects. It may be actually calming and peaceful to them to see something like a ceiling fan.
Taste: A lot of sensory seekers are also picky eaters, but you'll see that they sometimes tend to like things like crunchy food (chips, crackers, etc.) but if you give them something like a sweet potato, they don't like the mushy kind of feeling. This is almost certainly something that an occupational therapist would be able to help kids with. A lot of kids with sensory processing issues are very particular about the kinds of foods that they eat.
Of course, these can all be mixed up. These examples are not linear. So it may be that a child is a sensory seeker, but they hate strong smells. It’s absolutely possible that they're primarily a sensory seeker for things like hearing and touch, but maybe they don't like, smells.
I go more in-depth talking about sensory seekers on episode 45 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, which is linked below:
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