The Struggle is Real: Living Life Around Sensory Overload, Tactile Defensiveness, Sensory Sensitivity, & Trigger Tantrums

Many people may think that a child experiencing a sensory overload meltdown is just a child having a tantrum. While sensory overload meltdowns, tantrums, and being tactile defensive, can often look similar, they are very different from each other.

Knowing how to tell the difference AND knowing what you can do can help support not only the child, but gives you a better sense of control when you have a plan (and back-up plan B, C, and D) ready to use.

Our sensory tactile, or touch, system responds to anything that may touch the skin. This includes light touch, discriminative touch, deep touch pressure, temperature, vibration, length of contact time, and pain messages.
When a child is tactile defensive, they are very sensitive to touch, often finding certain kinds of touch painful, overwhelming, and often overloading their sensory system.

While a tantrum is behavior based, sensory overload or tactile defensiveness may also impact a child’s response in everyday situations.

This book covers not only living with meltdowns, tantrums, sensory tactile defensiveness, but a wide variety of ideas, activities, and suggestions, by an Occupational Therapist. The struggle is real, but with a plan, and management, the child and the entire family will benefit and move on to a more positive and growth promoting environment.

This book covers:

Introduction

A Stressful Time for All

Sensory Systems

What is a Tantrum?

What is a Sensory System Overload?

Can a Tantrum Bring on a Meltdown?

Plan Your Strategy for Tantrums, Sensory Overload, Meltdowns, Hyper Sensory Sensitivity, and Tactile Defensiveness

Activities for Calming Sensory Overload and Promoting Quiet Time

Activities for Calming Sensory Overload and Hyper Sensory Sensitivity

Developing a Plan for Tantrums

What can you do to Help the Struggle?

SPD and Sensory Sensitivity /Touch Issues /Tactile Defensiveness

Sensory Touch Sensitivity and Tactile Defensiveness

Common Signs and Symptoms of Tactile Defensiveness and Sensory Sensitivity

OT Activities, Ideas, and Suggestions for Reducing Impact of Tactile Defensiveness and Sensory Sensitivity

Heavy work activities

Body part awareness activities

How To Make: Tactile / Touch Sensory Box

Sensory Texture Rubs

How To Make: Sensory Discovery Bottles

On Amazon Kindle

Paperback Book (on Amazon books)

See all available publications by Judy Benz Duncan, OT

Judy Benz Duncan has been an Occupational Therapist for over thirty years. She has worked with children from infants to teenagers in numerous settings that included early intervention, pre-school programs, grade school, home health, developmental training centers, and sensory integration clinics.

Judy developed the foundation for designing therapeutic activities and tasks using interactive play and creative imagination to engage the children at a level they could easily relate to while working toward the achievement of their Occupational Therapy program’s functional goals and treatment plan.

Judy attended the University of Florida, University of Kansas, and the University of Tennessee. She received New York State approval as a Supplemental Evaluator for OT with early intervention and pre-school students, and has helped develop and start an OT program for families and children in New York. Judy continues to stay up-to-date in the clinical field through mentoring other OT students and new graduates.

She continues to contribute to children, families and professionals everywhere through her professional writing endeavors which include writing books and manuals, managing the therapeutic website, TheraPlay4Kids.com, writing OT blogs and topic-specific articles, working on "interactive story play" book series, writing bi-weekly professional blogs for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon group, a psychiatrist, and an attorney at law. She continues to be an active mentor of new OT graduates, as well as OT students.