sensory integration therapy

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anybody with sensory issues tried sensory integration therapy? its hard to find someone who will work with adults, but i did and i'm going to see her tomorrow. I hope she will prescribe fun things like that my parents need to buy me a giant swing and a trampoline, but most likely she will make me eat icky foods and become acclimated to scary noises.

i'm rooting for the swing.

If you get the trampoline, we're all coming to *your* house!

Keep us posted on how it goes?

I've really considered it...but don't know of anyone even near my location that would work with an adult....not to mention that at 39 I think the trampoline thing might be out of the picture...(although it might be fun )...neighbors would have me commited.

screw the neighbours... you're, what, 39? Big deal. Get a trampoline, have fun, to hell with the naysayers.

I am afraid to seek help for my driving phobia for the same reason...I think they will make me drive more......I hate paying people to torture me.I hope you get the swings and such.

I think Aspies are too smart for exposure therapy (lol). Therapy seriously did not work for my OCD issues because I was like WHY would I want to touch something dirty and not wash my hands? If you touch something dirty you are supposed to wash your hands. Therefore too much logic involved - it interferes with motivation.

yeah, i'll definitely let you guys know how it works out!

funny thing is, i used to have a trampoline, back in high school when we lived in california, but it was always so damn hot i didn't use it very often. plus my parents dug a big hole in the ground to put it into so it was level with the ground and i wouldn't fall off and break myself, which was probably necessary, but it sure took a lot of the fun out of it. someday when i have my own house, i want a huge giant tall swing in the backyard or inside the house if i can. and a big trampoline, and one of those easy glider thingies that you ride on. the swing has to be at least triple the height of those dinky playground swings they make nowadays. my kids are gonna love me, lots of toys in our house! sometimes for fun i still go to a playground and swing but they're so small its not that fun.

but yeah, i don't know if she is going to do exposure therapy with me or not. it sounds like its some of that and some of what they call a "sensory diet" which is used to stimulate all your senses periodically in the hopes that no single one of your senses will have a major freakout at any point in time.

Not quite sure how it works, but i'm hoping that swinging and jumping will cause me to not think food is disgusting without having to actually swallow nasty specimens of supposedly edible poisonous gorp! Suppose that's optimistic....

My niece took up high-diving and was *obliged* to take practice time on the trampoline! It turns out that's how they learn, and it's how they practice. So maybe low-diving, yeah! And I'll say I just gotta practice my ... jack knife? ... whatever. Erm ... that wouldn't go very well with my dog-paddle.

re Sensory Diet - They talk about that in the Too Loud book. In there, it means finding ways to reduce sensory input - it's amazing how much nicer the world can be with a baseball cap and sound-eliminating ear plugs. And sunglasses - I've noticed that the palest shade of blue gets rid of all that yellow light, and it doesn't look *too* weird to wear them indoors.

That sounds like me too.

well the lady seems really nice and that she can help me. She is going to make me eat and smell bad things, but she also suggested a swing and a trampoline! So i got a mini tramp for inside...not as fun as a big one, but more accessible. Don't know what to do about a swing. All our trees are skinny, diseased and with no branches, and i've searched google for hours looking for swing frames higher than 10 feet. its impossible! i want a TALL swing at least 15 feet high!

I think this kind of thearepy would be beneficial for me. But I highly doubt I could find such a professional in my area as I can't even find one to diagnose AS yet. I have been thinking about moving, to a certain city (would be more shrinks, there, another advantage), but then I really think my sensory issues would become worse.

I hardly ever drive, even though I'm good at it (according to my former driving teacher), becaues it terrifies me, loud noises, small noises at night really freak me out, visually- mostly on websites (my eyes get over loaded, hard to find links I'm looking for, etc), certain odors I simply can't tolerate.< To name the ones that really affect me.

Does anyone have really good online resorces dealing with sensory issues? I'd really apprieciate some links; I'm able to find what I need online usually but I get really frustrated, so some direct info could save me a lot of frustration.

Swinging with spinning was my son's thing and we wanted something we could use year around so we screwed a big hook into the floor joists (sp?) in the basement and then attached one of these rotational devices onto it so it could spin quite freely.
http://www.southpawenterprises.com/stor ... roduct.asp

The swing we started out with was a hammock swing from this company. My kid loved it, his siblings loved it, all their friends love it when they come over....we do have to set the timer so visitors don't swing so long that they heave though. I also had my husband come in and check out the therapy stuff in the OT room and he made several wooden swings because they are so darned expensive through the OT supply and insurance usually doesn't cover it.
http://www.hammockjungle.com/

When we started up with all of this I wasn't sure how it was going to help either but we were really desperate. He was running hysterically from the room at sights and smells of typical food so clearly it was an assault to his system--I felt so bad. I literally started cooking outside the house (grill, microwave in garage, crockpot, etc) because the smells of foods cooking set him off so bad. It took some trial and error to find the right balance of sensory activities but it has helped a lot after we got the hang of it. Oh, once we figured out what was up we never made him smell or eat stuff that caused him problems but we've always made lots of opportunities for him to branch out and once he didn't feel so threatened he started taking those steps on his own. Last year he even ventured out to try cheese pizza which was a HUGE deal since that's what kids almost always eat at parties and he always felt left out.

There's a book that a lot of parents use called "The Out of Sync Child" by Carol Kranowitz. It outlines the basics of sensory therapy and gives practical suggestions on addressing various issues. It's usually sitting on the shelves of larger book stores so it would be something to thumb through to see what could be pulled out for adults.

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http://www.infinitywalk.org/
http://www.balametrics.com/

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The most insightful book I've read about sensory integration/sensory processing and how the right medicine can temporary correct small aspects of sensory integration (not a cure) is a How To book about ADHD Inattentive by C. Thomas Wild which contains a foreword by Anita Uhl Brothers, M.D.

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Video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Fit

Thankfully, my sensory specialist was aware that exposure therapy doesn't work on Aspie sensory stuff. ^_^ Which is a relief.. So far we've just gone through questionaires. I'm not sure what else will happen.

I had OT for several years. I remember my OT ran her practice from her garage. By the time she'd set everything up, it didn't look like a garage; it was covered in brightly-colored crash mats and pillows, and she hung swings from the ceiling. There were the exceptionally heavy plastic frogs, I remember. And she had a million different kinds of swings-- one was a sort of cocoon of thick green fabric you could get lost in. One was a rectangular platform with brown padded edges and a mat to sit on.

And then there's Jello Mountain...

But that was a pediatric OT. You'll probably experience something different.

That sounds amazing. I really want a garage like that. Especially the cocoon swing.. Ohman... That's going straight on my dream-birthday list.

*pines for such things!*