The Sensory Diet Concept
Presented by Tracy Stackhouse
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Meet your instructor
Tracy Stackhouse
Tracy Stackhouse is a clinical pediatric occupational therapist who has specialized in working with children, adults, and families affected by fragile x syndrome (FXS) and Fragile X related conditions since the late 1980s. Through this work, first at Children's Hospital in Denver, continuing at the UC Davis MIND Institute,…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Context of Sensory Diet as an OT Intervention
Introduction to the Sensory Diet approach as an option along a continuum of intervention that requires clinical reasoning to select and implement. Further situates the sensory diet as within the broad framework of Sensory Integration as developed by Ayres.
2. The Sensory Diet Concept
The sensory diet is ‘prescriptive’ and individualized intervention that is goal directed with the power to shift underlying processing to allow the nervous system to function optimally. When properly implemented, the sensory diet can address a range of specific needs and result in added benefits. The sensory diet is best suited to addressing needs related to arousal and attention modulation, but can be used to address other needs when developed specifically and targeted at stated functions. The sensory diet should be evidence based and data driven from formation through implementation and always requires ongoing monitoring and modification based on the data. The importance of creating precise and powerful sensory diets is the focus of this chapter’s discussion.
3. How To Select Sensory-Based Activities for The Sensory Diet
This chapter focuses on how to select activities for precise and powerful sensory diets. Utilizing basic neural sensory processing information about the frequency, intensity, duration and rhythmicity/variability of input allows for activities to produce targeted adaptive responses, thus making the sensory diet a powerful clinical tool that extends from the clinic into everyday life.
4. The Essentials of Intervention Into The Sensory Diet
Sensory diets can create the structure for daily inputs that are targeted and specific. Currently, there are a number of interventions that might support or enhance the sensory-based activities to further shift identified functions. Collectively these are referred to as professionally guided treatments. This chapter provides a clinical reasoning flow chart to help guide decisions around when to select and implement professionally guided options into the sensory diet intervention plan. Further, the importance of data collection for data driven decision making to ensure the integrity of the intervention is reviews.
5. Education or Wellness Oriented Sensory Approaches
The sensory diet is a targeted intervention and is different in scope and focus than other education or wellness oriented sensory-based approaches. Sensory Enrichment and Sensory Lifestyles provide a contrast to the Sensory Diet concept and are reviewed in this chapter with an emphasis on why clinical reasoning is required to clarify and help select among the various treatment options. The final part of this course provides a panel discussion of clinicians considering the options of care across the continuum presented and how to gain confidence in selected and implemented appropriate plan of care. Clinical reasoning can be enhanced by considering the guiding questioned reviewed within the panel discussion. Finally, the panel considers modifications of the sensory diet to address individual strengths and needs or special diagnostic considerations.
