A Sensory Friendly Christmas

While the festive period is a very exciting time of year for many it is also a whirlwind of lights, smells, singing and important changes to routine with plays at school, late night trips and family and friends visiting. These things can become overwhelming for many children and adults, especially those with sensory needs.

It can be difficult to adapt our festive plans to accommodate differing sensory needs; it might mean forgoing things we have previously looked forward to experiencing with our child or changing long held traditions to make them easier to manage.

Activities such as Lantern Parades, Christmas lights switch on events and visiting Santa in his grotto can quickly become overwhelming for children with sensory difficulties. Meeting new people, being around lots of people, new smells, sounds and lights can be a struggle. It can be helpful to make adjustments to meet the needs of your child whilst still experiencing festive fun. For example, rather than attending the lantern parade you might take a walk in the local area and look at the lights on houses, take a thermos of hot chocolate and a picnic blanket and cuddle up for a cosy hot chocolate on a bench. It is key that you adapt as needed and follow your child’s lead – you know your child best.

Preparation

When plans are changing, preparation is key – let your child know what the plans are, who is going to be there, what kind of event it’s going to be (set the expectations), and be clear how you will support them to cope with the event or activity.  A visual planner can be really useful in helping your child understand what is coming and when.

Look up the event on the internet and look at pictures or videos.It might be helpful to practice specific parts through play, as this can bring up questions or fears you might be otherwise unaware of.

Let family and friends know of any adaptations you make so they don’t put your child on the spot with expectations that they join in or stay somewhere when they don’t feel able.

Make a plan for leaving or getting away from things that feel overwhelming or uncomfortable, ensuring that you and your child know how this will work.

Visitors

Socialising over Christmas can be an additional stressor for children with sensory needs, particularly if the visitors are people they don’t see often, if the child has to behave a certain way around them or if they don’t understand their needs. Ideally, try to keep visits short, identify somewhere your child can retreat to or a way of them communicating that things feel too overwhelming and help visitors understand how to support your child. In addition, some children can’t communicate their overwhelm, particularly in a room of people they don’t know or feel they need to impress. In this case, make sure to be alert to signs of sensory overwhelm, fidgeting, rapid blinking, repeated toilet trips etc.

Decorations

Changing the room around to accommodate a tree and other festive decorations can be baffling for children who struggle with spatial awareness. The additional visual input of lights and sparkly decorations are another layer of input for the visually sensitive; consider only decorating one room, or clearly identifying a space that remains untouched by festive sparkle so that your child can retreat to familiar surroundings.

Presents

Though it may feel at odds with usual festive traditions, surprises can be really difficult for sensory children. They might want to know what their presents are before they open them and/or find it easier for them not to be wrapped if the colours and noise of wrapping paper is too much. Alternatively, they may prefer presents to be wrapped in festive materials (which can be used each year), as this is much quieter and doesn’t get broken into pieces

Also, opening one present at a time can be very helpful for sensory children, as it allows presents to be focused on and assimilated before moving onto the next.

Biological needs

As our daily schedules flex under the festive traditions and pressures, our usual routines around eating, toileting and bathing do too. It is important to keep these in mind for a sensory child as managing hunger adds to their load; with the usual routine cues for toileting being absent your child might forget to go. They might struggle to manage their body temperature without support, particularly with any expectation of (itchy) festive wear!

Get your nature fix

The seasonal holidays can be a laid back, relaxed, sedentary slope into the new year. It’s important to ensure that your sensory child gets their movement fix; movement, particularly proprioception (the sense that allows us to perceive the positioning and movement of the parts of our body), helps the nervous system regulate. It will help the adults too – a Finnish research team found that just 15 minutes in nature helped participants feel “psychologically restored”; so make time for a trip to the park or a family walk/bike ride/scoot.