Sensory activities can help individuals with disabilities in the areas of social, emotional and intellectual development. They assist with increasing daily functioning and life skills, help develop positive self-esteem, enable them to have positive interactions with others and be open to learning. Sensory activities give children a bigger chance of achieving normal developmental milestones. Sensory activities are enticing and the variety of activities is limitless.
Individuals with disabilities may have difficulty with fine motor skills such as handwriting, buttoning and snapping buttons and cutting with scissors. Activities which can help these individuals improve their fine motor skills are right under your nose. Examples include drawing or coloring on a chalkboard or whiteboard and then erasing it, washing windows and painting with water on the deck, sidewalk or side of a building. Rolling out cookie dough or modeling clay and pressing cookie cutters into it assists with fine motor skills. Other examples include brushing the family dog, squeezing stress balls and writing on the sidewalk with chalk.
Many of the same ideas used for children can be applied to adults with disabilities. Sensory activities to enhance sight and increase memory include looking at photo albums of friends and family, creating a high contrast picture book with drawings of objects such as black and white circles and looking through colored glass. Lava lamps and kaleidoscopes are wonderful sensory activities for adults. Look at the flowers together and discuss the various scents and colors. Hidden picture books and puzzles allow people with disabilities to connect personally with one another if they choose to work with a partner.
Touch activities can help people with disabilities relax if they are over-stimulated or become more tolerant of touch if they have difficulty in this area. Gentle or deep-pressure massage or wearing weighted blankets or vests can help provide the appropriate amount of stimulation in this area. Put together a book with various tactile pages. Include a zipper, sandpaper, cotton balls, feathers and any other object you can think of. Discuss each material and how it feels as you turn the pages together. Another popular activity is pet therapy with a gentle cat or dog. Allow the client to stroke and pet the animal. This is often soothing and relaxing.