Do sensory diets for adults help? It is not uncommon for adults to be completely unaware of SPD until their children get diagnosed, and then realize that they, too, likely have SPD. Education and medical professionals alike are becoming more aware of SPD and are helping families spot it and treat it sooner than in past generations.
Feel like you missed the treatment window? It is never too late. While science has shown that the nervous system makes the most rapid changes before age 5, we also now know that you can literally change your brain throughout your life span 1. So what can you do to help your Sensory Processing Disorder as an adult? If you are the parent of a child with SPD, make sure you get a referral to utilize this resource for your child.
Much of this information is transferable to adult situations. If you are interested in pursuing OT for yourself, find one that works specifically with adults with SPD. Your therapist will review your specific sensory profile and help you identify sensory activities that will help.
These activities are specifically known as a sensory diet. Sensory diets can be used in two different ways. I like to think of these as proactive and reactive sensory diets. This is the type of sensory diet that is done proactively. You do activities geared to help your sensory processing systems run more effectively, today and in the future.
You can literally change your nervous system to process sensory input better with time! What does this look like? This involves doing specific activities targeting certain major sensory systems. For an adult sensory diet, you would do vestibular, active and passive proprioception and tactile activities.
