The tactile, or touch system, is very powerful and important.  Discriminating, or feeling fine details,  is critical to fine motor dexterity.  Think of how clumsy you feel when you wear rubber gloves to do the dishes.  Picking up a coin is almost impossible.  The Blog Entry The Power of Touch reviews how the touch system actually influences the brain and influences emotions and behaviors.  Some people are very “touchy feelie”  and love feeling all kinds of textures.  Others cringe at the thought of touching a gooey thing.   This section will review:

1. 1. Activities to improve touch discrimination
   

2. 2. Activities which help increase tolerance and flexibility in touch processing
   

Touch from the Beginning:

The newborn responds to touch with rigid motor reactions.  When the lips are stimulated the infant sucks.  When the foot is tickled, the leg withdraws. These are called primitive reflexes.  It demonstrates how stimulating the skin and the tactile (touch) system influences the whole body.  Over time, these generalized responses should be integrated.  This refers to the ability to detect the specific stimuli without having a total body response.

By exposing the baby to many textures, shapes and feelings, the baby becomes more flexible in responding to all the sensations swirling around the little creature’s world.

Items to grasp:  finger, rattles, rolled up cloth

Items to feel:  As the hand begins to open,  gently rub the small hand over many surfaces:

                      Fabrics-cotton, terry, velvet, furry

                      Surfaces-smooth such as wood and countertops, rough such as sand paper block

                      Bumpy such as bubbled and ridged packing materials

Manufactured books and toys now recognize the importance of touch so many early baby books include feeling the kinds of textures described above.  There are also feeling blankets rattles, etc.  These are interesting for the baby for a while, but exposing the baby to common items around the house will provide  more varied and interesting experiences. *

Look in a closet and notice the many different textures available (e.g. wool sweater, polyester shirt, inside texture of a sweatshirt)

Look in a cabinet  (e.g.  baskets, ridged plastic tops, wooden salad bowls, pot holders, terry towels, sponge, scotchbrite pads, scrub brushes)

Look in the tool box (sand paper, paint brushes, paint rollers)

Look in the vanity cabinet (hair brushes, cotton balls, makeup brushes and pads, rollers/curlers, combs)

*All items should be clean, without sharp edges and only available to the baby with close adult supervision as many items are not appropriate for mouthing-something every baby needs to do).

  For some examples of everyday household items refer to Blog Entry  Tools of the Trade

Bath and changing time:  This provides the opportunity to rub creams and lotions on the baby’s body which can be soothing and helps increase body awareness.  Pat and gently rub a terry towel when drying.  Have a few other interesting textured materials around to pat on the baby during this time

(e.g. furry stuffed animal). 

Photo:  Eileen Counihan

Touch and Manipulations:

For the toddler and preschooler,  activities which have a heavy loading of touch input should be incorporated into every day play.  Examples follow below:

Shaving cream play and drawings:  in the bathtub, on a table or countertop.  Younger children  simply enjoy the sensation as they move their hands back and forth in the cream.  Older toddlers and preschoolers can point the index finger to draw scribble pictures and eventually actual strokes which lead to pre drawing and writing.  The older preschooler can draw pictures and practice any letters learned.

Finger painting:  Similar to above.  Food colored pudding can be substituted for this.

Glue Craft:  Let the toddler tear up paper from old magazines, junk mail etc. and glue it on large paper (use a brown paper grocery bag).  Precut shapes out of discarded paper or cardboard for the child to glue on paper.  Tint glue with paint or add sprinkles and the glue becomes the medium.  Swirl it around on paper.  Find interesting textures for gluing (feathers, textured fabric scraps).

Sponge art:  Cut out square chunks of sponge (approximately 1 inch x 1 inch). Have the child dip the sponge into paint and dab on paper.

Koosh Play:  Kooshes are great for the child to practice catching and throwing.  They are easier to catch than a ball.  Tossing up and down alone, or playing catch with a grown up is a great way to improve eye hand coordination.

Playdough and clay:  These are obvious tactile activities.  Simply having a tin of modeling clay in a corner of the kitchen or playroom for the child to play with is a great  quiet time activity.

Miscellaneous Feeling Objects:  At the check out of many stores you can find all kinds of tactile materials.  Stress  out balls are typically found at the register of pharmacies.  Toy stores have  all kinds of inexpensive manipulative tactile toys. 

Discrimination Activities: 

Finding things by reaching into a bag (common objects, shapes, letters, etc.)

Identifying soft and rough, matching textures

Tactile domino and memory games

Older Preschool and Early Elementary:

All of the activities above can be incorporated into more sophisticated art work.  Collages and sculptures can be built with a variety of objects and textured materials.  Representational drawings  begin to predominate with shaving cream, pudding and finger paint activities.  Continue to allow for big spaces to use these materials:  save large cardboard boxes, brown paper shopping bags.  This way the child needs to move around while working with tactile materials, thereby incorporating movement into the tactile experience.  This facilitates sensory integration.  Specific activities follow:

Shaving cream letters and numbers

Water Gel Crystals  add a little science to tactile exploration (found at www.teachersource.com)

Paper mache sculptures

Ceramics and clay sculptures

Tile work which requires gluing and grouting:  tile mosaics, tile trivets

Simple carpentry:  sanding wood,  staining or painting  and gluing wood to make sculptures

Copper tooling:  This requires applying a liver of sulphur to oxidize the metal and then polish off with

steel wool.

Simple weaving projects:  Use of yarns and strings add new textures to the fine motor activity.

Gardening Projects:   Planting seeds in yogurt containers, assisting in the garden

Cooking Projects:   kneading dough, mixing up meatloaf, decorating cup cakes, making and mixing granola mixture

Play with tactile substances:  Gak,   jello,

Pets:  Care for pets and petting them.

Photo:  Eileen Counihan

Discrimination games:

Feeling for coins in a bags (e.g. find the dime)

Identifying shapes, letters and numbers

Feeling what is drawn on the back of the hand or back (shapes, letters, words)

Older Elementary and Beyond:

Once again, take the activities listed above to a higher, more creative level. 

Clay type activities can move into real ceramic and pottery work. 

Sculpting and painting with a variety of materials

Plaster Molds

Cooking requires a lot of touching varied textures

Gardening immerses the hands in dirt,  mud and many other materials.

Creams, lotions  and bubble baths

Filling the interior environment with varied, textured fabrics:  satins, velvets, shag rugs, blankets and towels

Filling the closets with textured clothing: satins, velvets, velours, terry cloth, faux furs

Carpentry

Living with pets:  caring for and living with pets introduces many  touch experiences (petting, cleaning)

Learning to Love Touch

As mentioned in the introduction of this section, some people love touch experiences.  For people who fall into this category, many of the activities reviewed above should be incorporated into their schedules frequently during the day.   Even having tactile baskets, boxes and/or bags filled with lots of textured objects for them to go to during rest time is a good idea.  Choosing fluffy, silky clothes and all kinds of pillows and blankets will help provide the tactile input that they crave.

For many, however, touch is not as comfortable a thing.  As a matter of fact, for certain individuals, the thought of touching some substances makes them feel sick.  While a coping mechanism often employed is to avoid all things tactile, this is not a healthy approach to life.  Wearing gloves alleviates the need to have skin contact with objects,  but an associated underlying anxiety  stays with the individual throughout the day as the need to “protect” and guard against tactile stimulation is an ongoing issue.

            For some people touch can feel as painful as a prick from a cactus

This section provides strategies to help the touch or tactile sensitive individuals learn to overcome these hypersensitivities and begin to enjoy touch sensations in a balanced, healthy way.

Infants and Babies:

When babies react negatively to touch,  the following strategies help:

Gentle but firm rubbing

Wrapping snuggly in a blanket

Gently bouncing up and down when holding in arms (especially in a vertical position)

Introduce  a new sensation then quickly replace with a comforting input such as the ones listed above.

With bathing and diaper changing, smooth creams over the skin firmly.  If the baby seems discomforted  by this, gently but firmly rub a towel over the same area as a follow up.

Each week introduce a new “toy”  with  a unique texture.  Expose the baby to it for a few seconds several times a day.  Follow it with a pleasurable activity (e.g. nursing or feeding).

Toddlers:

Introduce new toys with tactile aspects to it (refer to the above section) on a regular basis.  Allow the child to explore the item at his or her own pace.  Do not rush this process.

Encourage water play in the tub.  Buy a large sponge for the baby to feel while playing in the water.

Provide opportunities to play in sand.  This may be at the beach, a sand box or sand play in a plastic tub in the house.

When introducing new textures, such as shaving cream, finger paints and glue, always have a towel available for the child to clean hands frequently.  Each time the child plays with these materials encourage waiting a little longer before cleaning off hands.  Tolerance for “messy” hands should grow.

After these “tactile” sessions, allow the child to run around and “let off some steam.”

Preschool and Early Elementary:

Incorporate all of the strategies used for babies and toddlers.

Create Feeling Boxes:  Buy plastic bins (approximately the size of shoe boxes).  Fill (leave 1 inch at the top)  with one of the following:  dried rice, beans, peas.   The child can simply feel the contents or play games such as finding a toy car buried inside.  With the older child, finding shape blocks, letters or numbers make the activity more interesting.

Make a batch of home made playdough* and hide jellybeans or pennies inside the hunk to dig out.

Collaborate with the child to make a personalized tactile basket.  This can include any of the items reviewed above.  Here is a sample list of objects that can be used in the basket:

From the local pharmacy:                        From the Hardware store:                  Toy store:

cotton balls                                               Paint brushes and rollers                  Refer to suggestions

sponges                                                    Sand paper (of varying grades)        above

brushes (plastic and hair bristles)                                                                       GAK (or make*)

Toothbrushes

Electric toothbrush

Before and after all tactile activities have the child engage in “heavy work” activities.

Refer to Blog entry:  Vocabulary Lesson: Proprioception

                    

Older Children and Beyond:

Encourage activities which have a heavy loading of touch input (paints, pottery, ceramics, gardening,

carpentry).

Use lotions and creams

Engage in heavy work activities for the older child sports such as running, gymnastics, lacrosse, hockey, wrestling, Irish Step Dancing, and the like.

                                                      * RECIPES*

                                                      

*PLAYDOUGH:  4 CUPS FLOUR

                          4 CUPS WATER

                          1 CUPS SALT

                          3 TBS CREAM OF TARTAR

                          4 TBS OIL

*GAK:                1 CUP WHITE GLUE    `               

                          1 CUP WATER             MIX IN BOWL #1

                          FOOD COLORING       ‘

                          1 CUP WATER

                          1 1/2 TSP BORAX       MIIX TOGETHER IN BOWL #2

                          COMBINE CONTENTS OF BOTH BOWLS, PULL OUT WATER AND KNEAD