The tactile system is made up of nerves located just beneath the surface of the skin. These nerves send information to the brain about touch, including light touch, pressure, pain, and temperature. Tactile input plays a critical role in how children interact with their environment and develop everyday functional skills.
Children may respond to tactile input in different ways:
Tactile hypersensitivity (over-responsiveness):
Children may react too strongly to touch or certain sensations. Examples include avoiding messy play, screaming during hair washing, or insisting on wearing only specific types of clothing.
Tactile hyposensitivity (under-responsiveness):
Children may react too little to tactile input. These children may rarely complain of pain or discomfort, bump into objects, or seek out touch by constantly handling items or surfaces.
Limited tolerance or exposure to tactile input can impact a child’s ability to participate in daily activities. This may lead to challenges with self-dressing skills, independence during arts and crafts, self-feeding, picky eating, and overall play skills.
Supporting Tactile Development
Tactile exposure should be introduced gradually, beginning with dry textures and progressing toward wet or sticky materials as tolerance increases.
Dry texture bins may include:
– Rice or beans
– Pom poms
– Flour
– Various fabrics
– Sponges
– Chalk
Wet or sticky texture bins may include:
– Water or ice
– Shaving cream
– Finger paint
– Paper mâché
– Water beads
Food-based texture bins may include:
– Whipped cream
– Yogurt
– Jello or pudding
– Applesauce
– Wet pasta
– Fruits
– Cookie dough
Suggested Activities for Texture Bins
– Drawing or writing in the material
– Creating shapes using cut-outs
– Sorting objects
– Making faces or pictures with items
– Finding objects hidden in the media
– Completing an art or craft project