Sensory Processing or Just Her Thing?

Most of us have some sensory issues in some capacity. Whether it's a certain something we don't like to touch, or a certain texture of food or drink we don't like to taste. For instance Kayla likes apples and applesauce but she doesn't care for apple pie/apple crisp (or any pie for that matter). I don't think she likes the soft texture of the apples when they've been baked.

A lot of kids with a disability are sometimes also diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder.

Kayla's never been diagnosed with this and we've never had any real concern about it, but sometimes I wonder if she does have something sensory going on that maybe impacts her more than we realize. Or not. Maybe these things are just little quirks like we all have.

She does not like having her hair brushed. Sometimes it's because of little snarls or tangles, but I condition her hair and I spray it with de-tangle spray. There are times she acts like it's the most painful thing in the world to have her hair brushed.

She also will not keep anything in her hair. When she was younger I could put barrettes in (not that they'd stay in very well because of her fine hair, but I could still put them in) and put her hair in ponytails. Not anymore. No ponytails, braids, barrettes, or hairbands. Some mornings she'll tell me "yes" that I can do something with her hair, but she usually doesn't come home with her hair the same way.

Last year I bought her a few of those shirts that have the necklaces attached. She would come home with the necklaces in her backpack. She's doing somewhat better this year of leaving the necklaces alone.

Belts on her dresses? She constantly unties them and then fiddles around with the belts to the point of distraction until those, too, come off.

She won't keep on any other type of necklace, rings, bracelets or watches. She seems to like jewelery ... she'll get excited about something, pick something out of a treasure box, but she simply won't keep it on. She got a watch for Christmas last year and several times would ask for it on but less than an hour later she's asking for it to be taken off.

She has come home from school with 3 of these rubber band bracelets and 1 ring. She excitedly shows me that so-and-so gave her this one and so-and-so gave her that one. She'll wear the bracelets; briefly. Back in her backpack they go. I've tried encouraging her to wear the bracelets by saying that's what the other girls in her class are wearing (as if I was ever the fashion-conscious girl growing up - not!), and telling her how nice it was that so-and-so gave her a bracelet and she should wear it to show her she's wearing it. Some mornings she'll head off to school with it on, but it's in her backpack by the time she comes home. In other words, she doesn't like to accessorize!

She loves things like paintbrushes, leaves ... anything feathery. She likes just holding them in one hand and brushing it across the palm of her other hand. She likes pretending many things are paintbrushes and that she is painting.

Sometimes she'll get a hold of a pencil and just walk around all afternoon with it. And then there is the thing that she does with the erasers on the pencils that drive me crazy.

She absolutely loves these Shoulder Buddies. Or more specifically the hair. She'll brush their hair over and over and over on the palm of her hand. Or brush the air with them. Or shake them out and then mold the hair over and over and over again.

She also picks at her nails, and the skin around her nails. Her fingers look bad, but I can't get her to stop something she doesn't seem to be aware of doing.

What kind of sensory quirks or habits do your kids have?