sensory needs being met
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Neuro Tribe, the podcast where authenticity meets empowerment. Your host, Teresa, is a certified business executive and life coach, navigating the intricate tapestry of neurodiversity. She's someone blessed with ADHD and dyslexia, and gifted a widow and a mother. To four incredible Neurodiverse children.
So each episode of the Neuro Tribe is an intimate exploration of life, love, business, and parenting through the lens of neurodiversity. Subscribe to the Neuro tribe on your favorite podcast platform or on YouTube and never miss a story. And if you really like this show, be sure to like, subscribe, rate, and of course share the podcast with anyone.
Join us on this unfiltered journey where no topic is too challenging, [00:01:00] no triumph too small. Let's unravel the layers of our community's experiences, embracing the struggles, celebrating the gifts, and finding empowerment and authenticity in every episode. And let's start right now.
Hey, so what happens in the neuro diverse community when our sensory needs are heightened, right? There are times. I mean, we always have sensory needs. That's just kind of a given, but what happens when they feel more heightened than usual. So sometimes it kind of feels like there's always a hair tickling your skin or you have something scratching you or your clothes feel scratchy.
Sometimes it feels like a little spider is on your skin or, it just feels like something is on you. Other times sounds just. It's just [00:02:00] too loud and it's to the point where it's hurting your ears. And sometimes it's more manageable and other times It's unbearable, which is funny because somebody talking to you could be too loud, yet you could listen to music that's as loud or louder.
It doesn't make any sense to people observing, but your body feels it, right? Sometimes, it could be that it's harder to eat or it's harder to chew or swallow than others. And, It literally, there's no rhyme or reason to it. I have that problem sometimes for me, it's like, I will try to be eating scrambled eggs and the scrambled eggs.
I'm choking them down. I have no idea why it just happens sometimes other times, not a big deal at all. So regardless of what's. Going on in life, [00:03:00] our sensory needs can be differing sometimes. And I think what we think about it and how we view it and how we manage it in the world is really important, right?
Number one, a lot of times people are judging themselves or giving themselves a hard time. For their sensory needs, right? Or they are getting frustrated with the people that they love because the people that they love are not understanding their sensory needs other times. It's like, our sensory needs are heightened and therefore it gives us this.
Almost, frustrated or aggravated baseline. And then we're turning around and snapping at our loved ones. And then we're feeling guilt and shame around how we acted when we were having our sensories heightened. [00:04:00] So I'm going to tell you some of the things that I do for myself and some of the things that I do with my clients.
And it has helped us tremendously. And I hope that it helps you too. And then if you want to set a time where we talk about your own needs and how we can help manage around your needs, then feel free to schedule an appointment with me and we can talk about it. It's. That's a beautiful thing, right?
Number one, wearing clothing that feels good. I might have one outfit feel good one day and the exact same outfit, not feeling good the next day. And so I give myself permission to change how I like. How the way my clothes feel, and I also give myself permission to change my clothes. So that might mean that I changed my clothes, partly through the day, and [00:05:00] so I do genuinely make sure that I have access to clothes.
That. Feel good. So if I'm wearing one outfit and say, I'm out and about for the day, I will always keep an outfit. That's comfortable in the car. And I give myself permission to change into that outfit, no matter what is going on. Even if I'm at a work event, and I cannot handle the outfit that I'm wearing, I will change into another 1 and that's okay, because I'm meeting my needs and I feel good about honoring myself and meeting my needs.
Okay. I am not proposing that anybody go naked just so you know. Another thing is if things are too loud, or if someone is speaking to me too loud or quite the opposite. Sometimes my sensory needs are heightened. And I can't hear as well. And so I will vocalize. I will say out loud to people. I don't [00:06:00] expect them to read my mind or my agitation.
Right? So I will vocalize to people. Hey, I'm having trouble hearing hearing you. Can you please speak up? Or I will say, hey, you know, if you could just tone down your volume, you're hurting my ears, or maybe can you take a step back because the way you're speaking is a little bit too loud for my ears today.
And I don't feel bad about saying these things to other people. Now, there has been a time and a day where I would try and mask it and I wouldn't say anything to somebody if I couldn't hear them. I would just try and read their lips, or if someone was speaking too loudly to me. I would just kind of grin and bear it and grit my teeth, and I'm just no longer willing to mask in that way, because it genuinely hurts my ears.
[00:07:00] It feels like it's damaging my ears and my head. So I believe in honoring myself and saying out loud, and I say it in a very kind, loving way. But it's also my boundaries. I love myself enough to let you know, what is hurting my head and not hurting my head. And I trust you the other person to, you know, honor my boundaries.
Right. And, and that might mean taking a step back or speaking a little bit more quietly. Right. So what happens if we're out in public and our sensory needs say in a church or in a gym or. At a amusement park is overwhelming us. It is okay to take a step back, take a break, go to a quiet place, maybe a place that's dimly lit and just take a couple of deep breaths and find [00:08:00] our centering calm and then re, go back and readdress once we've centered ourselves.
So those are some very. Simple, , very quick little things that you can do for yourself. The other thing too, is with stimming and fidgeting, right? Oftentimes we will be in a situation where it's hard for us to sit still, especially if we're expected to sit still for a long period of time and nobody else , is having struggling with this, right?
I was actually in a situation a couple of times this last week. Where I was in meetings that lasted a long time and it, my sensory needs were heightened. They were at like a nine or a 10 and I was struggling to sit still. And so I would stem by tapping my foot or fidgeting. At one point I was slouching in my chair and I'm telling y'all, I probably looked.
Like I was 10 years old, and I did not apologize. I didn't try and [00:09:00] explain myself. I just honored the way my body was feeling and I didn't try and mask. I went ahead and I stemmed, I went ahead and slouched in my chair. I fidgeted and I moved around. Another thing that you can get up is do is get up and go to the back of the room.
And walk around the back of the room and stretch. There's so many things that you can do when your sensory needs are heightened and you're needing to take care of yourself. And sometimes people might ask you what you're doing, or, , you might need to vocalize your wants, wishes, and needs, or other times you just do it and take care of yourself and you don't apologize because it is what your body is needing at the moment.
And that is. Okay. I love you guys. If you are wanting to, , hear more from me, I suggest you put yourself on my schedule, just go to Teresa Minock. com T H [00:10:00] E R E S A. M I N N O C H. com. Put yourself on my schedule or comment, like, share, and subscribe to my videos. If you find this useful, I would absolutely love for you to share my video.
Take care. Love you. Bye.
