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Using Sensory Stimulation for Children After a Brain Injury

Sensory stimulation is a way to help a child with a brain injury become more aware of their surroundings. It stimulates your child’s senses of hearing, sight, touch, smell, movement, and taste. This may help your child become more alert and responsive. And it may help with sensory deprivation, which can happen if a child doesn't get enough input from the senses.

How is sensory stimulation done?

Your child’s doctor or therapist can teach you how to do sensory stimulation. And they can help tailor it to your child’s specific needs. In general, here is how it’s done:

  • Create a space that feels safe and relaxing. Make sure the room is quiet and softly lit. Close the curtains, if possible. Check that your child seems comfortable and well-rested.

  • Let your child know you're there. In a quiet and calm voice, say your name, your child’s name, where you are, and what time it is.

  • Begin sensory stimulation. Stimulate each of your child’s senses, usually for a few minutes. Then give your child a few minutes to respond. Let your child rest after each one.

  • Keep track of how your child responds. Watch their pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. If your child starts to have a problem, stop right away.

What are the types of sensory stimulation?

  • Auditory stimulation

    • Do things to stimulate your child's sense of hearing, such as:
      • Playing your child’s favorite music or recorded nature sounds.
      • Playing recordings of family members or friends talking about happy memories.
      • Reading aloud from your child’s favorite books.

  • Visual stimulation

    • Do things to stimulate your child's sense of sight, such as:
      • Looking at pictures together, like family photographs.
      • Turning on a family video or a favorite movie.
      • Showing your child brightly colored objects, like colored paper.

  • Tactile stimulation

    • Do things to stimulate your child's sense of touch, such as:
      • Holding your child's hand.
      • Brushing your child's hair with a soft brush or a comb.
      • Gently rubbing different textures on your child's skin, like a soft blanket or stuffed animal.

  • Olfactory stimulation

    • Do things to stimulate your child's sense of smell, such as:
      • Smelling familiar items together, like perfume, spices, or lotion.
      • Smelling your child's favorite foods together.
    • Don't use things that smell very strong, like vinegar.

  • Kinesthetic stimulation

    • Do things to stimulate your child's sense of movement, such as:
      • Gently moving your child’s arms and legs up and down.
      • Changing your child’s position in the bed.
      • Moving your child for bathing, using the toilet, and dressing.

  • Gustatory stimulation

    • Do things to stimulate your child's sense of taste, such as:
      • Dipping a cotton swab into sweet or salty solutions and placing it on the tip of your child’s tongue.
    • Always have your child’s nurse or therapist do this stimulation or help you do it.
    • Do not give your child anything to eat, because they could choke or breathe food into their airway (aspirate).

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