Sensory Children

 

(I wrote this a month ago – July 4, 2016)

I think when I was little, I noticed kids who
chewed things. Paper, fingernails, hair, pencils,
pens, rulers and bubble gum. I was a popper.

No silly, not pills, bubble gum popping.
It used to drive my mom crazy. I didn’t have the
craving to chew everyday all day, but if I could

get a piece of gum I would pop it rather than
blow bubbles with it. It was the feeling of my jaw
and the sound of the click, smack, smack, smack that

I enjoyed. I still have problems being in rooms
with old televisions and fluorescent lights.
The humming sound buzzes in my head to the
point that I get a headache trying to ignore it.

My children all have varying degrees of sensory issues.
ESR would rip the tags out of his shirts.
He also liked to sit next to me and rub my arm up and down.
When I used the vacuum, ESR would scream/sing along with it.

Silent Sentinel used to rub the soft cat
under the kitchen table in the middle of the night.
He also like to have his cheeks rubbed. This one
does not feel pain easily. This scares me.

My Child used to step on my feet with
his little toes. He needed contact to feel secure.
The taking of small objects from desks, fondling them,
crushing, ripping them, throwing them, then denying
that he touched, moved, destroyed other peoples
property used to drive his teachers crazy.

I provided a bouncy ball. He threw it into the air.
It was taken. I gave him a stress sandbag. He ripped it apart.
I gave him a foam squeeze top. It may have lasted a day, or less.

Girlie likes to chew on things. Board books, thick one of a kind
custom sippy cup straws, rubber balls and her two fingers. She has
a kind of mouth sense that allows her to put all the food in and

chew only the textures that she decides to ingest and spits the
rest out on the floor, before I can catch it. I was so excited
when she would eat an entire apple. Then she learned to peel

it in her mouth. How is that possible? The how is not important
The fact is, she just can. She likes swiss chard, but hates to eat
meat unless it is crunchy. Like bacon (say it like my two year old: BAY-CONE.)

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