Have you ever found yourself nibbling on the end of a pen, chewing on your nails or snacking more when you’re hard at work at your desk?

There’s a great sensory reason you do this and even more reasons why you should encourage your child to do the same.

For children with Sensory Processing Difficulties we too often see behaviour like biting on T-shirts, biting on the backs of pens or biting finger nails. Your first instinct may be to tell your child to stop.

Encouraging children to chew may just be the very BEST thing for them, here’s why…

1. Chewing can help to reduce stress and anxiety.

Just like sucking on a pacifier has a calming soothing effect in infancy, chewing can help children feel calm and less stressed.

2. Chewing can help improve concentration and focus.

Chewing gives additional feedback to the oral and proprioceptive sensory systems and facilitates focus and attention.

This can be especially helpful in the classroom setting.

3.  Chewing improves body awareness.

Children who need additional proprioceptive feedback, often display a host of difficulties from fidgety behaviour, rough play or difficulties in grading movement.

Because biting activates this heavy work system of the mouth, it can provide safe and much needed proprioceptive feedback for these individuals.

4.  Chewing improves oral awareness.

Children with difficulties in oral awareness may seek this out by grinding their teeth or mouthing non-food items.

Chewing during the day provides great opportunities to get more of this much needed sensation.

It’s safe to say that chewing serves a fantastic purpose to lots of children and really provides great benefits.

By giving children safe chewable items to use through the day, we can embrace their need to chew and help them feel more grounded, focused and calm.

for more information  check out  www.sensoryTIME.ae