Top 5 Resources for Highly Sensitive Kids
Too loud! Too scratchy! Too spicy! Too much! Perhaps your child doesn’t articulate it in this exact way, but if these sentiments sound familiar in your household, you might be the lucky parent of a Highly Sensitive Child. These children represent about 20% of the population and can often be identified through their acute awareness of the environment, their inquisitive natures, their boundless creativity, and their deep empathy. Read on for tips on helping your sensitive child to thrive in a fast-paced world.
HSP Child Self Test
This is a great starting point for gaining the tools and knowledge to support highly sensitive little ones. The test is created for parents to complete for their children. You can also explore links to additional support, resources, and relevant research.
The Work of Elaine Aron
Psychologis Elaine Aron coined the term "highly sensitive person" in 1996 when she argued that sensitive brains are uniquely wired to process their environment at a deep level. Her theory's most helpful claim is that physical and emotional sensitivity are one and the same. Her research on the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is a goldmine of support for parents of highly sensitive children — and many of us may discover that we turn out to be HSPs ourselves!
Find her book on children here!
Seven Specific Tools to Support Your Highly Sensitive Child
This helpful blog post from PBS kids provides an overview of seven specific and impactful ways to support sensitive children. It is written by Dr. Ann-Louise Lockhart, a pediatric psychologist and parenting coach. We specifically resonated with the focus on cultivating connections and supporting the emotional well-being of the child. And Dr. Lockhart does a great job in this article of addressing the needs of the parents! Highly sensitive children often have highly sensitive parents. For many parents, this may mean gently breaking old habits and patterns – and reparenting yourself as you parent your child.
“Unschooling” for Highly Sensitive Kids
This post by Anne Ohman, parent to a highly sensitive child as well as a highly sensitive person herself, is a great resource for creating an environment that allows highly sensitive children to thrive. For Anne, this meant unschooling! In the post, she provides specific examples and experiences from her own life, as well as challenges and solutions that have come up for her own family along the way.
Self-Regulation (for kids and parents)
Since a highly active nervous system goes part and parcel with the highly sensitive personality type, teaching self-regulation is key. This is true not only for the highly sensitive child, but also for the parents of the highly sensitive child. The moods and emotional responses of others can be particularly impactful for little ones with sensory-processing sensitivity. Therefore, we have a unique opportunity in parenting. When we exhibit fine-tuned skills around our own ability to self regulate, we are not just modeling the behavior for our children. We are helping create a stable, safe environment that supports nervous system regulation. Candy Crawford, a therapist, educator, and advocate for highly sensitive individuals, shares some excellent insights in this blog post.
Sparkle Stories Audio Collections for Sensitive Kids
Stories for the Sensitive Child
This Collection is intended to reassure, soothe, and give practical tips to our more sensitive children and their parents. It is especially useful for children who have trouble with sensory integration, visual or auditory overstimulation, touch sensitivity, or are simply very aware of their surroundings.
Listen to the collection here!
Libby & Dish: The Feel Guide
In our collection, Libby & Dish: The Feel Guide, Libby and her grandmother come up with the idea to study emotions in a unique way by observing and then recording what they see and feel in themselves and other people.
Listen to the collection here!
Life with a highly sensitive child can be an adventure full of richness and delight. We hope this information and these stories will help you to parent your little one as they grow strong and mighty in their special sensory gifts!
About the Author
Jessica Pounds
Jessica is a content creator, writer, strategist, and vintage pyrex collector. She has a passion for facilitating authentic connection, whether that's through her work at Sparkle Stories or her songwriting.
