Sensory Integration Activities for Adults

Rehabilitation is more effective when it is fun. Even the best rehabilitation exercises can be ineffective if they are not fun because a patient is less likely to participate in them, especially if their training is not being administered. Because of this, activities aimed at stimulating an adult's sensory processes should be fun.

Sight

• Puzzles can be used for those struggling with their visual sensory processing. Puzzles are an effective exercise because they will train a patient to see distinctions in shape and to process the overall picture of the puzzle. In addition, puzzles can be an effective rehabilitation exercise because they vary in difficulty. Thus, puzzles can be utilized all along the rehabilitation process.

Sound

• An adult's favorite music can be utilized to train auditory memory. Select one of your patient's favorite songs. On separate pieces of paper, print out or draw all of the instruments used in his favorite song. Review with him each of the sounds these instruments make. Play for him the song, and as the song is playing instruct him to hold up the instrument that he hears. For a more advanced exercise, select a band with multiple singers. Conduct this exercise like the exercise with the instruments, except tell him to hold up the card of the singer that he hears.

Taste and Smell

• Make or purchase some of your patient's favorite foods. Conduct this exercise like a blind taste test: blindfold your patient so that he cannot use his eyes. Serve him two different dishes and have him determine which food is which. This exercise can be difficult, depending on the needs of your patient. In addition to training his sense of taste, this exercise will train his sense of smell.

Touch

• Fill a shoebox with rice. Place closed safety pins in the rice. After blindfolding your patient, have him sift through the rice to find the safety pins. This activity can be made more difficult by hiding rice-shaped items instead of safety pins.