Sensory Toolkit

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I met with one of my therapists today in the wake of a recent meltdown that ended up with the cops being called (it was okay, I didn't end up having to talk to them. I had a panic attack upon seeing them show up so the person I was with sent them away.) During this meeting, my therapist was helping me put together a safety plan, and one thing she recommended was creating a "sensory toolkit" of small objects that I can use to de-escalate, stay calm and grounded etc. I thought this was a good idea, so I went to the store and collected a few things to try out that might be useful. I have a squishy stress ball, some stretchy rubber strings, fruit gum, orange tic tacs, cheap plastic sunglasses, and a bottle of lavender essential oil. I also went online and found a very cute tiny wind-up music box that plays one of my favourite songs, and I'm going to grab some disposable earplugs the next time I'm at the pharmacy. I'll be very interested to put the toolkit into practise and see how effective it is.

Do any of you have anything like this? What's in yours, or what would you put in it if you made one?

Hi StarTrekker,
I personally always carry a sensory toolkit.
Having it with me already provides a feeling of security, even without using it. What it contains should be directly related to your sensory issues. Mine are mainly sound related. I always carry earplugs. Custom made with a filter to lower the noise, but still sustain quality of sound, when I need to pay attention.

In other cases (public transport, shopping) I use disposable ear plugs. When I'm going by car, I also take earmuffs with me.

In my car, besides my earmuffs, I store a sleep mask. When I'm going somewhere and I'm becoming overwhelmed, I retreat into my car, put on earmuffs and a sleep mask, and rest a short time (as briefly as 15min) for a sensory reset.

I read you're going to buy foam earplugs. Beware that the proper way of insertion is paramount to unleashing the full noise reduction capacity. The cheap plugs from a local hardware store are not good enough. If I can give you some advice: the highest sound reduction I've found are the Moldex PuraFit 7700. They are very comfortable (soft) and are affordable when bought in bulk online.

The earmuffs I use have the highest NRR made by 3M, the Peltor X5A. (The best spent 30€ in the past year).

I also carry earbuds to listen to music, if I have to drown out noise in a socially acceptable way.

I seriously doubt the effectiveness of a toolkit when already in meltdown. I think best practise is to use it before things get out of hand!

I need ear buds to listen to music if I'm traveling and sometimes in my own house to be honest. Other than that, I like stuffed animal keychains. I need to get one.

I do, Though I struggle to remember things and am to prone to losing things. Generally I end up having asher carry my sensory tools.

My ot just gave me a slap bracelet with reversible sequins
I have this green stretchy thing
Putty
a squishy
a bracelet with magnets
Dice
some small stuffed animals
some cards with words on them for when I can't speak
and some other stuff. Rarely all at the same time because I keep misplacing everything.

Earplugs. Other than that I'll just stim by wringing my hands if I'm stressed in public and walking somewhere. I also carry over the year hearing protectors in my vehicle if I need them. And I wear sunglasses unless I'm indoors.

I carry earplugs and usually a music player, but I knew someone who always carried some books about kindness. Perhaps telephone immersion is an acceptable appearance now.

That's very interesting, thanks for the tip on earplugs Jsbach, I'll check those out! I have construction-style headphones that I keep with me too, but sometimes they're not practical or block out too much noise, like at movie theaters where they make it hard to hear the dialogue.