Customizing a Sensory Diet for ADHD: Tips to Improve Focus and Reduce Hyperactivity

If you or your child is with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the constant battle with distractions can be exhausting. So, how can you manage? 

Imagine a kid finally breaking free and sprinting to the playground after a long day at school, or an adult sinking into a hot tub after back-to-back meetings and calls. 

These moments of relief aren’t just nice – they’re essential. In therapy speak, they’re part of what’s called a “sensory diet.” It is an individualized program or plan designed to meet a person’s unique sensory needs.

Wondering how to build a sensory diet for ADHD? Here’s everything you need to know.

How Does a Sensory Diet for ADHD Help Adults and Children with ADHD?

“Sensory diets can be incredibly powerful tools for kids with ADHD. Though ADHD is not thought to be a direct result of sensory integrative processing, many individuals with ADHD also display traits consistent with those who have sensory integration differences,” said Erika Trump, MS, OTR/L, pediatric occupational therapist at Spark Pediatric Therapy.

ADHD-Specific Sensory Diet Activities

Here are some sensory diet activities that may help manage various ADHD symptoms.

Activities for Increasing Focus and Reducing Impulsivity

• Stress balls [1]
• Sitting on a ball [2]
• Fidget spinners (research is mixed; some find increase on-task behavior, while others report they hinder attention[3,4])
• Wearing weighted vest [5]
• Forbrain^® for focused auditory input to enhance concentration
• Mindfulness training [6]

Erika recommends games that require listening for specific phrases, like red light green light, Simon says, or freeze dance. “Challenging those higher level cognitive skills of focus and impulse control can be fun while still building valuable skills,” she stated.

Calming Activities for Hyperactivity

• Yoga, music intervention, and/or their combination [7]
• Vestibular activities, including sitting on swivel chair and rolling on the floor, jumping on  trampoline, and rolling on large therapy ball [8]
• Exposure to green, outdoor settings [9]
• Use of weighted blankets [10]
• Deep breathing
• Soundsory^® for a calming sensory experience

Erika suggests breath work activities, like bubbles, straw games, or pinwheels. She explained, “Even just drinking through a straw can signal calm to the nervous system and reduce hyperactivity.”

Energizing Activities for Under-Stimulation

• Outdoor play [11]
• Mini-trampoline exercises
• Chewing crunchy snacks, oral chew toys, and other oral motor activities
• Physical exercise [12]
• Heavy work activities, like lifting, pulling, or pushing heavy objects

“Get moving! Jumping jacks, shaking your sillies out, or a good old fashioned dance party can get the nervous system more active to support attention when understimulation is a concern,” said Erika.

Structuring a Sensory Diet for ADHD Throughout the Day

Once you’ve curated a list of sensory activities tailored to your needs, remember that timing and setting matter. Different times of day and environments may make certain activities more effective than others, so finding the right balance often involves some trial and error.

The effectiveness of a sensory diet also depends on the child’s sensory integration at any given moment, shaped by the sensory demands they’re facing.

While consistency is key, a sensory diet should remain flexible to adapt to the shifting needs of someone with ADHD.

“I think the most functional and practical way to do a sensory diet is to make it more like a naturally flowing rhythm than a schedule. Alternating up-regulating activities with down-regulating activities, and to use functional activities that the child already participates in such as playing outdoors, walking the dog, cuddling up to read a book, etc. rather than making it specific (i.e. do 10 bear walks, 5 wall pushes etc.).Teaching a caregiver co-regulation strategies and attunement is also vital in this process to make adjustments as needed throughout the day to best meet a child’s sensory needs,” said Kristin Palen, OTR/L owner Coastal Connections Pediatric Therapy.  

Morning Sensory Routines

To boost your child’s energy and focus in the morning, consider alerting activities like chase games at the playground, bouncing on a trampoline, or wrapping them in a blanket and giving it a gentle pull [13].

For days that demand extra focus, brief high-intensity exercises (e.g., HIIT for adults) or Forbrain^® sessions can provide a helpful boost to stay powered up and attentive.

Midday Sensory Breaks

By midday, the energy tank is often running low, especially with demanding tasks usually stacked in the morning at school or work, not to mention the natural biological slump that hits around this time.

To counter this, organizing sensory activities—especially proprioceptive ones with deep pressure—can help maintain attention and provide a recharge.  Short “heavy work” tasks like organizing the pantry or tidying up toys are effective, as are sensory tools like Soundsory^® headphones paired with a weighted blanket in a cozy sensory corner. These help sustain energy and keep focus steady as the day goes on.

Evening Wind-Down Routine

The best evening activities are those that provide calming, organizing input to help reduce arousal after a day filled with sensory stimulation or simply to unwind. These activities can also address sleep challenges faced by people with ADHD [10].

Examples include wrapping your child in a weighted blanket, gentle rocking before bed, or listening to calming sensory input with Soundsory^®.

Customizing a Sensory Diet for Individual ADHD Needs

“Attention and impulse control are generally the major concerns for kids who have a diagnosis of ADHD, but I find that these children often show quantifiable differences in sensory integrative functioning,” said Erika.

There are two keys for making an effective sensory diet: a comprehensive evaluation and choosing components that are a good fit for the family. 

While ADHD symptoms may look similar, each person’s experience is unique. Working with an occupational therapist (OT) is crucial in this process. 

“The evaluation should be conducted by someone with training in sensory integration and include both formal assessment and clinical observations of unstructured activities. It often takes several sessions to have a thorough understanding of a child’s sensory profile, Erika explained.

An OT with training in sensory integration can help identify the sensory systems a person is over- or under-responsive to and whether they tend to seek or avoid certain sensory inputs. An OT will guide you in choosing the most effective activities to support ADHD symptoms such as impulsivity, inattention and hyperactivity.

The same goes if you’re making a sensory diet for autism. Providing tailored sensory activities is crucial to ensure that the sensory diet you create will help manage sensory needs effectively.

To personalize the sensory diet effectively, experiment with different sensory activities and adjust based on what seems to help most. Try varying the frequency, intensity, and timing of activities to see which combination works best. A midday sensory break, for instance, might be beneficial if mornings are demanding, while some may respond better to a short sensory break before such activities.

“Goodness of fit for the activities in the sensory diet is also key. The chosen activities should be not only easy to implement for the family, but should also be engaging for the child. With either of those components missing, sensory diets go from a powerhouse tool for supporting children to another piece of paper in a stack on the kitchen table,” said Erika.

Erika emphasized that sensory diets should be created with the whole family in mind, centering around established routines for the family.

“Considering how to incorporate sensory diet activities into things the family is already doing can make the difference. It’s also critical that the child and the family have a solid understanding of WHY a sensory diet is being given and how the chosen activities will support the child. If they don’t understand the why, it is ultimately not helpful,” she added.

Keeping a log is invaluable for tracking responses to different activities. It can help caregivers and individuals observe which sensory inputs are most effective and identify times of day or specific situations—like demanding tasks—when extra sensory support is needed. This ongoing documentation provides insights that enable adjustments over time, ensuring the sensory diet evolves to support focus, attention, and regulation effectively.

Tools to Enhance a Sensory Diet for ADHD

Incorporating tools into a sensory diet not only enhances focus and self-regulation but also helps maintain consistency. Having these tools on hand makes sensory support accessible, especially when you’re restricted by space or environment, like in a classroom or small home. 

These tools offer easy, immediate ways to engage sensory needs, keeping individuals grounded and ready to manage ADHD symptoms effectively. Here are some effective tools to consider.

• Soundsory^®: A sensory tool that uses rhythmic music and bone-conducted sound to support sensory integration, helping to enhance focus and calm hyperactivity through auditory and movement-based stimulation.
• Forbrain^®: Forbrain improves attention and auditory processing by delivering enhanced audio feedback through bone conduction, making it ideal for ADHD-specific sensory needs.
• Other Useful Tools: Additional sensory aids such as fidget spinners for tactile stimulation, therapy balls for balance and movement, sitting disks for core engagement during seated tasks, resistance bands (placed around chair legs) for subtle leg movement, and chewy toys for oral sensory input—all support focus, self-regulation, and the unique needs of individuals with ADHD.

Final Thoughts: Creating a Sensory Diet for ADHD

People with ADHD often deal with sensory challenges that can make symptoms like inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity even tougher to manage, impacting their daily lives.

A sensory diet helps by providing structured sensory input to balance these symptoms, boosting focus and self-regulation. The key is finding activities that match a child’s changing needs, making the sensory diet both effective and adaptable over time. 

FAQs About Sensory Diet for ADHD

What is an example of a sensory diet for ADHD?

A sensory diet could include 10 minutes of trampoline jumping in the morning to boost focus, a 5-minute “heavy work” task like carrying books at midday, and 15 minutes of weighted blanket time in the evening for winding down before sleeping.

Does a sensory diet help with ADHD?

Yes, most people with ADHD experience sensory issues, so a sensory diet helps by addressing these sensory needs directly, allowing them to be at an optimal state for learning and engagement.

A sensory diet specifically supports ADHD symptoms through targeted sensory inputs with calming, organizing, or alerting effects. These inputs can help increase focus, reduce impulsivity, and manage hyperactivity, creating a foundation for better self-regulation throughout the day.

References

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2. Gaston, A., Moore, S., & Butler, L. (2016). Sitting on a stability ball improves attention span and reduces anxious/depressive symptomatology among grade 2 students: A prospective case-control field experiment. International Journal of Educational Research, 77, 136–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2016.03.009
3. Aspiranti, K. B., & Hulac, D. M. (2021). Using fidget spinners to improve On-Task classroom behavior for students with ADHD. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 15(2), 454–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00588-2
4. Graziano, P. A., Garcia, A. M., & Landis, T. D. (2018). To fidget or not to fidget, that is the question: A Systematic classroom evaluation of fidget spinners among young children with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 24(1), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054718770009
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