Sensory-Friendly Holidays: Supporting Regulation Through the Season

The holidays are full of sensory input: crowded rooms, loud conversations, strong smells, unfamiliar foods, travel, late nights, and a routine that has completely disappeared. For kids who are already working hard to stay regulated, the holidays can quickly turn into sensory overwhelm. When your child falls apart at the family gathering, it's easy to wonder what went wrong, or whether you should have just stayed home. 

In this session, we'll look at why the holiday season is so dysregulating and how to support your child's nervous system without canceling everything or white-knuckling through it. You'll learn how to anticipate what will be hard before you walk through the door, and how to build in recovery so your child can come back to baseline instead of hitting a wall.

We'll explore the sensory demands hiding in common holiday moments, simple ways to preview and plan for gatherings, how to build in breaks and exit strategies that actually get used, and how to stay connected to your child (and your own limits) when well-meaning relatives have opinions.