Make a Weighted Blanket for Sensory Integration
Weighted blankets are often used as a therapeutic tool to help calm children who suffer from a sensory processing disorder. Sensory processing disorders generally accompany conditions that appear on the autism spectrum. The sensory disorders cause children to seek sensory stimulation or to "stim," which is characterized by such actions as flapping the arms or, in severe cases, self-injurious behaviors. A weighted blanket counteracts this need for sensory stimulation. The pressure that the blanket puts on the child's body meets the child's need for physical sensation and simultaneously calms the child down. You can make your own weighted blanket by obtaining a few items.
Instructions
1. Cut out 20 four-inch squares from the beanbag material. These squares will become 10 beanbags that will add weight to the blanket.
2. Place two squares together with the print side of the material facing out on both sides. Sew the squares together on three sides, leaving about a one-inch opening on the fourth side so you can insert the weighted material.
3. Fill the bags to the desired weight level using poly plastic pellets. These are the tiny plastic balls or pellets that often are found in stuffed animals. Fill the bags about 3/4 full, so there's plenty of weight to the bags, and the pellets have room to move around.
4. Sew the one-inch opening closed to complete the beanbag. Take care not to let the pellets spill out while sewing.
5. Repeat this entire process for the remaining pieces of material until you have 10 beanbags.
6. Cut 20 four-inch strips of Velcro tape, and adhere two strips of the hook side of the tape to two of the edges of each beanbag. The strips should be parallel across from each other, not perpendicular (meeting at a corner).
7. Place two loop sides of the Velcro tape strips on the sheet parallel to each other so that the outer edges are four inches apart.
8. Repeat this nine more times, spacing the pairs of strips out evenly over the surface of the sheet. Place them in a checkerboard pattern, so that when you fold the sheet in half they will not overlap.
9. Attach the 10 beanbags to the sheet using the Velcro strips.
10. Fold the sheet in half leaving the attached beanbags on the inside. Sew the long ends together and one of the short ends together to create a blanket with an opening on on end.
11. Sew opposing strips of Velcro (not Velcro tape) on opposite sides of the inside of the open end of the sheet. Sew the loop end on one inside edge and sew the hook end on the opposite inside edge. This gives you easy access to the inside of the blanket in case you need to replace or adjust the beanbags inside.
Tags: Velcro tape, beanbags inside, Blanket Sensory, Blanket Sensory Integration, each other