All kids need to master the concept of personal space and boundaries. For those with sensory processing challenges, understanding and respecting these personal boundaries can be even more difficult! This concept is very important for developing good relationships and being able to participate in group activities. Here are several strategies to help children build awareness and respect for personal space.

1. Build Body Maps

Some kids have an innate sense of body awareness, while many need to learn it. Providing deep pressure and proprioceptive input to the joints and muscles can wake up the senses, allowing children to create an internal map of where their body is in relation to their surroundings. You can incorporate heavy work activities to develop and engage body awareness:

• Push a Weighted Pushcart or carry a pile of books to the shelf during clean up
• Stand against the wall and do push-ups
• Walk like various animals from one side of the room to the other 
• Crawl through a Crawl and Calm Resistance Tunnel
• Stretch out against a sensory sack or Soft Resistance Bands

4. Guide Transitions

Transitions from one place to the next have high potential for the blurring of personal space boundaries. Walking down a busy hall can feel like driving a car on a highway that has no lane markers. To support success you can: 

• Direct the flow of traffic with Sensory Pathway Decals on the floor or walls
• Create a tactile pathway out of wall panels, like the Touch ‘N Brush Wall Panel, for kids to follow
• Mark appropriate intervals for children to stand on or hold, so that they know to wait until that spot is not occupied before moving
• Wear a Weighted Compression Vest to increase proprioceptive input and heighten a sense of body awareness

5. Wait in Line

Standing in line is another place where boundaries can be easily breached.  Much like transition points, waiting in line can be managed with physical boundaries that are easy on the eye:

• Place visual markers, like Spot Markers or Gel Tiles, to give kids an easy cue for where they should be
• State simple spatial rules, like "To be cool, an arm's length is the rule"
• Engage kids in simple activities, such as wall push-ups, while waiting for the line to move forward

6. Sound Sleeping

While it may not seem like it, sleeping is a great opportunity to reinforce spatial awareness. Your child’s bed itself serves as a boundary, teaching them to recognize when they are too close to the edge. You can further enhance it by adding a guard rail. Add an element of deep pressure input with a Snuggle Compression Sheet or weighted blanket to help imprint spatial awareness on your child’s neurological system.

7. Physical Activities and Sports

Movement-based activities naturally develop spatial awareness by honing the mind-body connection. Kids can engage in: 

• High impact sports, such as gymnastics, martial arts and dance
• Climbing activities to provide input to their joints and muscles
• Team sports, for real-time social spacing practice
• Structured movement games, such as freeze dance and Simon Says, to challenge them to maintain personal space while in motion

These are just some of the strategies you can use to teach kids about personal space and maintaining boundaries. Sensory seekers and under-responders may need extra support to understand where their space ends and someone else’s begins. Sensory avoiders and over-responders may experience more extreme sensory dysregulation if their personal space is invaded. Remember to be patient, gentle and aware as kids learn about their boundaries.

Looking for more ways to support social skill development? Explore our range of social-emotional tools!