Music Sugestions for a "Sensory Diet"

I don't know about your particular child, however-- some seem to respond very positively to classical music, including 'calming' Chinese music.
I have this cd and have used it with my preschoolers:
http://www.windmusic.com.tw/en/pro_detail.asp?PDT_NO=TCD-...

I also like quieter classical music for youngsters, and more mellow jazz. I think you might need to do some exploring. Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" is wonderful for kids to listen to while doing playdough or other sit-down activities and encourages listening.

Bach piano music. Recommended for work and studying because it has a calming affect and the orderliness of the music helps you think. Start with "Inventions and Sinfonias", the "French Suites" and the "Goldberg Variations". They may be available at your library, or available through interlibrary loans so you try them out.

Are you planning to see an neurodevelopmental pediatrician? Perhaps get an evaluation by an occupational therapist? The thing about a sensory diet is you have to figure out what excites and calms a child and then include many different sensory experiences so that they are able to get the stimulation they need and eventually be able to self regulate. As far as music goes, allow her to have both soothing music (which you can listen to together while getting a massage or maybe she can sit in a cubby or tent) and then at some other point in the day play exciting dance music that she can move around to. She is probably very smart and needs many types of physical and mental stimulation to help her. She will be fine though!

as far as i know my dd doesn't have a sensory disorder but she loves books on Cd, if you are experimenting to see what works you might want to give that a shot. even before they could read chapter books they liked listening to magic tree house and junie b jones on cd from our library.

just wanted to tell you, i think it is great that you know your kid so well and are willing to do what you can to make things better for both of you.

Calming Classical music, specifically by Chopin, Debussy, Schumann, some Ravel pieces. I would probably steer away from Rachmaninov or big, loud pieces with clashing cymbals. Mozart is also a fine choice.

Soothing contemporary choices would be Enya, the Korean pianist Yiruma, etc.

There's a great Christian singer Jana Alayra (sp?) with kids music CDs. They are fun, upbeat and engaging.

I would personally stick with your random playlist, but then pay attention to which songs have the desired effect.

After silence, that which comes closest to expressing our feelings, is music. -Aldous Huxley

I focus on classical,but varying it wouldn't hurt either.

My Son gets OT therapy right now and is getting the "listening therapy" which is listening to music on special headphones. It is a variety of music, however they focus on special tones and soft and louder sounds. It based of the "Tomatis" method. There's a lot of research out there supporting it. However, it is not traditional type therapy and not all therapy centers have listening therapy. I have seen it work in the past for our Son. It was a different set up. We are trying it again. I highly recommend it, it is expensive, but we saw a night/day difference in our child's behavior. My Son has a lot of sensory issues-touch, loud sounds, texture issues with eating, very sensitive to smells and sounds and covers his ears when it is too loud. To get a diagnosis, you need to get an evaluation done by an OT therapist. A developmental Pediatrician is great to have. We've been using one since my Son has been 3 years old. My Son also has ADHD and is on medicine for that. There's a great book out there called the Out of Sync Child and I would highly recommend reading that. We listen to a lot of different music in the car and we sing also. We've listen mostly to Christian, rock and easy listening and sometime Classical. He gets 2 30 minute session at home with the listening therapy and the music is different than listening to the radio or CD's. It is focuses on different tones and is presented differently than you or I can with a typical Cd/radio. He special headphones that work with the disc. They aren't cheap headphones, they cost $150. It would hard to duplicate that without the proper equipment. I would highly recommend you getting an evaluation and letting the professionals evaluate him and treat him. There's many things that our therapist recommends for us to do at home to calm our son down. The listening therapy is just one of them. There's tons of other things to do- using a big ball, swinging, scooter boards, trampoline, massage or "brushing" technique, chewing gum or eating certain snacks, the list goes and on and on. I highly recommend going to a children's hosptial or a university type hospital where they do research and can properly test your child or a therapy center that offers the music/listening therapy. We have seen a huge improvement in our son since he's been 1 1/2 when we first noticed issues with loud sounds. Good Luck!

My son's OT for SPD recommended classical music. It does seem to help! He does ok with the 40s music on XM and oddly enough, the only kids music he will listen to is a band that does Hip Hop ("lend a hand family" CD) or a few songs from the Bare Naked Ladies ("snacktime" CD).

If it's background music we are after or I need him to calm down or focus, definitely the classical. The 40s channel is great as well, but one of their promos uses the sound of a steam engine and he is ALWAYS distracted by that.