Guide To Development
Sensory Processing
What is sensory integration?
Sensory Integration is the normal, neurological, developmental process
that begins in the womb and continues throughout one’s life. Our
neurological system takes information in from the environment through
our senses. This information will affect daily functioning, social and
family relationships, behavioral challenges, regulating emotions,
self-esteem, learning, and dealing with the every day challenges.
Typically, the brain organizes the information taken in from our senses
which then enables us to use it and respond appropriately within the
environment. The reactions to specific sensory input is about how this
input is taken in, organized, and utilized to interpret one's
environment and make the body ready to learn, move, regulate energy
levels and emotions, interact, and develop properly.
If the neurological process becomes disrupted in a way that the brain
does receive the sensory information, that the wrong information was
sent, or the message was sent and received by the brain but the
appropriate response was not formed, then the normal development and
adaptive responses will not be achieved accordingly. It is the
frequency, intensity, duration and functional impact of these symptoms
which determines dysfunction.
The senses that affect sensory integration:
We are all familiar with the 5 senses: Tactile: the sense of touch;
Auditory: input relating to sounds; Oral: input relating to the mouth;
Olfactory: input relating to smell; Visual: input relating to sight.
There are two senses that some people may be unaware of. Vestibular: the
sense of movement; input from the inner ear about equilibrium,
gravitational changes, movement experiences and position in space. Your
inner ear is highly coordinated with the neck and back muscles and
affects balance and coordination.
Proprioception: the sense of "position"; input from the muscles and
joints about body position, weight, pressure, stretch, movement and
changes in position. Proprioception is where your body is in relation to
space.
When the vestibular sense (gravity and movement) and proprioceptive
sense (muscles and joints) are not work effectively, the child will
display difficulty with eye movements, posture, balance, muscle tone,
and gravitational insecurity. Those difficulties will translate into
difficulties with body percept, coordinating two sides of the body,
motor planning, activity level, attention span, and emotional stability.
When the tactile sense (touch) is not working effectively, the child may
display difficulty with sucking and eating. Not integrating the tactile
sense effectively may also impact the mother-infant bond and tactile
comfort which is the ability to be hugged or touched without having a
negative response. These difficulties will also then lead to
difficulties with activity level, attention span, and emotional
stability, which then later leads to problems with purposeful activity.
It is important to understand that if your child has difficulty
integrating their senses, that these are some of the issues they may
face. Ultimately, the end result of these difficulties will lead to the
inability to concentrate and organize, low self esteem, poor self
control, and low self confidence. Academic learning ability is
compromised, the capacity for abstract thought and reasoning may be
lacking and specialization of each side of the body and brain can be
affected. Remember, the more a child is motivated to participate in
activities, the greater the chance that the child will persist in
challenges that lead to improved function.
What is the difference between Sensory Integration Dysfunction &
Sensory Processing Disorder?
These terms are commonly confused. Sensory Integration is mainly used to
describe the theory and treatment based off of the work done by Jean
Ayres. Sensory processing disorder is used to describe and define the
disorder and dysfunction symptoms.
Questions to ask yourself about your child’s behavior?
• Is my child an excessive risk taker, jumping and crashing into
anything they can?
• Why can’t my child do puzzles, write well, or find the coordination
for riding a bike or hitting a ball?
• Why does my child cry or cover their ears with every loud sound (noise
from tv in the other room, the vacuum, the telephone)?
• Why doesn't my child like to be touched?
• Why can't my child be touched enough?
• Why will my child only eat the same foods?
• Why will my child only wear certain clothes or need me to cut the tags
out of their shirts? Why does my child despise wearing socks?
• Why can’t I seem to calm my child or get them to sleep?
• Why won’t my child put their hands in anything messy or use glue, Play
Doh, or play with mud?
• Why does my child fear playground equipment or being tipped upside
down?
• Why do crowded stores bother my child so much, leading to major
meltdowns in public places?
Resources
• Sensory Processing Disorder Checklist (all ages)
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processing-disorder-checklist.html
• Infant / Toddler SPD Checklist (0-3)
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/SPD-symptom-checklist-for-infants-and-toddlers.html
• Developmental Checklist (ages 0-5)
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/child-developmental-checklist.html
• Adolescent / Adult Checklist (ages 12-adult)
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/adult-SPD-checklist.html