When I decided to write this blog, I thought it would be easy!! Id forgotten how complicated Sensory Processing Disorder is, and after years of living with it, I’ve only just realised how many accommodations I make on a daily basis for my kids!
I’m going to post the information over the next 4 weeks so as not to bombard you with too much information. This weeks post explores the senses and what sensory processing is.
If you have any tips on what have worked for you, feel free to send me a message as it could also help another child frances@connectability.ie
So, let’s begin……
What are the senses?
When we think of sensory input, we think of having five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. These are some common examples of things kids seek and avoid from those senses.
- Sight: Visual patterns, certain colours or shapes, moving or spinning objects, and bright objects or light, also known as Visual Processing
- Smell: Specific smells. Some kids like to smell everything, while some kids are able to detect—and object to—smells that other people don’t notice. Also known as Olfactory Processing
- Hearing: Loud or unexpected sounds like fire alarms or blenders, singing, repetitive or specific types of noises (like finger snapping or clapping). Also known as Auditory Processing.
- Taste: Specific tastes (like spicy, sour, bitter, or minty) and textures (like crunchy, chewy, or mushy), chewing or sucking on non-food objects (like shirt sleeves or collars). Also known as Gustatory Processing
- Touch: Touch from other people, touching and fiddling with objects, tight or soft clothing, and certain textures or surfaces. Also known as Tactile Processing.
But there are two other senses that affect kids with sensory processing issues. One is the ability to sense body movement, position and balance. This is called proprioception. Sensory-seeking kids will try to get more proprioceptive input. They might give people tight hugs or crash into things to feel the physical contact and pressure. Sensory avoiders will try to get away from those sensations.
The other sense has to do with spatial orientation, or knowing where your body is “in space.” (vestibular system). In this case, sensory seekers might rock back and forth, spin or swing, hang upside down or jump from heights. Sensory avoiders may be more physically cautious.
Interoception is a lesser-known sense that helps you understand and feel what’s going on in your body. Kids who have trouble with it may have a harder time with toilet training or have an unexpected threshold for pain.
Touch: The Tactile Sense
Tactile sensation makes it possible for us to do a range of activities including finding and recognising an object in the dark, recognising different textures and protecting us from pain. For example it helps us differentiate between hot and cold temperatures. Infants receive tactile input during a range of different activities including bathing (the feel of water and different temperatures), dressing (the feel of different fabrics such as soft and rough fabrics), playing (toys with different textures) and feeding (feeling of different textured foods on the hands and in the mouth)
Movement: The Vestibular Sense
The sense of movement is controlled by our vestibular system. The vestibular system responds to body movement through space and changes in head position. In children this system is used when they engage in play activities such as swings and trampolines. It gives them information about how their body is moving through space. In Infants the vestibular system is active every time they move their head, change position, are picked up and moved through the air or they are engaged in rough and tumble play.
Body Position: Proprioception
This is closely related to the vestibular sense, and is formally known as proprioception. This sense gives us awareness of our body position. In adults it allows us to skilfully move our arms and legs without looking at every movement as in touch-typing and playing piano. It also allows us to adjust our body position quickly and automatically when we lose our balance. Infants use proprioception to tell them where their hand is when reaching for a toy when playing
So that bring us to the question, what is SENSORY PROCESSING?
Sensory Processing is the way that our bodies take in information through our senses, and how this information is organised in our central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) in order for us to be able to understand, react and interact appropriately with the world around us.
For example, when a child picks up their first shell on the beach, the child must firstly use their vision to spot the shell, taking in information of colour size and shape. As the child bends down to pick up the shell the child needs to be aware of where their fingers, arms, head and body need to be placed so that they are able to reach the shell.
At the same time the child needs to keep their balance as they move forward and downwards. As the child picks up the shell they feel the texture as being either smooth or rough, and determine whether the shell is heavy or light.
The child might put the stone to its mouth and nose, tasting and smelling the salt from the sea and listening to the sound of crashing waves.
The whole time that the child is exploring and enjoying their new experience, their sensory processing system is hard at work.
The Sensory Systems
The sensory systems are extremely complex, and begin to function very early in life (prior to birth). The senses do not act in isolation, but interact with each other in order to allow a person to make an appropriate response.
With any system things can occasionally get jumbled, and not work in the way that they were originally designed too.
In infants, these systems can mature at different rates, and one of two things can happen.
1. Infants become overly sensitive to touch, movement, sights or sounds. This refers to an infant becoming overly aroused by a sensation that most infants would tolerate.
2. Infants are under-reactive to sensory stimulation. This refers to an infant who is generally unaware or does not react to certain sensory input, and may as a result seek out further sensory stimulation
I hope this provided you with some useful information. Next week’s post will be about what happens when sensory processing is not working as it should?
Frances