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Farah is a charming little girl of five with big eyes and beautiful thick curls. Although she is a strong speller and an excellent reader, Farah cannot form letters, numbers or any recognizable shape. Her teachers are frustrated because she often leaves areas blank on her worksheets even though she can answer verbally. She wastes time fidgeting with her hair, her clothes, or items on her desk instead of completing her class work. Circle time is frequently troublesome. Farah is known for touching, hitting, and poking children sitting next to her. She is often sent to the principal’s office for this type of behaviour. When Farah sits quietly during circle time, she picks at threads in her socks until they have big holes in them.
Amaar is a robust boy of eight. He is always running and jumping, often tripping and falling, or bumping into teachers, other children and even furniture. In the classroom, he can’t sit still, rocks back and forth in his chair, moves around the room and watches other students. He doesn’t seem to know his own strength and often breaks things or hurts others with no apparent ill intent. Academically, Amaar is easily distracted and can’t stay focused in class and while doing homework. He struggles with writing, particularly with forming letters accurately and in copying from the blackboard or a book. |
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| What do these children have in common? |
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Both of these children have Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD), originally known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Dr. A. Jean Ayres developed Sensory Integration Theory, which refers to both a neurological process and a theory of relationship between the neurological process and behaviour. Her definition of Sensory Integration (1989) is as follows:
Sensory integration is the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. The spatial and temporal aspects of inputs from different sensory modalities are interpreted, associated, and unified. Sensory integration is information processing. The brain must select, enhance, inhibit, compare, and associate the sensory information in flexible, constantly changing patterns: in other words, the brain must integrate it.
Sensory Processing Disorders are often seen in children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders, Dyslexia, Autism Spectrum Disorders and a number of other learning disabilities. Learning is a sensory experience. We take in information through our eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin but it is important to remember that these organs are merely sensory receptors. The actual processing of the information received through them is done by the brain. If our brain cannot make sense of the sensory
information it receives, then our world becomes a scary and frustrating place.
While everyone knows about the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, few realize that we have another sensory system, the vestibular system. The sense organs for the vestibular system are located in the inner ear with connections to other parts of the brain and sensory organs. The vestibular system controls the sense of movement and balance, coordinates information received from other sensory systems and directly governs:
- Auditory functions
- Visual functions
- Muscle tone
- Balance
- Proprioception, the brain’s unconscious sense of body in space, a very complex sense that uses information received from throughout our body.
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| The following chart lists a few of the signs of sensory over or under sensitivity. |
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| System |
Hyper Sensitive |
Hypo Sensitive |
| Auditory |
- Easily distracted by sounds
- Afraid of loud or sudden sounds
- Difficulty participating in group discussions
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- Hums, sings, taps, bangs or makes other sounds throughout the day
- Appears to not hear what you say
- Delayed speech
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| Visual |
- Eyes tire quickly when reading
- Poor eye contact
- Gets upset if things are out of place
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- Flaps hands, rocks, or rolls head
- Misses written or demonstrated directions
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| Tactile |
- Is fidgety or disruptive when standing in line or close to other people
- Avoids messy activities like painting, gluing, sandbox play
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- Difficulty sitting still, fidgety
- Ignores when face and hands are dirty
- Does not steady objects when working
- High tolerance for pain
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| Taste |
- Very picky eater
- Eats only bland foods
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- Chews on clothes, fingers, toys
- Prefers strong tasting foods
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| Smell |
- Complains about cooking smells
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- Smells everything
- Loves perfumes and colognes
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| Vestibular |
- Suffers from motion sickness
- Slow to participate in physically active tasks or activities
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- Clumsy trips or , falls often
- Runs or bumps into things
- Left/right confusion
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