Sensory Processing Dysfunction and Sensory Integration
Sensory
Processing Dysfunction and Sensory Integration
SI begins in the womb as the fetal brain
senses the movements of the mother’s body. The genes of the human species gives
every child baseline capacity, child interacts with many things in the
environment and develops adaptive responses to stimuli. Until about the age of
seven, the brain is primarily a sensory processing machine. As the child grows
older, mental and social responses replace some of this sensory-motor activity.
Our senses give us information about the
physical condition of our body and the environment around us.
Think of senses: sight, smell, hearing,
taste, and touch. The organs those are responsible for these functions are
eyes, nose, ears, tongue and skin. The sensing organs associated with each
sense send information to the brain to help us understand and perceive the
world around us.
Touching and being touched have a very
important influence for the infant and rest of his life.
Vision and Audition play a very
important role of learning about environment and objects.
Taste and Smell make a child comfortable
to explore variety of foods.
Countless bits of sensory information enter
our brain every moment not only from our
eyes and ears, but also from every other part of our body. We have a special sense named vestibular sense that
detects the pull of
gravity and the movements of our body relative
to earth. It is involved with functions like
correct posture, balance, movement and its relationship with gravity, something like coming down a slide or
a playground swing without falling off.
Proprioception
is the sensory information caused by contraction and stretching of muscles and
compression of joints between bones. It creates internal awareness of the position of one’s joints and
muscles in space – which allows you to lift a spoon to your mouth without spilling
your soup. Children with irregular proprioception gets tired
easily, would be clumsy or slower.
Touch, pressure and kinesthetic sensation
play an important role in muscle memory and functional ability. As the
sensations from the skin, muscles, joints and movement receptors gets
well organized, the child
develops perception of his body in respect to the environment and creates body awareness.
Tactile, Vestibular and proprioceptive functions are the building blocks for
emotional stability. It develops
self-esteem, self-control, and self-confidence.
Sensations are food or nourishment for the
nervous system. Without an adequate supply of sensation, nervous system cannot
function at the required arousal level. If there are gaps and irregularities in
any of the integrative steps before child goes to school, there will be
difficulties in his school work and in his life as a whole.
Central Nervous System is constantly
screening, sorting and responding to sensory information both from the external
environment and internal receptors in order to perform purposeful activities.
Sensory Integrative Dysfunction (SID) means
that brain is not functioning in a natural efficient manner. SID is the sort of
“traffic jam” in the brain. Some infants with SI problem do not achieve age
appropriate milestones. They may not move easily and skillful play is difficult.
Imagine the amount of sensory integration required to sit in a chair, Listen to
teacher’s instruction in an active classroom and copy notes from the black board in the notebook. When the process
of SI is disordered, a number of problems in learning, motor development or behavior
can be seen. Some of these behaviors may display as negative behaviors.
While sensory processing issues are not a
learning disorder they can make it hard for children to succeed at school. Over-sensitive
kids respond easily to sensory stimuli and can find it overwhelming, while
under-sensitive kids want to seek out more sensory stimulation.
There is no medication to treat sensory processing issues. Occupational Therapist designs
therapeutic activities to modulate sensory systems and improve sensory integration which
helps the child to get grounded and settle in his behavior. The role of Occupational Therapist is
to diagnose the dysfunction correctly and create a challenging situation in fun and play way
method aiming at appropriate response and normal function. The therapist tries to carefully
balance structure and freedom in a way that leads to constructive exploration. Correct
guidance and necessary changes at home and school help the child to feel comfortable.
Parents have to make a responsible decision for the child’s best development.
By
Dr. Mona Shah
Occupational Therapist, Clinical Psychologist
Comments
Post a Comment