Sensory Integration Therapy

Sensory integration therapy was pioneered by Dr. Jean Ayres in the 1970’s. Dr. Ayres theorized that children who had difficulty learning in school, interacting with others, or had coordination difficulties, had underlying challenges in how they process sensory information in their environments. Dr. Ayres groundbreaking researching has helped us understand more about child development and how we can help children with sensory challenges. Today, sensory integration therapy is a respected field of practice for occupational therapists, physical therapist, speech therapists, teachers, and other individuals who consider the whole child.

Let’s build a house!

Sure bricks are nice for building a house, but what’s more important is laying the foundation so you can build a strong house! This is a good way to look at child development.

Part of that important foundation for child development is the ability to take in, process, and act in a responsive way in our environments (sensory integration). Adequate touch processing leads to better coordination of our bodies. Adequate sound processing leads to better ability to take in communication from others and understand sounds in our environment. Underlying sensory processing abilities are part of the foundation for higher level skill development.

Visual is from Yack, E., Sutton, S., and Aquilla, P. (1998). Building Bridges through Sensory Integration

Our sensory systems

Our bodies have 8 sensory systems that help us understand ourselves and the world around us

• Visual: What we see with our eyes

• Tactile: The signals of touch on our skin

• Olfactory: Smell

• Oral: Our sense of taste

• Auditory: Sounds

• Proprioception: Understanding of our body position

• Vestibular: How we process movement

• Introception: Understanding the inside of our body

Did you say “proprioception?”

Your proprioception sense tells you about your muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments. Together with the touch system, you have body awareness. Can you tell where your body is when your eyes are closed? If you can, you are relying on your proprioceptive system to give you that information. Adequate processing of our proprioceptive system is important for grading force for a movement, fine motor coordination and gross motor control.

What about vestibular?

Your vestibular sense is located in your inner ear and brain stem. This sense tells us where our head is in relation to the world. A simple term for the vestibular system can be our movement system. Our movement system is activated when we move! Riding on a bike, flipping on a couch, or swinging on a swing are all examples of movement. Adequate processing of our vestibular system is related to self regulation, activation of postural muscles, balance, ability to cross the mid-line, and coordination of the right and left sides of our bodies

Differences in sensory processing between children

We all process sensory information in different ways. Some of us love getting deep tissue massages or going on the rides at Hershey park. Some of us get sick just looking at those rides! There is a large spectrum in sensory processing. We may seek out or avoid certain sensations according to our own sensory preferences. You may have hypo-reactivity within one sensory systems and hyper-reactivity within another sensory system. Our assessment process helps us better understand your child’s individual sensory profile.

Hypo-reactive

Vs.

The term “hyper-reactive” means that an individual requires less than the typical amount of sensory stimulation to elicit a response. For instance, a child who is “hyper-reactive” to sounds may hear sounds that others do not, or they may be bothered by sounds. This child may demonstrate difficulty with learning in noisy environments. They may also demonstrate more defensive characteristics.

The term “hypo-reactive” means that an individual requires more than the typical amount of sensory stimulation to elicit a response. An example of this would be a child who is “hypo-reactive” to proprioceptive information. This child may fall frequently or be considered clumsy with everyday tasks. The child is not receiving enough signals telling them about their body in relation to the world around them.

Can we talk more about that amazing vestibular system!

The Vestibular sense is one of our 8 senses. This sense monitors where our body is in space in terms of movement and positioning. In other words, vestibular system answers to life questions: which way is up? Where am I going? It is basically our internal GPS system! It works closely with our visual (sight) and auditory (hearing) systems to understand where and how our body is moving. For example, in our ears, there are canals filled with fluid and when you move your head in different directions, it triggers certain fluid movements to bend the appropriate hair cells to understand where we are in space. Our eyes then work together with our brain and ears to help our body understand where we are and where our world is. So, if you turn your head to the left your whole world doesn’t turn to the left! This is as important as it sounds! And because of that, it impacts several things we do day to day. Our vestibular system processing and functioning impacts our balance, using the right and left sides of our body together, crossing midline, strength, regulation, attention, visual spatial skills, and so much more.