SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER

The sensory system is a combination of vision, smell, movement, touch, knowing where our body is in space and hearing.  Our body processes all of these inputs constantly! Sensory Processing is a term used to refer to the way in which our central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) receives messages from the environment and how the body, organizes it, assigns meaning to it, and initiates a response to it. Typically, our brains receive sensory information from our bodies and surroundings, interpret the messages, and organize purposeful responses in an unconscious and automatic way.  When this does not happen, it is qualified as a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).

Hypersensitivity

Also known as “over responsive” often perceive sensations as too “intense” or noxious. Children who experience this may appear fearful and cautious, avoidant, or negative and defiant if there are activities that they have trouble tolerating.

EATING

Many parents report difficulty with feeding activities with kiddos who demonstrate hypersensitivity.  These difficulties can vary from refusing certain foods to gagging and vomiting with various textures.  As feeding can be a very important social activity as we grow up, it is important to evaluate and treat the reason for any feeding aversion we see in kids.  Occupational Therapy incorporates a lot of texture play and safely introduces new textures and foods to allow progression with eating.

BATHING

Water play is more than just a good way to cool off during summer.  It is a way for your child to explore different textures and learn how to maneuver their small body through different environments.  Unfortunately, kiddos with hyposensitive sensory systems tend to dislike the water, which really creates problems during bath time.  Accepting a new sensory input like water or clothing takes necessary organization of our sensory system.  If things are not working properly and there is disorganization, this sensory input can feel very overwhelming to a child.  Desensitization interventions performed by an Occupational Therapist can significantly improve your child's experience with tactile inputs, including water during bath time.

Hyposensitivity 

Also known as “under responsive” includes children that do not respond to the same intensity of a sensory stimulus that most others would.  They may appear withdrawn, difficult to engage, or have poor attention to tasks because they do not detect the sensory input in their environment. They may not notice when they bump into people, may play with toys or other children more roughly, or have a higher pain tolerance.

MELTDOWNS & EMOTIONAL REGULATION

Every child has a different sensory threshold.  This threshold refers to how much or how little input a child needs to get to a place of focus or calming.  Children with hypersensitivity (lower threshold) may need a quieter/calmer environment for this, while children with hyposensitivity (higher threshold) need additional input in order to emotionally regulate for focus and calming.  Many parents report meltdowns that are difficult to calm and they are unsure of how to handle this. If a child with SPD is not at their optimal sensory threshold and they get upset, it is very difficult to calm down because they are not ready to emotionally regulate themselves.  You may see behaviors like head banging, hitting, biting, throwing themselves or toys, etc.  Working with an Occupational Therapist can help you and your child learn coping mechanisms and interventions to facilitate calming with less intense behaviors by finding where their specific sensory threshold is and helping them get there so that they can emotionally regulate themselves.

SLEEP

Children with sensory processing disorder (SPD) tend to have difficulty with bedtime routines or even staying asleep at night. Every child has a different sensory threshold at which they can learn, focus and emotionally regulate themselves.  In order to go to sleep it takes the ability to calm down, which kiddos with hyposensitivity tend to struggle with. If your child is bouncing off the walls at bedtime, their body systems have not adequately regulated to allow for preparation for sleep and they have not met their sensory threshold.  Sleep is a neurochemical process that involves our brain chemistry to restore us for another day of learning and activities.  Children with SPD experience high levels of cortisol and low levels of melatonin, which are the opposite of what is required for sleep.  Assisting your child to meet their sensory threshold during the day can help regulate their chemical balances, which in turn can facilitate better nights of sleep.  Occupational Therapists can help create a sensory recipe specific for your child's needs to help them get to sleep and stay asleep, so they can be restored for learning the next day.

ATTENTION SPAN

Getting a child to sit and pay attention for longer than a few minutes can be a challenge in general.  However, there is a big difference between being easily distracted and being constantly on the move with attention to an activity being only a few seconds.  Typically, between the ages of 4-6 years old the attention span should be 8-16 minutes and between the ages of 6-8 years old the attention span should be 12-24 minutes. If a child is constantly on the move and bouncing from one activity to the next, there may be more going on than just being easily distracted. In order for a child to focus, they need to be at their optimal sensory threshold.  For a child with a hyposensitive sensory system, their threshold is much higher.   This is turn looks like constant movement, jumping, spinning, crashing, and potentially aggressive behaviors like hitting, biting and head banging.  This kiddo is simply trying to reach their sensory threshold to allow them to focus and perform the required task.  Occupational Therapists can evaluate and create a sensory plan to help your child increase their attention span throughout the day to facilitate focus and learning. 

Exhausted yet?! The sensory system can feel complicated and complex (because it is).  However, if you are feeling overwhelmed and want more information or additional explanation about anything above, please reach out.  Occupational Therapists specialize in the sensory system so that you don't have to!  

Email Movement Matters today for an evaluation.