Sensory Integration
We usually think of the senses as separate channels of information, but they actually work together to give us a reliable picture of the world and our place in it.
Because your brain uses information about sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, and movement in an organized way, you know how to respond and behave accordingly. Walking through a shopping mall, if you smell a powerful, sweet scent, you are able to identify it as a candle or essential oil and realize that you’re walking past an aromatherapy store.
For most of us, sensory integration occurs without conscious thought or effort. For others, sensory integration happens inefficiently.
Those with SI dysfunction have great difficulty figuring out what is going on inside and outside their bodies, and there’s no guarantee that the sensory information they’re working with is accurate.
A child may avoid confusing sensations – or seek out more of the sensation to find out more about it. For example, a child who has difficulty integrating tactile (touch) may avoid unpleasant touch experiences such as getting his hands messy with paint, sand, or glue, while another child may crave such touch input and actively seek it out and obsess about cleaning his hands.
For most kids, sensory integration skills develop naturally. An baby startles and cries when a fire engine whizzes past blaring a siren, but years later when that baby is a teenager, the same noise might cause him to simply cover his ears as he watches the fire engine go down the street. As an adult, this person may merely stop talking with a friend until the fire engine passes. As sensory processing skills mature, vital pathways in the nervous system get refined and strengthened, and children get better at handling life’s challenges.
For some children, sensory integration does not develop smoothly. Because they can’t rely on their senses to give them an accurate picture of the world, they don’t know how to behave in response, and they may have trouble learning and behaving appropriately. The essential first step toward helping your child with sensory issues is to develop empathy for how he experiences his world.
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