Define Sensory Integration, who coined it, when?
- The neurological process that organizes sensations from one’s own body and the environment into useable information (info filtering and processing)
- Jean Ayres (Psych/OT) in the 1970s
Signs of possible sensory processing disorder
- kids that are hard to figure out
- have difficulty sitting still and paying attention
- have behavioral concerns
- social concerns
Good sensory integration
gives the child the ability to explore the environment, try new activies, strive to meet increasingly complex challenges to feel successful.
Sensory inputs include…
- Sight
- Smell
- Touch
- Taste
- Hearing
- Perception of Movements (Vestibular)
- Positioning of our bodies (proprioception)
Four Levels of SI
- Primary Sensory Systems (by 2m)
- Perceptual motor foundations (by 1y)
- perceptual motor skills (by 3y)
- Academic readiness (by 6y)
Level 1: Primary Sensory
- Tactile
- Vestibular (gravity and movement)
- Proprioceptive (muscles, joints, ligaments)
- Visual/Auditory (regulates eye movements, tries new postures)
- Gravitational Security
Level 2: Perceptual Motor Foundations
- Body awareness
- Visual feedback - sense of self
- bilateral integration and coordination (pass rattle back and forth or shake rattle while picking nose)
- Laterlization - establish hemisphere preference
- Motor Planning
Level 3: perceptual-motor skills
- auditory and visual perception
- Visual-motor integration
- hand-eye coordination
- Purposeful activity
Level 4: Academic Readiness
- Complex motor skills
- regulation of attention
- Organized behavior
- Specialization of body and brain
- socially competent
- abstract reasoning
- Visualization of past and future events (we’re going to go to grandmas)
- Self-Esteem and Self Control
Define Sensory Integration Dysfunction
- Irregularity or disorder in brain function that makes it difficult to integrate sensory input effectively.
- Kids have a difficult time breaking into an existing playgroup; might retreat and play alone; can be forgotten because they aren’t acting up, but they are loosing out on social experiences and the language development that can come from that.
- Brain is so disorganized that a person has difficulty functioning
Assess for SID
- Thorough caregiver questionnaire
- Infant/toddler symptom checklist
- ” “ sensory profile
- Vision and hearing screening
- OT Eval
A couple assessment tests for early intervention
- Peabody developmental motor scales
- infant/toddler symptom checklist
- The Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development
Assessment tools for School Based Assessment
- Test of Visual Perceptual Skills
- The Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests
- The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration
Possible Causes of SID
Prematurity, birth trauma, aod exposure, infection/viruses, genetics, environment, neurological, unknown
Associated Diagnoses
Fragile X, FAS/Drug exposure, autism, ADD/ADHD, Down Syndrome, MR, “Normal Children”, learning disabled
Registration vs. Modulation
Registration: inital recognition of a stimuli
Modulation: sensory information and how its dealt with once in the system
Signs and Symptoms of SID
hyper or hypo sensitive, fluctuation (more sensitive at other times of the day), mixed (both hypo and hyper)
Tactile SID behaviors
- avoid touching or being touch - need their space
- avoids certain textures or consistencies
- doesn’t want to get messy
- difficulty transitioning from liquid to solid diet
- adverse reactions to hair brushing, washing, cutting
- adverse reactions to getting dressed, tags
- lack of reaction to pain, temperature
Tactile supports
- finger painting
- toys in rice/bean buckets
- firm touch
- brushing
- vibration
- Fidget ball
- play dough
- dress up
Visual SID Behaviors
bumps into things, poor eye contact, diffulty with depth perception and figure-ground, excessive use of touch or taste to explor items, overexcited when there’s a lot to see, increased focus on moving items like fans and videos
Visual Support
dim lights, reduce distractions, games (bean bag toss or games that involve hand/eye), copying, i spy, bubbles, transitional exercises/games/songs
Smell SID Behaviors
- avoid particular areas or food because of smells others may not notice
- gags or vomits due to the smell of certain foods
- may ignore unpleasant odors like dirty diapers
- smell toys or people before interacting with them
Smell Supports
- identify odors that are more altering or calming
- play guess that smell with q-tips
- allow child to smell food prior to eating
Auditory SID Behaviors
- puts hands over ears to avoid sounds
- aversive reaction to vacuums, tv, or blenders
- listens to music or tv aat a high or low volume
- distracted by slight noises
- not reactive to voice/environmental sounds
- poor communication skills
