What are the signs of affected sensory processing system?
The systems may be hypo or hyper active in processing.
Typically each system will exhibit some prominent behaviors that characterize the working of that system.
Some behaviors that may act as alerts for sensory processing difficulties can be:

Tactile system
Hypoactivity may be presented as :
o Child may crave touch, needs to touch everything and everyone
o is not aware of being touched/bumped unless done with extreme force or intensity
o is not bothered by injuries, like cuts and bruises
o may not be aware that hands or face are dirty or feel his/her nose running
o has difficulty with fine motor tasks such as buttoning, zipping, and fastening clothes
o may be a messy dresser
o has difficulty using scissors, crayons, pencil

Hyperactivity may present as :
o Child becomes fearful, anxious or aggressive with light or unexpected touch
o may overreact to minor cuts, scrapes, and or bug bites
o avoids touching certain textures of material (blankets, rugs, stuffed animals)
o will be distressed by dirty hands and want to wipe or wash them frequently
o distressed about having hair, toenails, or fingernails cut, face, teeth or hair wash
o is a picky eater

Vestibular System

Hyper activity may present as:
o Child avoids/dislikes playground equipment; i.e., swings, ladders, slides, or merry-go-rounds
o prefers sedentary tasks, moves slowly and cautiously
o fearful of activities which require good balance

Underactive system may present as:
o Child in constant motion, can't seem to sit still
o craves fast, spinning, and/or intense movement experiences
o always running, jumping, hopping etc. instead of walking
o clumsy and has a limp, "floppy" body
o frequently slumps, lies down, and/or leans head on hand or arm while working at his/her desk

Proprioceptive system

Underactive system may present as:
o Child seeks out jumping, bumping, and crashing activities
o stomps feet when walking
o frequently falls on floor intentionally
o chews on pencils

Overactive system may present as:
o Child has difficulty regulating pressure when writing/drawing; may be too light to see
o frequent breaking of writing utensil breaks as writing is very hard
o written work is messy and he/she often rips the paper when erasing
o always seems to be breaking objects and toys

Auditory
Overreactive system may present as:
o Child is very easily distracted by sounds not normally noticed by others
o distracted by loud or unexpected sounds
o bothered/distracted by background environmental sounds; i.e., horn of vehicle
Underregistered system may present as:
o Child often does not respond to verbal cues or to name being called
o appears to "make noise for noise's sake"
o loves excessively loud music or TV

When does Sensory Processing start?

Sensory Processing starts right in the mother’s womb but can be appreciated after birth up to life. Who does not like to be in a rich sensory environment? The richness of the environment changes as per individual. Like for an infant being cuddled and his mother’s touch is sensory rich environment whereas for an adult it might be a cozy bed or for a child it may be playing in a park.

Whatever we are subjected to in the environment we make a memory through the experience which is stored and recalled for immediate action or for future use.

Is sensory processing same for everyone?

Yes sensory processing is same for everyone but its preference, interpretation and use is different for different individuals. For example 2 children might be playing in a park. One likes to swing while the other likes to manipulate slides. Both are subjected to stimuli in the environment and both are processing information through it. The receptor grossly is same but the sensory information received is different. So although the process is same the information gathered is different.


How does sensory processing happen?

Various sensory receptors from different systems carry the information through nerve channels to the different and specific centers in the brain

System and Receptor Location
Tactile --- Skin
Vestibular --- Ears
Proprioceptive --- Muscles and joints
Visual --- Eyes
Auditory --- Ears
Gustatory --- Tongue


When sensory processing is affected?

The affected Sensory Processing can be compared to a traffic jam. If we see in traffic jam there is nothing but confusion and blockage which leads to chaos. Imagine if in this chaos the cars start going in wrong lanes………..
Similarly when the information received from the environment is perceived by the special senses and is on its way to be carried over to the processing centers in the brain an affected system will cause a jam like this and information goes into wrong channels to the centers where it is useless.

The result is not only affected appreciation of stimuli but also inappropriate or incongruent reciprocation to those stimuli.
For example say a child with affected sensory processing (for sensation of touch) goes for a haircut. For us with good processing system it may be a ritual or fun. But for this child who faces a traffic jam when exposed to touch stimuli the barbers touch, water spray, scissors are overwhelming and this child may respond negatively and aversively by being anxious, throw tantrums and not let hair cutting be done.

Sensory Processing

Have you ever wondered why your child
 jumps and stomps a lot ,
 is on the go most of the times,
 might be inattentive to your directions at times,
 gag at the smell or sight of some foods,
 may not sit in one place for long,
 does not play consistently,
 is socially not so active

Some children cannot cope with school routines and are not at all happy with the thought of school, cannot copy down the class work fully, might complain of watering of eyes and headaches?

Well apparently there might be no gross affectation but there is a high probability that your child might have inappropriate sensory processing.

What is sensory processing?

Sensory processing deals with the reception of information and stimuli from the surrounding environment, its registration and processing and most important with this background reacting to the various stimuli.

This information is received through our special senses like tactile (skin), visual (eyes), vestibular (ears), proprioceptive (joints and muscles), olfactory (nose), gustatory (tongue) and processed in the different centers in the brain.

Imagine what happens in a traffic jam and in a cross connection. This is exactly what happens when a child has difficulty in processing sensory information. So the output seems to be a fussy, over reactive, emotionally labile, clumsy child.
It might result in selective attentiveness, visual difficulties and the child may be wrongly labeled as a hyperactive, dyslexic, depressed, autistic and so on.

One has to discriminate between the sensory processing difficulties and a pronounced Sensory Processing Disorder.

Introduction

Hi All
I have been working in the field of rehabilitation for last 13 years.I have been treating cases pertaining to neurological,neuromuscular,musculoskeletal impairment.During the course of my experience I developed interest in pediatric therapy especially children having sensory processing disorders.The quest to understand these disorders prompted me to undertake special course in Sensory processing disorders conducted by Pediatric therapy Network in USA.In the beginning I had lot of scepticism about the principles and efficacy of the techniques advocated by the network however ,when I started applying the principles the results have been amazing especially in the pre-school and primary age group i.e form 3 - 8 years.What is more interesting is the fact that how these principles can be applied innovatively to enhance the capabilities of the child.
It was my endeavour to share the experience and knowledge I have gained over all these years which prompted me to start this blog.I will be covering different topics in the coming days so keep following the Blog..........