Sensory Processing Disorder

Every person has his or her own unique way of processing and responding to different sensations.  Our senses work together to give us information about the environment and our place in it.  Vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste are the five senses most of us are familiar with.  There are two additional internal sensations that we process: vestibular, information that our middle ear relays about movement and balance, and proprioceptive, information we receive from our muscles and joints about the position of our body in space. Once our brain registers sensory information from our body and surroundings, it interprets this information, organizes it and executes our response. For most of us this sensory integration occurs without conscious effort, although each one of us has our own sensory profile that determines sensory preferences and aversions.  When the processing differences are extreme enough to interfere with everyday functioning, it is referred to as Sensory Processing Disorder.

 

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction or Sensory Modulation Disorder, was first recognized by occupational therapist Dr. A. Jean Ayres in the 1950s.  It causes an individual’s central nervous system to have difficulty understanding, organizing and integrating sensory information.  SPD may occur on its own or in conjunction with another developmental disability; such as attention deficit, autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome and fragile X.  SPD looks differently from person to person and its severity can vary with fatigue, stress and physical discomfort.  It affects a child’s ability to regulate attention and behavior while experiencing different sensations.  This impacts the child’s relationships, communication, learning, behavior and sense of safety.

 

There are three main sensory processing types: over-responsive, under-responsive and mixed.  These refer to modulation or how the individual balances their reaction to match the situation.  Children who are over-responsive experience certain sensations intensely, which triggers a fight or flight response.  They react as if the situations are dangerous or painful and try to avoid them.  They may pull away if someone touches them, demand that tags be removed from their clothing, become agitated if their hands get dirty, scream during hair washing or brushing, be picky eaters, gag on certain textures of food, complain about odors that others don’t notice, cover their ears if they hear a vacuum cleaner, be unable to tune out a ticking clock, feel overwhelmed when there is too much to look at, cover their eyes when it is too bright, be uncomfortable making eye contact, experience motion sickness, avoid movement activities like swings and slides. Children who are under-responsive have a low registration of sensory information, take longer to react, need higher levels of stimulation in order to respond to their environment and often seek stimulation. They may have a high pain tolerance, walk outside barefoot, constantly touch objects or people, bump or crash into things, chew on inedible objects, ignore unpleasant odors like dirty diapers, sniff things, have difficulty following verbal directions, speak loudly, miss visual cues, fixate on objects such as the reflection of the sun in a mirror, crave fast and spinning movement without getting dizzy, enjoy swinging and rocking, take excessive risks like climbing trees or jumping off tall furniture, be unable to sit still, move constantly.  People with mixed reactivity may be over-responsive to certain types of sensory information and under-responsive to others.

 

If your child or a child you work with has signs of Sensory Processing Disorder, an occupational therapist who specializes in sensory integration can do a thorough assessment and prescribe sensory diet activities that the child’s nervous system is craving.  Early intervention can help a child’s brain better process sensory information, enable all of the senses to work together, and improve the child’s ability to plan and implement what he or she needs to do.

 

Interested in learning more?  Sensory Processing is one of the topics covered in the Autism Certificatation Program available online through Antioch University.  For more information visit:   http://antiochsbonline.coursehost.com 

Early Signs of Autism

The early signs and symptoms of autism was one of the topics discussed last Thursday in a seminar hosted by Innovative Learning and The Eden Family of Services in association with Santa Ynez Valley Special Education Consortium and Buellton Unified School District.  The seminar on ”Assessment and Goal Selection for Students with Autism”  was presented by Anne S. Holmes, M.S., C.C.C., B.C.B.A.  

Lack of relatedness and warmth is an early warning sign, observed in infants as young as 4 months.  Between 9 and 12 months, if babbling is not becoming more complex it may be a sign of a language delay.  Another sign that can emerge at this age is a lack of joint attention or shifting, for example looking from a toy to a caregiver to share the pleasure of the toy.  Symptoms observed from 12 to 14 months include: single words not emerging, lack of reciprocity or back and forth interactions, and lack of problem solving.  From 18 months on, lack of motor gestures, inability to pretend and limited use of language for social interaction may be cause for concern.

If you are a parent or early childhood educator and you notice any of these signs in a child, do not wait, have the child evaluated.   Research on children with autism shows that the earlier intervention is started, the greater the progress.  The same is true if you are concerned about a delay in any area of development; motor, cognitive, communication, social or emotional.  The child’s pediatrician can do an initial screening and let you know about resources in your area. Evaluation and early intervention services are available free of charge to children under 3 through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the United States.  Each state has its own system for providing these services.  In California, for example, you would contact the Regional Center.  To find out who to call in your state, check the State Resource Sheet at www.nihcy.org.  For children with developmental delays who are age 3 and over, special education services are available.  Your local elementary school can tell you how to arrange an evaluation with the special education system in your district.