Sensory integration is an innate neurobiological process and refers to the integration and interpretation of sensory stimulation from the environment by the brain. In contrast, sensory integrative dysfunction is a disorder in which sensory input is not integrated or organized appropriately in the brain and may produce varying degrees of problems in development, information processing, and behavior.
Sensory integration focuses primarily on three basic senses–tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive. Their interconnections start forming before birth and continue to develop as the person matures and interacts with his/her environment.
The three senses are not only interconnected but are also connected with other systems in the brain. Although these three sensory systems are less familiar than vision and audition, they are critical to our basic survival. The inter-relationship among these three senses is complex. Basically, they allow us to experience, interpret, and respond to different stimuli in our environment.
The tactile system includes nerves under the skin’s surface that send information to the brain. This information includes light touch, pain, temperature, and pressure. These play an important role in perceiving the environment as well as protective reactions for survival.
Dysfunction in the tactile system can be seen in withdrawing when being touched, refusing to eat certain ‘textured’ foods and/or to wear certain types of clothing, complaining about having one’s hair or face washed, avoiding getting one’s hands dirty (i.e., glue, sand, mud, finger-paint), and using one’s finger tips rather than whole hands to manipulate objects.
A dysfunctional tactile system may lead to a misperception of touch and/or pain (hyper- or hyposensitive) and may lead to self-imposed isolation, general irritability, distractibility, and hyperactivity.
The vestibular system refers to structures within the inner ear (the semi-circular canals) that detect movement and changes in the position of the head.
For example, the vestibular system tells you when your head is upright or tilted (even with your eyes closed). Dysfunction within this system may manifest itself in two different ways.
Some children may be hypersensitive to vestibular stimulation and have fearful reactions to ordinary movement activities (e.g., swings, slides, ramps, inclines).
In general, these children appear clumsy. On the other extreme, the child may actively seek very intense sensory experiences such as excessive body whirling, jumping, and/or spinning.
The proprioceptive system refers to components of muscles, joints, and tendons that provide a person with a subconscious awareness of body position.
When proprioception is functioning efficiently, an individual’s body position is automatically adjusted in different situations;
For example, the proprioceptive system is responsible for providing the body with the necessary signals to allow us to sit properly in a chair and to step off a curb smoothly.
It also allows us to manipulate objects using fine motor movements, such as writing with a pencil, using a spoon to drink soup, and buttoning one’s shirt.
Some common signs of proprioceptive dysfunction are clumsiness, a tendency to fall, a lack of awareness of body position in space, odd body posturing, minimal crawling when young, difficulty manipulating small objects (buttons, snaps), eating in a sloppy manner, and resistance to new motor movement activities.
Symbolic Understanding
Children who have symbolic understanding will still have difficulties understanding us. It’s still important that we augment our communication visually. ‘DON’T JUST TELL ME, SHOW ME!’
Matching level
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No symbolic understanding
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Match pictures/objects from source to destination
Sensory level :
Some early social partners may not be ready for pictures or symbols– instead build repetitive routines & use sensory experiences.
