Does your child get overwhelmed in noisy places, avoid swings or climbing, or seem constantly on the move? These behaviors might seem harmless, or perhaps frustrating; but they could actually be signs of sensory processing challenges.
My name is Jennifer Hatch, I am a pediatric occupational therapist here at Fluens Children’s Therapy. Many kids experience the world in ways that are either too intense or not intense enough, which can make everyday tasks feel overwhelming or confusing. Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about sensory processing and what that looks like.
Sensory Processing Affects How Kids Experience the World
I’m sure you’re familiar with the five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and vision. Those are pretty common; but there are also three other systems that we have. The other three systems, are:
Interoception
This is your ability to recognize internal cues. For example:
- Do you recognize when you’re hungry?
- Do you know when you’re full?
- Do you realize when you need to go to the bathroom?
These are all part of the interoception system.
Vestibular
This system helps us respond to movement. Some kids are over-responsive to movement, so they might be a little fearful of climbing up on things, swinging, or running. When you pick them up off the ground, they’re the kids who might be a little bit uncomfortable being up so high.
And there are also kiddos who are under responsive, so they’re seeking out that movement a little bit more. That might look like a kiddo who could run laps all day, but they’re never finished. They’re always seeking, swinging, running, jumping, crashing. They’re a little bit under-responsive to movement, so they’re seeking out a little bit more.
Proprioception
This is your awareness of your body in space. For example, if you close your eyes, you can kind of get a sense of where you are in space. Some kiddos really struggle with that. It might look like they’re hesitant to climb, or they’re a little bit frightened when you go to pick them up.
They just don’t quite know where their body is in space yet, so it’s a little disorienting to them; and that can kind of create an overstimulation in their brain.
Signs Your Child Might Have Sensory Processing Challenges
Kiddos can either be over-responsive or under-responsive to sensory input, and that looks different in all kids. Typically, during an evaluation, I will talk to caregivers about the day-to-day things that their kiddos might be doing. Do we like swinging? Do we avoid it? Are we a picky eater, or do we eat a good variety of foods? I’m always trying to get information from the parents.
I also have a sensory profile that I’ll have my parents fill out, and that kind of breaks it down more so I can determine what that child might need, because it looks different in every single child.
Sensory Processing Impacts Emotions, Learning, and Behavior
Whether a child is over-responsive or under-responsive, it can be very disorienting and very overstimulating for their brain. Imagine you’re sitting down at school and you’re trying to take a test, but you can hear the air conditioner and the person next to you coughing. You can hear the pages moving, you can see other people around you moving.
Some kiddos are just so easily distracted by that sensory input that it can really impact their education and their ability to attend lessons. When we’re so distracted that we can’t attend to what’s being taught to us, that can cause a barrier between learning and development.
How Occupational Therapy Can Help
We definitely address sensory processing. We give tips and strategies. I’ll work with schools on implementing techniques for the classroom to help those kiddos who are a little bit over-responsive or under responsive. I like to do a lot of collaboration with parents and teachers to make sure that our kiddos are getting enough sensory input that they’re seeking, or to make sure we’re holding back on some of that sensory input that they’re avoiding.
Call Fluens Children’s Therapy for Expert Support
If you suspect that your child is having difficulties in any area of sensory processing, give us a call at 253-212-3502. We can definitely talk to you over the phone or get you in for an occupational therapy evaluation and see if there’s any way that we can help.