|
Just What is Sensory Integration?
What
is sensory integration? In words that we
can understand?
Although
this is a complex neurological
condition of the brain, the concept of how this may affect someone can
be considered
in simple terms:
The
information sent to our brains from each of our senses; movement,
balance, touch,
sight, hearing, taste, and smell, is processed. Our
brain tells us how something feels, what it
looks like, what it
sounds like, or how it tastes, and smells. This
is simple sensory integration. Our brains
perceive sensory information from all the
senses and organs
of our bodies, process it, and reports back to us what is happening.
Think about how sensory information
works
for you. Touch a hot pan on the
stove. The nerves send the signal to
your brain. Your brain thinks about it, and let you know the pan is hot. Ouch! The
sending, receiving and processing of this
signal occurs in a millisecond.
This
is sensory integration
(processing)
working at its finest. Taste an apple
that is crunchy and sweet. Step over a
glass bottle that you see on the sidewalk. Hear
the normal sounds of your house, the
refrigerator running, the
furnace kicking on, and ignore it. Sit
in a restaurant and talk to your family, paying no attention to the
other
voices around you. This is all sensory
integration. The normal processing of
sensory information.
Sensory
Integration Dysfunction (now
known
as Sensory Processing Disorder) occurs when this process is not working
right. Think again about the above
examples. You touch a hot pan, and it
does not feel hot, so you don't know you are being burned.
Your apple tastes bitter and is rough like
gravel. You try to step over the bottle
on the sidewalk, and lose your balance and fall down.
You hear the sounds of your house. The
refrigerator sounds like a freight train, and the furnace is blowing as
loud as
a tornado. You can't stand restaurants
with the clamor of people talking, the clatter of silverware, and feet
shuffling. You are unable to concentrate
on anything. You hate crowds with all
the bumping, and shouting and all those smells make you feel sick.
This
is dysfunction. The brain is not
processing the information
from the senses in an efficient manner. Imagine
brushing your hair with a brush made out of
wire, scraping
across your scalp. Someone touches your
arm, and it feels like you’ve been hit. Imagine
the fabric of your shirt prickling so much,
you want to scream
and rip it off. This is it.
Sensory Processing Disorder has many
symptoms, all originating with the senses. Too
much or not enough is the general rule. When
it is extreme, this disorder interferes
with the normal living, loving and learning in daily life.
Now
that we understand the very simple
thought that the brain might not accurately receive, process, and send
the
correct responses through our bodies, let's take this one step
further. There
are more senses influenced by this disorder than those we have already
considered.
The
sensory systems of the internal organs, called the interoceptive sense.
Controlling heart rate, hunger, digestion, state of alertness, mood,
bowel/bladder control, and breathing. If
we are seeing dysfunction in the first senses, there probably will be
some
level of dysfunction in the other senses, as well.
What
if you couldn't feel hunger? Or know when
you need to use the
restroom? Suppose your heart rate and
breathing does not speed up when you try to jog, or will not slow down
when you
try to sleep. Imagine not sleeping, for
a long, long time.
Sensory information is also sent
to our
brains about our body position, received from muscles, joints, and
ligaments. This greatly affects our
ability to move correctly, and if sensory processing is not working
effectively, we may be unable to sit, climb, pedal a bike, and more. We
may run
into walls, or fall down. A lot.
This
disorder affects people in
different
ways, and to various degrees. It is
important to have a trained Occupational Therapist evaluate the person
suspected of SPD. They can detect which
senses are involved, to what degree, and how to proceed with therapy to
help
them. You can't grow out of it. It doesn't go away on its own.
It will seriously inhibit a person's ability
to learn, have relationships, and value themselves.
Proper evaluation, diagnosis, and therapy
designed specifically for each person is the path of recovery. The path to more normal responses of senses.
In
"Sensory Integration Dysfunction -
The misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and unseen disability",
by
Sandra Nelson, she states:
"I cannot
imagine a case of untreated SPD that does not interfere with a child's
education. If the child is distracted
and annoyed by sounds, sights, movement, (or lack of) touch, smells and
tastes
(among other sensations), how could these irritants not interfere with
his or
her education? Is this possible?”
Try
this: Turn on the radio, then turn it up as loud as it will go. Until
it hurts
your ears. Put 150 watt light bulbs in
every lamp in one room, and turn them all on. Put
on a pair of pants backwards and somebody else’s
shoes that are too
small. Shove a stiff hairbrush down the
back of your shirt, so it is poking at you, and driving you crazy. Now
clean
the kitty litter, change the dirty baby diaper, or scoop up the dog
mess in the
yard, and sit it square in the middle of the table, so it wafts. Sit at
your
table with a food you absolutely gag on, in a chair with one leg
missing. Now, snack on that food you hate. How many seconds can you stand the music that
loud? The lights so bright? Those shoes so tight? And what is that
smell!?
Imagine if you cannot stop this. Cannot have a moment, ever, without
feeling
like you do right now.
Now
imagine you are just a little kid, who does not know that it isn’t like
this
for everybody. Now, imagine you are an adult who has no
idea why they feel this way.
© Michelle Morris, 2004
Click here
to see:
Sensory
Checklist for
Infants and Toddlers
Sensory
Checklists for
Children
|
|
