Sensory Processing

What is Sensory Processing?

We are ALL sensory beings.

Our bodies are hard-wired with receptors to detect sensory input from our environment, as well as from within our bodies. This sensory input travels through our nervous system to our brain where it is processed and interpreted.

How we respond to this input depends on how our brain has processed and interpreted it. Our brain automatically decides whether the sensation should be responded to, ignored or if it poses a threat. Our response is governed by how our brain processes the sensation. This process occurs without thinking as the brain filters out what is important and what’s not important to pay attention to.

All of us at one time or another has had problems processing sensory information. However, the nervous system of children with significant sensory processing differences may have problems with detecting, registering, processing and/or interpreting sensory input. Sometimes, it’s as if a “short circuit” occurs when the brain interprets the sensory information, resulting in an abnormal response or behavior.