Sensory Processing

Sensory information is any message that we receive from our senses. This includes the five senses that most of us are familiar with, taste, smell, sight, hearing, and touch. It addition, we receive information from our proprioceptive, vestibular, interoception and senses.

• Taste: The taste sense receives information from the tongue. This usually comes from the flavours in our food. Like sweet, salty, sour and savoury flavours. It’s also called our gustatory sense.

• Smell: The nose receives sensory messages. Examples include perfume, food smells, smoke, and flowers. Smell is also called our olfactory sense.

• Vision: Our eyes receive sensory messages when light hits the back of our eye. This includes sensory input like colours, text, object movement, shapes, distance and amount of light.

• Hearing: Our hearing sense is also called our auditory sense. The ear receives these sensory messages, which are called sound waves. Examples of sensory input include any noises, such as, a child crying, a vacuum cleaner, an alarm, a phone ringing and music playing.

• Touch: The touch, or tactile sense, receives sensory messages from the skin. In addition to touch, this includes information about temperature, pain, and pressure/vibration. Examples include holding someone’s hand, the feel of fabric on skin, a hot mug, scratch, bruise, or tickling.

• Proprioception: Our proprioceptive sense is extremely important, and often called the hidden sixth sense. It receives sensory messages from our muscles and joints. This helps our body to know where it is in space and how our limbs are moving. It also helps us to know how much force we are using. Some example activities that give a lot of proprioceptive feedback include, squeezing an orange, pushing a pram/stroller, cycling, rock climbing and lifting weights.

• Vestibular: The vestibular sense is often called the balance sense. It receives sensory messages from a part of the inner ear, called the vestibule. The vestibular sense helps with balance and coordination of movement. It also helps with alertness. Activities that give a lot of vestibular feedback include swinging, jumping and fairground rides.

• Interoception: Interoception refers to the messages that are received from our internal organs. This includes internal pain, such as a headache or a tummy ache. It also includes information about hunger, tiredness and need to use the toilet.

Griffin Occupational Therapy