Sensory Processing Issues - When to seek Therapy?
Sensory Processing Issues - When to seek Therapy?
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“We all need to integrate our senses to engage in everyday activities.”
Some kids seem to have trouble handling the information they take in from their senses. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, other than the five senses that we all know of including the sense of touch, taste, auditory, vision, and smell, we also have two other senses that can be affected – proprioception, or sense of body awareness, and vestibular sense, which involves movement, balance, and coordination. This results in children having sensory processing issues.
Occupational Therapists frequently use the term Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) for these issues. SPD may occur on its own, but it frequently co-occurs in kids with other diagnoses like Autism, ADHD, and Learning Disabilities (LD).
Dr. Jean Ayres, a pioneering occupational therapist, psychologist, and neuroscientist compared SPD to a neurological “traffic jam” that prevents certain parts of the brain from receiving the information needed to interpret sensory information correctly.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of sensory processing challenges, and kids with autism might experience a mix of the two. One is Hypersensitivity or Oversensitivity. This leads to sensory avoiding – kids avoid the sensory input because it’s too overwhelming. The other is Hyposensitivity or Undersensitivity. This causes kids to be sensory seeking – they look for more sensory stimulation.
Some kids may be both sensory seeking and sensory avoiding. They may be hypersensitive to some sensations, while hyposensitive to others. A child’s reaction may also change from one day to the other or even throughout the day, depending on the environment.
About the Author
Hi, I am Dr. Kamia Narang, OT. I am a Gold Medalist with over 12 years of experience in Pediatric Therapy with 4 years at the Child Development Clinic, LNJP Hospital. I am Certified in Sensory Integration Therapy from the University of Southern California and also Certified in the Handwriting Without Tears program. I have an Advanced Diploma in Learning Disability and trained in using BrainGym26.
I have two lovely boys who are my inspiration in all I do.
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