At CoordiKids, we are passionate about giving all children the very best chance for success – which can be especially difficult for those who have any type of learning disability.Sensory Processing Disorder treatment at home is a reality with our Home Course

And, even though our courses can be tailored to a variety of unique needs, from hyperactive children to those on the autism spectrum, one common thread that links many of these programs is often a sensory processing disorder.

You’ll hear us discuss exercises and tips for families to help their child cope with sensory motor integration quite often, so we thought we’d take a moment to really clarify what this unique condition is and how it affects the daily life of children who struggle with it.

Sensory Processing Disorder, AKA SPD or Sensory Integration Dysfunction

Sensory Processing Disorders, or sensory integration disorders, cause a person to struggle to integrate or interpret information from their senses that provide information about our body and environment.

Consider the five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. Each of these senses provide information about our world through our bodies to our brain.

Specifically, the sense of touch, the sensation of proprioception or position of the body, the sensation of movement, and the sense of taste and texture in the mouth all give our brain feedback about our body.

Conversely, the senses that provide information about the environment around us are vision, auditory (hearing) and smell.

So imagine now that your body takes the feedback from the senses, shoots it to the brain where it is integrated into your cognitive development, and from there your brain can signal the body to have the appropriate reaction or behaviour.

For example, if you touch a hot surface, the sensation of heat and pain travel to your brain, and your brain decides to quickly jerk your hand away from that pain stimulus.

This whole process is called sensory integration.

Now, imagine if that feedback loop is malfunctioning.  When you touch the hot surface, your nervous system DOESN’T quickly send a pain signal to the brain.

Or, perhaps your brain gets the signal, but it doesn’t have any idea how to process the pain signal, so it doesn’t trigger your body’s reflex to remove your hand from the heat.

Sensory Processing Disorder creates a hiccup in the body-mind sensory integration connection in exactly this way.

But, they don’t just apply to pain signals. It could apply in the form of a slight irritation in the feeling of itchy clothing that surmounts to a major distraction so overwhelming that you can’t focus on anything else until the clothing is removed.

It could apply in the form of being overwhelmed by the many sounds of a crowded cafe that, to any other person, would simply turn into background noise.

To a person with SPD, the noise is unbearable.

SPD in Children

Sensory processing disorder in children can be especially overwhelming, cause anxiety or even pain. To the outside world, this could look like someone with easy distractibility, problems with social interactions, tactile defensiveness, or intolerance to certain sounds, sights, or even smells!

It can even create a visual processing disorder. And because the child has no gauge for what is or isn’t “normal” sensation, coupled with a limited vocabulary to express his or her feelings, identifying the signs of SPD in your child can lead to tremendous relief.

Furthermore, it is very common for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and autism to deal with sensory integration problems.

They have a hard time connecting everyday sensory information with the required motor skill for coping. This may lead to a child feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and having meltdowns.

The Four Types of Sensory Processing Disorder

We categorize SPD into four basic types of sensory mal-interpretation:

Hypersensitivity:

when someone is overly sensitive to sights, sounds, touch, or smell

Hyposensitivity:

when someone is under reactive to sights, sounds, touch, or smell

Poor Self-regulation:

lacking the ability to control and adapt one’s emotions and behaviors situationally

Poor Proprioception:

lacking the ability to sense where one’s body is in space without looking

Seekers Vs. Avoiders

We also like to categorize the way in which people with SPD cope.  We refer to people as either seekers or avoiders.

Seekers are people whose SPD symptoms are manifested by hyperactivity and a need to experience continuous physical stimulation. Seekers are people who cannot sit still, who have restless legs, children who chew on their clothes or wrestle with and “bug” their friends to the extent of irritating them.

Seekers tend to use too much force when manipulating buttons or a pencil. They are children who are constantly climbing furniture, spinning in place, or simply running back and forth.

Sensory avoiders, on the other hand, are often overwhelmed by too much input. They cover their ears in busy public places.

They appear to be picky eaters because the textures of certain foods don’t feel right in their mouth. They hate to be hugged or snuggled.

Avoiders are labeled as ‘fussy’ because they don’t like the sensation of getting their hands or feet dirty.

How Do I Know if My Child Has Sensory Processing Disorder?

Studies that try to demonstrate the prevalence of SPD amongst children vary. Anywhere from 5-16% of school-age children have symptoms.   However, the rates are much more prevalent in children with autism or attention hyperactivity disorders.

If you’re worried that your child might be dealing with SPD, use our Sensory Processing Disorder Checklist of common sensory processing disorder symptoms to start a Sensory Profile that you can discuss with your pediatrician.

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What Can Be Done For People With SPD?

There are plenty of ways to help improve and even correct SPD symptoms, especially when the sensory dysfunctions are noticed at a young age.  

That’s why one of our goals as occupational therapists is to encourage optimal development of sensory motor skills starting as young as 4 years old. 

Activities that strengthen motor skills, practice adaptability, and burn physical energy can build confidence and success.

Depending on a person’s specific sensory processing disorder symptoms, he or she might need more or less sensory input from the environment.

1. Support.

2. Environmental modifications.

3. A sensory integration therapy program.

4. A sensory processing disorder diet. (See our Blog Post : A Sensory Diet)

In addition to talking with a pediatrician or your GP for an SPD diagnosis, there are many ways you can help shape your or your child’s environment to help cope with a sensory disorder.

Understanding whether you or your child is sensory seeking or avoiding in general will clue you in to success in different environments.

This article includes some of Marga’s quick tips for parents to help their seeker or avoider: Help Your Seeker and/or Avoider

All in all, the first step in helping someone with a Sensory Processing Disorder is exactly what you’re doing right now – educating yourself. If you’re a parent of a child that might have SPD, it’s important to make an appointment with your pediatrician to talk more about how to help a child with sensory processing disorder.

If you suspect that some of your own struggles with ADHD or learning disabilities might be due, in part to SPD, your GP and a specialist in sensory occupational therapy can help you find the right treatment course of sensory integration activities to cope.

 

Would you like free strategies and therapeutic exercises to help your child with sensory challenges?

 

Related Reading:

Adults have SPD too

A Sensory Diet May Help Youdietr Child’s SPD

Tips to help your ‘Seeker’ and/or “Avoider”