Know your senses

 The bell rang. It was recess time for the Kindergarten children. Ayush was wondering what did his mom pack today for tiffin? As he reached out for his tiffin, he could smell orange, his favorite! After finishing his tiffin, he went to play football with his friends in the playground. Ayush was really good at this game. He was fast, could judge the direction, speed & distance from which the ball is coming & stop the ball easily while maintaining his balance & could easily score points.

The bell rang. Recess is over. Now, the teacher is taking attendance. Still, some students are talking. Some are finding their seats. As Ayush was searching for a place to sit, the teacher called out his name. He responded, "present ma'am" & sat down at a desk waiting for the class to begin...

In the above story, Ayush was using his different sensory systems in a coordinated way to perform the tasks. He used his visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, & vestibular sensory systems efficiently to respond appropriately to the demands of various activities. He was well oriented to his environment. He could take in the sensory information coming from the environment as well as his own body, & respond appropriately.

If there would be any kind of deficit in the processing of any of his sensory systems, he would be facing difficulties performing some of the above tasks easily. 

Children learn to understand their own body & the world around them through their senses. Processing of sensory information accurately is vital to the development of all areas of a child's life like- Gross motor skills, Fine motor skills, Cognitive skills, Communication skills, Socialization skills, Play skills, etc.

In this article, I will be talking about the different sensory systems, how do they work to help us perform our daily tasks easily & effectively, & also how to detect if a child has some sensory processing deficits.

It was recess time. 6-year-old Piku was playing with his friends "pass the ball" game. He was having a hard time judging the distance, speed & direction from which the ball is coming. He kept dropping the ball & also couldn't throw it to his next friend with the appropriate force.

He got frustrated & ran to the playground slide. It was his favorite game. But, while running to the slide, he stumbled on a rock & fell bruising his knees & legs. Although he was bleeding, he didn't seem to be bothered by that. He continued to play there.

Now, it was time for storytelling. The children were settling down. Piku was having a hard time sitting still at a place. He was constantly shifting his position.

He didn't like sitting near any other kid closely. So, he went to a corner of the room. He couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying since he could hear different kinds of other sounds like- the voice of the teacher from another classroom, the sound of the fan, the sounds of other kids talking, etc. He started to rock back & forth continuously. He seemed to be unaware of what the teacher was saying.....

In the above story, Piku was having difficulties processing sensory information from his environment as well as his own body thereby couldn't respond appropriately to the demands of the activities/tasks he was performing.

Now, let's know about the various sensory systems & their roles.

Sensory Systems

External senses

👉 Touch/Tactile

👉 Vision

👉 Sound/Auditory

👉 Taste/Gustatory

👉 Smell/Olfactory

Internal senses

👉 Proprioceptive / Joint position sense

👉 Vestibular sense/Movement sense

👉 Interoception

➧Each of the above sensory systems has different receptors in the body which receive the sensory information from the environment as well as the body. 

➧The sensory information from these receptors goes to the brain which then decides which is irrelevant information & which is relevant information & therefore needs to be focused at the moment.

➧The brain also decides what type of response would be most appropriate at the moment & directs the body to respond accordingly.

We need to process the sensory information received through the above senses appropriately in order to give a response appropriate to the demands of the situation.

How does our brain work?

Our brain can filter out the relevant from the irrelevant sensory information, discriminate between the various sensory stimuli & determine which one needs our attention now, can modulate the response to various sensory stimuli & direct the body to plan & respond appropriately to the demands of any situation.

In the first example of Ayush, he could easily 

😃 Discriminate & specify the smell of an orange in his bag,

😃 Regulate/modulate his body movements using his vestibular & proprioceptive senses appropriately (will be discussing later in this article) while playing football

😃 Use all his senses(vision, vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile) in a coordinated manner to plan & execute body movements essential to run, balance his body, stop & kick the ball in the required direction with the appropriate speed.

😃 Discriminate the voice of the teacher, filtering out other irrelevant sensory information & respond to his name during the roll call.

In children with special needs like Autism, ADHD, SPD, CP, etc there is usually a distortion in the receiving of sensory information & difficulty processing it appropriately, which hampers their ability to respond to a situation appropriately.

They might perceive the sensory information too much or too little, which affects their response to any sensory information. Some sensations are overwhelming to them whereas at times they seem to be unaware of some kind of sensory information.

They also might have a hard time discriminating between the different sensory stimuli around them & which one needs their attention now.

Example:- If someone has difficulty processing auditory information, he/she might not respond to his name call since he can't discriminate the sound of his name from different other irrelevant sounds.

This inability to process sensory information can lead to:

➤ Difficulties in communication

➤ Hyperactivity

➤ Altering arousal levels

➤ Emotional dysregulation

➤ Difficulty in focusing on a task

➤ Behavior issues

➤ Stereotypical behavior

➤ Delayed gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, socialization skills

➤ Poor response to name call

➤ Difficulty in performing his daily tasks like dressing, brushing, bathing, etc.

Now, I will be sharing a brief idea about how each sensory systems help us in our everyday lives & how you can detect if there's a dysfunction in these sensory systems.

There are three major systems that affect our functioning in our daily life. We mostly focus on these three systems in sensory integration therapy to address the needs of a child. They are:-

The Tactile system

The Proprioceptive system

The Vestibular system

Read on to get a brief idea about each of the above sensory systems.

Let's talk about the external sensory systems first.

➽Auditory system 👂 

We receive auditory inputs through our ears. Even if a child's hearing is absolutely normal, if he cannot process the auditory inputs appropriately, it affects his speech, communication, his response to name call, ability to follow instructions & many other areas.

You can find out about the importance of auditory processing skills, the different functions of this sensory system & ways to develop them in this article👇

https://abhipsaot.blogspot.com/2021/09/10-easy-fun-games-to-develop-auditory.html

➽Visual system 👀 

We receive visual inputs through our eyes. Our eyes do a lot more than just see. 

Find out in detail about the importance of visual processing skills, & ways to develop them in this article👇

https://abhipsaot.blogspot.com/2021/08/what-are-visual-perceptual-skills.html

➽Taste 👅 & Smell 👃

Both the above sensory systems are intimately connected. The information from both taste buds of our tongue (taste inputs) & from nostrils(smell inputs) is important for feeding.

If there is a disorder in the processing of the sense of taste & smell, the child might:-

➧ Be a picky eater who has a limited diet with a strong preference to certain tastes/food

➧ Smell non-food objects

➧ Put objects in the mouth

➧ Gag easily certain food textures or even while using some utensils

➧ Difficulty chewing & swallowing all kinds of food

➽ Tactile system 👆 

The tactile system provides us with the sense of touch. It is the largest sensory system in our body & it starts to function in the uterus.

It is very important that this system functions efficiently from birth. Every activity of our daily life including eating, hair & teeth brushing, dressing, bathing, schoolwork, are dependent on a functional tactile system.

The tactile system receives information about touch sensation from receptor cells in the skin. These receptors are all over the bodies.

These receptors provide information about:-

➙Light touch

➙Deep pressure

➙Vibration

➙Pain

➙Temperature

Roles of the Touch/tactile system:-

⏩ Awareness of something that might harm us & appropriate response towards it. Example- If we touch a hot cup, immediately we remove our hands to avoid getting a burn.

⏩ A functional tactile system helps in the fine control of finger movements. Example- While playing piano

⏩ A functional tactile system is very essential for daily tasks like buttoning our shirt, tying shoelaces, opening a lock with a key, typing on a keyboard,etc.

⏩ An adequate pencil grip while writing

⏩ Socialization skills

Issues related to a dysfunction in the processing of the tactile system can be:

➧ Less awareness of pain sensation. The child might be unaware of any injury due to less awareness of pain

➧ Difficulty in fine motor tasks like tying shoelaces, buttoning shirts, putting zippers, etc.

➧ Difficulty holding a pencil or a crayon or any other small object properly.

➧ Might avoid touching anything wet with fingers like food, glue, paint, etc.

➧ Doesn't want to stand closer to other people like standing in a line during assembly

➧ May not wear full sleeves or jackets & caps during winters

➧ Poor body awareness & motor planning skills.

Let's discuss the internal sensory systems.

➽ Interoceptive system ❤ 

It is an internal body sense that detects changes in body functions like heart rate, respiration, hunger, thirst, temperature & toilet control & helps in the emotional regulation & response to these functions.

Example-

If you feel the sensation for toilet, you need to go to the bathroom,

If you feel the sensation of hunger in your stomach, you need to eat, etc.

If there's some dysfunction in this sensory system, you may not be aware of the information from your interoceptive system & thereby don't know how to respond when you are feeling hungry or thirsty or hot/cold, etc.

➽ Proprioceptive system 💃 

This gives us an unconscious awareness of the position of our body in space, the position of different joints of our body in relation to one another & in relation to the space. It also tells us how much force is necessary for the muscles to exert & allows us to grade movement.

Examples:-

A cyclist moving through traffic while looking at cars & pedestrians on the road instead of down at his legs while pedaling is using his proprioceptive sense.

You can walk across your bedroom to pick up the torch on the table when it is dark using your proprioceptive sense.

Roles of the proprioceptive system:-

⏩ Regulation of arousal levels

⏩ Helps reduce hyper-active response to other sensations. 

⏩ A functional proprioceptive system is essential to develop motor planning abilities. Example- To perform a drill exercise at school, a child needs an efficient proprioceptive system

⏩ Grading of how much force to use with different objects, Example:- The force with which you hold a glass of water is different than the force with which you hold a paper cup of water.

The child also might not know how to hold a pencil with an adequate pressure for writing.

⏩ To change the body positions in response to an activity. Example- Changing body positions to catch a ball coming from any direction.

⏩ Learning some activities that require a good body awareness like riding a bicycle, or even stepping on an escalator requires an efficient proprioceptive system

If there's a dysfunction in the processing of proprioceptive sense, a child might have:-

➧ Less awareness of own body position or movements; so he might keep dropping objects from hand, or appear clumsy, or bumping into people or objects while walking.

➧ Poor handwriting or improper pencil grasp

➧ Difficulty to change body positions in response to the situation. Example:- Moving his body in different directions to catch a ball.

➧ Poor postural control; always needs a support to lean on, mostly prefers to lie down instead of sitting or standing

➧ Improper pencil grip & poor handwriting 

➧ Might have difficulty judging how much pressure to give while holding different objects : might be rough to pets

➧ Hyperactive; always on the go, difficult to sit still in one position.

➽ Vestibular system  

This system tells us about the movement of our body & head in space.

It also tells us if we are moving or still as well as the direction & speed of our movement.

It helps us to stabilize our eyes when we are moving & tells us if the objects around us are moving or remaining still.

Roles of the vestibular system:-

⏩ Regulates all other sensory systems

⏩ Assists with self-regulation & allows us to maintain optimum arousal levels

⏩ Helps to calm down ourselves & regulate our behavior

⏩ Plays an important role in the development of receptive & expressive language

⏩ Plays an important role in maintaining balance, postural control, muscle tone, & in planning our movements

If there's a dysfunction in the processing of vestibular sense, a child might :-

➧ Have poor balance & uncoordinated movement.

➧ Be scared of movements & heights including climbing stairs/ladders, swings, gym skills,  boat rides, etc.

➧ Have difficulty sitting still, he might be always on the go

➧ Have less attention span

➧ Have poor emotional regulation

➧ Have difficulties in communication skills

➧ Be seeking a lot of movement like jumping, running, falling, etc.

➧ Have poor postural control

All of these sensory systems are closely tied to one another. We need a balanced coordinated functioning of all of the above sensory systems in order to perform any task efficiently & easily. Most of our daily activities require the appropriate functioning of multiple sensory systems.

Example:-

When a child is writing, 

👉 He uses his vestibular & proprioceptive system to maintain an erect posture to sit

👉 He uses his visual & vestibular system to track what he is writing & to focus on his writing

👉 He uses his tactile & proprioceptive system to hold the pencil with adequate force.

 👉 He uses his visual, tactile & proprioceptive system to write down properly(planning the size & formation of letters)

👉 If he has to listen & write (dictation), he has to use his auditory system as well alongwith all the above sensory systems

Therefore, it is highly essential that all our sensory systems are functioning adequately & in a balanced manner for us to perform our daily tasks with ease.

This article is aimed to help us understand the roles of different sensory systems & the symptoms you might find if there's a dysfunction in any of the sensory systems. In my next article, I will be sharing about Sensory Integration therapy & its role in helping a child develop his gross motor, fine motor, cognitive socialization, communication & emotional skills.

Enjoy Reading!

Happy parenting to all my readers.😄

About the writer :-

The writer’s name is Abhipsa Parida. She is an occupational therapist specialised in pediatrics and has been handling kids with special needs since the last 6 years. She is quite experienced and skillful in observation, assessment and planning intervention for kids with special needs. She uses evidence based practice and is very creative and updated in her approach while handling kids with special needs. She has her own clinic in Bhubaneswar and has handled many kids of different age groups with varying needs. She offers both online and offline therapy as per the need of the hour.

If you have any queries, you can mail them at abhipsaot21@gmail.