Understanding How Sensory Issues Impact Behavior
Overview
 What is Sensory Processing Disorder?
 Neurological Disorganization:
 Difficulty:
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Taking in sensory information
Interpreting sensory information
Integrating sensory information
 Response (outcome)
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Inappropriate response
Imagine If:
 “Imagine driving a car that isn’t working well. When
you step on the gas the car sometimes lurches forward
and sometimes doesn’t respond. When you blow the
horn it sounds blaring. The brakes sometimes slow
the car, but not always. The blinkers work
occasionally, the steering is erratic, and the
speedometer is inaccurate. You are engaged in a
constant struggle to keep the car on the road; it is
difficult to concentrate on anything else.
Stanley Greenspan, “The Challenging Child” (1995)
What if:
 You could see obstacles in your way but you could not make your
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body move in the direction you wanted to avoid them.
Your clothes feel like they were made of fiberglass.
Every time you tried to write with your pencil, it broke because
you pushed too hard.
The humming of the lights sounded louder than my voice.
Every time someone touched you it felt like they were rubbing
sandpaper on you.
You wanted to write something down but it took you at least 5
seconds to form each letter. You can see the letter in your head
but your hand will not go in the right direction to write it.
You had to pull over the car 3 times on the ride here because the
motion made you sick.
Eight Sensory Systems
 Sensory systems receive information from stimuli
Outside our bodies
 Inside our bodies
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 It is then sent to the brain for interpretation
Then:
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Brain generates a response
 Motor
 Behavioral
This response is unique to the individual; based on
personal experiences and associations.
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Sensory information can support or challenge a child
Sensory Systems
2. Sight
5. Touch
•
Protective
•
Discriminative
6. Vestibular
3. Smell
7. Proprioception
4. Taste
8. Interoception
1.
Sound
Almost all children with SPD have more than one sense
that is impacted
Sound/Auditory System
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Gives ambient and focal information
Discerns background noise from relevant noise
Right/left spatial discrimination
Associated closely with vestibular system
Helps us understand movement
Detects pitch, tone, frequency
Foundation for language development
 Movement/rhythm are paired with speech
 Temporal and spatial orientation
 Earliest form of communication - relief from
discomfort, attain desired needs, establish proximity
Behaviors Associated With
Dysfunction of Auditory Systems
 Afraid of moving toys
 Cannot locate where they are coming from
 Difficulty discerning mom’s voice from background noise
 Missing specific pitches can sound like a person talking with
marbles in the mouth
 Sensitivity to noise children cover ears/cry
 Overwhelmed=overactivity and/or aggression
 Difficulty regulating own volume
 Difficulty discriminating certain sounds: “Come with me.” “See
that tree.”
 Rule outs: hearing loss/impairment, frequent ear infections
 Can look like: trauma, ADHD, reactive attachment, ODD, autism
Sight
 Foundation for bonding, spatial orientation,
movement through space, social communication
 Shows us exactly where we are in space
 Works closely with vestibular, proprioceptive, and
tactile systems
 With these systems together we move in response to the
events around us
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Kicking/catching a ball
Understand body language (a majority of communication)
 Reading, writing, calculation, spelling
Behaviors Associated With
Dysfunction of Visual Systems
 Overwhelmed in cluttered area (can’t find something
<right> in front of them)
 Wearing hats or sunglasses to avoid glare (lamps
instead of overhead lights)
 Do not know how to create their own visual
boundaries
 Oval/circle are the same
 “b”, “d”, “p” are the same
 Rule outs: visual impairment, strabismus, amblyopia
 Can look like: ADHD, autism
Smell/Olfactory
 Processed through our Limbic System
• Related directly to emotion
 1st to develop
 Foundation for bonding
 Protection for noxious items
 Important for attending/deciphering to enjoyable foods
and dangerous surroundings (i.e. fire)
Taste
 Quality of foods/liquids
• Texture – crunchy, chewy
• Color – white, colorful (vibrant)
• Property – sweet, salty, sour
Behaviors Associated With Dysfunction
of Olfactory/Gustatory Systems
 Fight/flight response to certain restaurants, cafeteria food
preparations
 Dinner problems/food aversions
 Sniff all foods before they will taste
 Only eat white foods (bland)
 Only eat spicy foods
 Rule outs: food allergies, illness, trauma
 Can look like: “picky eating”, eating disorder, ODD, reactive
attachment, OCD
Foods That Change Arousal:
Crunchy – calming Sucking – calming Chewy – calming
Salty – alerting
Sour - alerting
Touch/Tactile
 Very important in behavior
 Skin largest sensory system
 Earliest sensations infant feels
 Bonding/attachment/feeding/emotional responses
 Information about:
 Touch – light/deep
 Pressure
 Texture
 Heat
 Cold
 Pain
 Tactile/proprioception work together
Two Systems:
• Protective – respond quickly as we are protecting
ourselves against something potentially harmful
• Discriminative – gives us details about things. Is our
little detective. Tells us internally what’s going in
externally (hard, soft, round, square, hot, cold)
(I.e., “If it’s square, cannot be a penny.”)
Dysfunction:
 Hypersensitive (sensory-defensive)
 Hyposensitive (sensory-seeking)
 Combinations are common
Behaviors Associated With Dysfunction of Tactile
Systems
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Inability to distinguish similar objects without looking
Cannot button coat without looking
Do not like baths, haircuts, cuddling, diaper changes/toileting
Twisted clothes or socks
Dislike certain kinds of clothes or textures
Emotionally detached
Either overreact to messy hands/face or do not notice
Feeding problems (suck, chew, swallow, stuffing mouth,
choking)
 Decrease level of comfort and security; easily upset
 Controlling behaviors (and avoiding activities that are
unpleasant to them)
 Overreacts to touch or is too rough with touch (headbutting,
rough play)
 Can look like: OCD, reactive attachment, autism, ADHD, bipolar
Vestibular
 Most primitive system
 Involved in neck control – coordinates with vision
 Gives information about your head
 Gravity relationship
 Head acceleration
 Organizing/soothing – linear rocking; auditory connection
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with ear structures
Alerting – rotational movement
Foundation for postural reactions
Allows one to focus
Gives sense of security/predictability
Trust comes from grounding to the earth
Behaviors Associated With
Dysfunction of Vestibular System
 Uncomfortable with changes
 Doesn’t like car rides or grocery carts (backward space)
 Dizzy feeling
 Cannot navigate space around oneself
 Directionally – cannot tell which way they are moving
 Social difficulties/play
 Risky behaviors
 Can look like: ADHD, autism, anxiety,
depression/withdrawal, OCD, bipolar
Proprioception
 Bending, straightening, pulling, compressing joints
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and muscles – feel changes
Unconscious (most of the time)
Body scheme/body maps
Foundational Systems
Tactile, visual, vestibular, united to this system
Behaviors Associated With
Dysfunction of Proprioceptive Sense
 Erase through paper
 Push too hard/shove others
 Difficulty with sports
 Clumsy
 Toe walking
 Knocks over drinks
 Can look like: ADHD, autism, conduct disorder
Interoception
 Sensations from sensors near organs
 Great modulator
 Suggest we are hungry, thirsty, sleepy, need to use the
bathroom
Behaviors Associated With
Dysfunction of Introception
 At school nurse for aches/pains
 Toilet training
 Communication – cannot tell you what wrong
 Low energy
 Emotionally fragile
 Can look like: OCD, depression, anxiety, IBS,
malingering
Emotional Regulation
Most important foundation for functioning with all types of
SPD
 Modify your behavior/circumstances
 Adapt to changes remain organize calm
 Development Evolution
 Infancy – dependent on adult for regulation state
 By age 4 – need less external forms of regulation
 Older children – talk/negotiate difficulties
 Understand your own strategies for emotional regulation
 Use pretend play
Behaviors Associated With Poor
Emotional Regulation
 Fear
 Mood swings
 Doom/gloom
 Decreased social interactions
 Unproductive
 Peer conflicts
 Low self-esteem
 Difficulty tolerating
 Poor attending
unpredictibility
 Inflexible
 Withdrawl
 Distractive
Activities for Emotional Regulation
 Chew gum
 Drinking cold water
 Deep breathing
 Quiet space (“tent” or library
 Massage hands
corner)
 Quiet music or white noise
 Dimming lights
 Reward
 Calming scents (lavender,
vanilla)
 Visual cues
Subtypes of Sensory Processing
Disorder
(Permission granted from SPD Foundation)
www.spdfoundation.net
SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER (SPD)
Sensory
Modulation
Disorder (SMD)
SOR
SUR
Sensory
Discrimination
Disorder (SDD)
SS
SOR= Sensory Over-Responsivity
SUR= Sensory UnderResponsivity
SS= Sensory Seeking/Craving
Sensory-Based
Motor Disorder
(SBMD)
Dyspraxia
Postural
Disorders
“Miller, L.J., Anzalone, M.E., Lane, S,J., Cermak, S.A., Osten, E.T. (2007). Concept evolution in sensory integration: A
proposed nosology for diagnosis. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(2), 135-140.
Sensational Kids Hope and Help For Children With sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), Copyright (2006) by Lucy
Jane Miller