SENSORY INTEGRATION – Not Just for Autism Spectrum Disorders – A 4 part series.
Part 1 – What is sensory integration?
Part 2 – How does it present in children?
Part 3 – Interventions for children
Part 4 – Sensory Integration for adults
Part 1 – What is sensory integration?
I first heard about sensory integration during my undergraduate studies more than 20 years ago. A professional music therapist was coming into our class to present on the topic. She was very knowledgeable and had a lot of great suggestions, but I didn’t really understand what sensory integration was or why it was important. I have had the opportunity, over the last 20 years, to work as a music therapist with many children and adults with sensory integration issues. I hope that through this blog series, readers will feel confident in addressing sensory integration issues through music therapy interventions.
We teach kids about our 5 senses – Sight, Sound, Touch, Taste and Smell, these are obvious sensory functions of the body and most of us understand how they work. We also understand that someone who is missing one or more of these senses compensates by relying on more acuity of the other senses. For instance, blind people may use their sense of hearing to make up for a lack of vision.
But there is another sensory system at work in our bodies. It is an internal sense of where our bodies are in space. Children love to twirl and spin and go upside down and each time they do, they are using this internal sense called proprioception. Most of us know instinctively where our bodies are and what we are doing. For example, I know that I am sitting up straight with my hands on my computer keyboard and typing.
So what happens when there is a disconnect in this internal sensory system? Dr. A. Jean Ayres identified Sensory Integration Dysfunction as “atypical social, emotional, motor and functional patterns of behavior related to poor processing of sensory stimuli.” In other words, the individual may be unaware of the environment around them and not able to respond appropriately to social or environmental cues. This can occur in any individuals of any age with neurologic processing disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delays and Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as well as any type of Traumatic Brain Injury such as stroke. Music therapy is an effective rehabilitation and treatment model for individuals with sensory issues.
There are a variety of ways that individuals with sensory processing disorders may present themselves and I will post about some of the ways to identify sensory issues with children in part two of this blog series next week. In two weeks I will discuss effective methods to address sensory issues with children in the group setting and the series will finish with a discussion of music therapy interventions with older adults.
Do you have questions about sensory processing issues? Please ask any questions or make comments below. I would love to hear from you.