Part 2 – How does Sensory Integration Dysfunction present in children?
Sensory integration issues are prevalent in individuals on the Autism Spectrum and often times is listed that a person has “autistic tendencies” that are related to sensory processing. In last week’s blog, I defined sensory integration as a neurologic processing disorder that results in a disconnect in the internal sensory system, (Here’s a link to last week’s post) so sensory processing functions may be affected for anyone that has any type of neurologic processing issues. Music therapy interventions can address a wide variety of sensory needs in individual and group settings.
A child with auditory sensitivity has difficulty with sounds, they may find any sounds disturbing, or only loud sounds. They do not perceive sound the way most people do. The example of “fingernails on a chalk board” is a good analogy. Although chalk boards are not used very often anymore most of us understand that this sound can be quite spine tingling. A person with auditory processing difficulty may be afraid to try new things (such as playing a musical instrument) because it may hurt their ears or be too loud.
Children with tactile processing issues are hesitant to touch new things, or they may need to touch everything. They may be at an oral stage and want to put everything in their mouth or lick it with their tongue. Some kids will put their feet on objects to get input on the soles of the feet. (I carry disinfectant wipes with all my instruments).
Many children will seek visual stimulation by squinting or rapid blinking of the eyes, or doing hand motions in the visual field. These kids may also exhibit some interesting facial expressions as well.
Proprioceptive processing disorders are often presented by repetitive motions such as hand-flapping, head movements, facial grimacing and toe-walking. These children have a very difficult time staying still or focusing on tasks for any length of time, they have a need to keep moving in order to seek the sensory input that their body needs at the time.
In next week’s post, I will give some ideas to us music and music therapy interventions to address sensory processing issues with children, in the meantime, please post your questions and comments below.