More senses than 5

Before I started working with kids with autism, I had heard quite a bit about sensory input. My sister is a pediatric occupational therapist and works a lot with sensory integration. Then when I started working in the school setting, I had one of the best occupational therapists working with my students. I have been privileged to be in the midst of some great occupational therapists throughout my career.

We always hear about the 5 senses, and then we hear about the 6th sense. Well, there is really a 6th sense and a 7th and probably more. The way we experience the world we live in is quite incredible, I have to say. There is so much to process, and our bodies are capable of so much.

I just want to give a quick overview of three of our senses: tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive.  Some kids may be seekers, and others may be avoiders. And a kid can be a seeker in one area and an avoider in another. We are all different, and so we individualize our approach :)

TACTILE: This is how we take in information through our skin, we process information about touch with this sense. This has to do with lighter touch. Different textures may have different reactions. Some textures you may want to think about are soft, hard, slimy, wet, gooey, crunchy, fuzzy, etc.

VESTIBULAR: This is how we receive information through our inner ear. It has to do with movement, gravity, and balance. Some activities you may look at to see if your child avoids or seeks might be swinging, spinning, running, climbing, rocking, bouncing, etc.

PROPRIOCEPTIVE: This is how we take in information through our muscles, ligaments, and joints. We process information about body position and body parts. Activities might include wrestling, tickling, being buried in pillows, crashing into things, pushing heavy things, etc.

As we are more aware of a child's sensory motor profile, we can facilitate activities in these areas to promote greater engagement and help in the child's development.

If you're interested, here's another post I did a while back about our sensory systems: http://www.playwithjoy.com/2013/01/our-sensory-systems-and-learning.html

Before I started working with kids with autism, I had heard quite a bit about sensory input. My sister is a pediatric occupational therapist and works a lot with sensory integration. Then when I started working in the school setting, I had one of the best occupational therapists working with my students. I have been privileged to be in the midst of some great occupational therapists throughout my career.

We always hear about the 5 senses, and then we hear about the 6th sense. Well, there is really a 6th sense and a 7th and probably more. The way we experience the world we live in is quite incredible, I have to say. There is so much to process, and our bodies are capable of so much.

I just want to give a quick overview of three of our senses: tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive.  Some kids may be seekers, and others may be avoiders. And a kid can be a seeker in one area and an avoider in another. We are all different, and so we individualize our approach :)

TACTILE: This is how we take in information through our skin, we process information about touch with this sense. This has to do with lighter touch. Different textures may have different reactions. Some textures you may want to think about are soft, hard, slimy, wet, gooey, crunchy, fuzzy, etc.

VESTIBULAR: This is how we receive information through our inner ear. It has to do with movement, gravity, and balance. Some activities you may look at to see if your child avoids or seeks might be swinging, spinning, running, climbing, rocking, bouncing, etc.

PROPRIOCEPTIVE: This is how we take in information through our muscles, ligaments, and joints. We process information about body position and body parts. Activities might include wrestling, tickling, being buried in pillows, crashing into things, pushing heavy things, etc.

As we are more aware of a child's sensory motor profile, we can facilitate activities in these areas to promote greater engagement and help in the child's development.

If you're interested, here's another post I did a while back about our sensory systems: http://www.playwithjoy.com/2013/01/our-sensory-systems-and-learning.html

Sensory Overload - Autism and the Doctor's Office

Sorry!  I meant to post this earlier.

I was trying to think of instances when someone might be excited to go to the doctor.  I asked a friend, and she came up with a few.  When a woman is going to find out if she's pregnant, when you're having a procedure done that will make your life better...like lasik eye surgery, when you know it's the last time you have to go after a long series of visits (but my guess is that you're more excited about the prospects of not having to go again rather than actually going.)  Ok, I guess there's a few, but let's be honest...even these visits cause a lot of anxiety.  When I had lasik eye surgery done, they offered Valium for the anxiety.

My conclusion...doctor visits cause anxiety.  And let's recall from my post about the brain, that the amygdala (it's weakness being low tolerance for stress and anxiety) is 4 times as big in a individual with autism.

Ok, so here goes my list of some (not all) reasons why going to the doctor can cause sensory overload for some kids (and adults) with autism.  In a future post I will share an experience that one mother shared with me of how her doctor made it such a successful visit with her son with autism.

• The anxiety of going to the unknown
• This trip is not part of my daily routine
• When we arrive, we have to wait to check in
• Mom or dad is filling out paperwork instead of paying attention to me
• I get yelled at every time I walk away 
• Florescent lights flickering
• Phones ringing
• TV playing, but it's not my favorite show
• Waiting to see the doctor
• Someone calls my name, and we are taken through a door to the unknown
• They make me stand on a scary looking machine to weigh me, but I don't know what that means
• I get in trouble when I don't stand still on the scary machine
• I am taken to a little room, and I have to wait...again
• They make me sit high in the air on some crinkly paper that doesn't feel good
• It smells weird
• There are objects around me that don't look familiar
• A stranger comes in and gets in my space, looking at my eyes, in my ears, in my mouth, etc.
• This same stranger has a some weird things coming out of his ears and he wants to put it on my heart, but I don't know why.  It's cold and uncomfortable.
• Sometimes another stranger comes in with pokey things and she stabs me with them, and it hurts
• After I cry for a while, I get to leave

If you liked this post, check out Sensory Overload at the Grocery Store and Grocery Store Intervention.

Joy Mano

Utah PLAY Project Home Consultant

Early Intervention Services for Children with Autism

photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik via photopin cc

Sorry!  I meant to post this earlier.

I was trying to think of instances when someone might be excited to go to the doctor.  I asked a friend, and she came up with a few.  When a woman is going to find out if she's pregnant, when you're having a procedure done that will make your life better...like lasik eye surgery, when you know it's the last time you have to go after a long series of visits (but my guess is that you're more excited about the prospects of not having to go again rather than actually going.)  Ok, I guess there's a few, but let's be honest...even these visits cause a lot of anxiety.  When I had lasik eye surgery done, they offered Valium for the anxiety.

My conclusion...doctor visits cause anxiety.  And let's recall from my post about the brain, that the amygdala (it's weakness being low tolerance for stress and anxiety) is 4 times as big in a individual with autism.

Ok, so here goes my list of some (not all) reasons why going to the doctor can cause sensory overload for some kids (and adults) with autism.  In a future post I will share an experience that one mother shared with me of how her doctor made it such a successful visit with her son with autism.

• The anxiety of going to the unknown
• This trip is not part of my daily routine
• When we arrive, we have to wait to check in
• Mom or dad is filling out paperwork instead of paying attention to me
• I get yelled at every time I walk away 
• Florescent lights flickering
• Phones ringing
• TV playing, but it's not my favorite show
• Waiting to see the doctor
• Someone calls my name, and we are taken through a door to the unknown
• They make me stand on a scary looking machine to weigh me, but I don't know what that means
• I get in trouble when I don't stand still on the scary machine
• I am taken to a little room, and I have to wait...again
• They make me sit high in the air on some crinkly paper that doesn't feel good
• It smells weird
• There are objects around me that don't look familiar
• A stranger comes in and gets in my space, looking at my eyes, in my ears, in my mouth, etc.
• This same stranger has a some weird things coming out of his ears and he wants to put it on my heart, but I don't know why.  It's cold and uncomfortable.
• Sometimes another stranger comes in with pokey things and she stabs me with them, and it hurts
• After I cry for a while, I get to leave

If you liked this post, check out Sensory Overload at the Grocery Store and Grocery Store Intervention.

Joy Mano

Utah PLAY Project Home Consultant

Early Intervention Services for Children with Autism

photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik via photopin cc

Our Sensory Systems and Learning

The past few days I have felt really dizzy, not sure why yet.  Today has been the worst of the dizzy days so far.  I feel off balance, every time I move my head I feel a little more light headed, things aren't really spinning around me but if I close my eyes then I start to spin.  I feel like I am in a bubble and things aren't quite clear outside of that bubble around me.  It's a really weird feeling, and I'm sure many of you have felt that way before.

It just got me thinking about our kiddos that are sensitive or over reactive to vestibular movement.  If this is how they feel all the time, I can see how it could make them want to scream or run away (or maybe walk slowly away, running would make me sick right now) and hide in a small dark space where things aren't attacking their senses.

I really just don't want to do anything right now because it makes me even more dizzy.  Have you seen this chart before?'

I like showing this chart to parents to point out that our sensory systems are the foundation of learning.  If our sensory systems are out of whack (like mine is today) then it makes learning very difficult.  As you can see there is a lot that goes into preparing for academic learning as that is the top of the pyramid.   I see a little more clearly why it would be difficult to learn in the state that my sensory system is in today.  

Joy Mano

Utah PLAY Project Home Consultant

Early Intervention Treatment for Children With Autism

The past few days I have felt really dizzy, not sure why yet.  Today has been the worst of the dizzy days so far.  I feel off balance, every time I move my head I feel a little more light headed, things aren't really spinning around me but if I close my eyes then I start to spin.  I feel like I am in a bubble and things aren't quite clear outside of that bubble around me.  It's a really weird feeling, and I'm sure many of you have felt that way before.

It just got me thinking about our kiddos that are sensitive or over reactive to vestibular movement.  If this is how they feel all the time, I can see how it could make them want to scream or run away (or maybe walk slowly away, running would make me sick right now) and hide in a small dark space where things aren't attacking their senses.

I really just don't want to do anything right now because it makes me even more dizzy.  Have you seen this chart before?'

I like showing this chart to parents to point out that our sensory systems are the foundation of learning.  If our sensory systems are out of whack (like mine is today) then it makes learning very difficult.  As you can see there is a lot that goes into preparing for academic learning as that is the top of the pyramid.   I see a little more clearly why it would be difficult to learn in the state that my sensory system is in today.  

Joy Mano

Utah PLAY Project Home Consultant

Early Intervention Treatment for Children With Autism