Sensory Integration:

One of our popular and key approaches is sensory integration. 

An introductory outline is below:

Sensory Integration

What Is It and How Do We Use the Theory?

Think of our senses.  We can see people, places, events, dangers.  We can hear many of these things too, plus music, nature, activity, voices.  These can be friendly, reassuring, quiet, loud, wanted, unwanted, etc.

We can taste and smell food, smell plants, smell industry and many more smells.  Some are nice, some not so nice.  We make physical contact with people - through touch which may be gentle, or abrasive.

Every day we receive a great deal of information from our senses.  This information helps us determine how we behave and act within the world around us.  As far as possible we choose our food, where we want to go, the music we want to hear, the company we keep according to the type of demands these will make on our senses.

To a degree, we can sift out the senses that we want to focus on - for example in a noisy pub we can focus on listening to a friend talk - because our bodies can modulate our senses well.  Some people have much more trouble than other people in modulating their senses.  That is where sensory integration comes in.

Everyone has what is called a Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow).  This says that before we can engage in activity, we need to attend to such basic needs as warmth and hunger, and reduce distractions.  For people who have difficulty modulating their sensory needs, they may find tasks more demanding than other people will, and perhaps be more easily distracted.

Sensory Integration identifies two senses in addition to the five that we learn about at school.  These are called the Vestibular sense and the Proprioceptive sense. 

The vestibular sense is about balance and movement - the knowledge of the position of our head in relation to gravity and movement - which is used, for example, to keep from falling off a slide.  This is controlled by a structure in the inner ear and controls movement on a linear plane (i.e. forwards - backwards; up - down) and rotational (turning, spinning etc).

The proprioceptive sense is about muscle and joint sense - the internal awareness of the position of one's joints and muscles in space – enabling a person to, for example, put food and drink to their mouth without spilling.

 At any point in time, we are co-ordinating, integrating, so many senses, it is really rather amazing!  For example, when a teacher says "Put on your coat", a student needs to:

1.   Focus on what is being said (auditory)

2.  Screen out all distractions around

3.  See the coat and pick it out from other coats and distractions (visual/ visual spatial perception)

4.  Find the armholes (visual and/ or tactile; and proprioceptive to orientate hand and arm to the holes and down the sleeves)

5.  Feel that the coat is on properly (sensitive tactile)

6.  Do up zips or buttons, requiring motor planning, touch awareness and fine motor skills (backed up by sight and sound).

As you can see, the central nervous system needs to be constantly focusing, screening, organizing and responding to a wide range of sensory information - from both the external environment (what is around a person) and the internal environment (the feelings and reactions within the body).

Think of a few everyday situations and the sensory demands - play time perhaps.  Even something as basic as sitting in a chair or copying from a blackboard requires a great deal of sensory integration.

Sensory integration, therefore, is the way in which the senses are screened, concentrated on and organised.  The approach called sensory integration is about recognising these needs, helping a person to control their sensory experiences, and acknowledging that sometimes a person’s behavioural challenges can be directly linked to a sensory trigger that they themselves found challenging.

Cathy Warne

Senior Occupational Therapist                                                  Summer/ Autumn 2004