By Stephen A. Dantzig, Psy. D., Education and Outreach Program Manager, Reviewed by Lesley Chow, MS, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawai’i
We are, quite simply, sensory beings. Every moment, our brains receive and interpret information through our senses, helping us understand the world and our place in it. Most people are familiar with the five senses — touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. But to fully understand sensory processing, we must also look at additional sensory systems that play equally important roles in how we learn, react, and grow.
The Eight Sensory Systems
The five senses are well-known and self-explanatory, but there are three equally important sensory systems that play critical roles in how we understand our world. The vestibular system is related to head position and movement. It helps us understand how our body moves, balances, and responds to gravity.
What Is Sensory Processing?
The brain receives a massive amount of sensory information every second, yet responds consciously to a tiny portion of that information. How does the brain know what to store for later use, disregard, and, more critically, react to? The simple answer is sensory processing. Other terms include sensory integration or sensory modulation.
Proprioception involves our joints and muscles, informing us about whether our muscles are relaxed, contracted, stretched, etc. It also provides information about the weight of objects. The Sensory Coach adds interoception as the eighth main sensory system. Our brain gets information from our internal organs through this system: “Examples of interoception are hunger, thirst, breathlessness, pain, temperature, heartbeat, muscle tension, and bladder/bowel pressure.”
Why Sensory Processing Matters for Learning and Development
Sensory processing is the way the brain categorizes incoming data as important or not, and happens in most of us in a seemingly unnoticeable manner. Proper sensory processing is critical for appropriate responses to stimuli as well as educational success. For example, Kid Sense explains, when the system is working well, children can attend to important information, giving them the best chance at success.
Sensory processing is, therefore, intimately tied to cognitive development (to the extent possible), especially from a Piagetian/constructivist point of view. Cognitive growth occurs when the cognitive system is faced with enough disparate information and finds itself in disequilibrium and seeks balance. It resolves the conflict by developing new cognitive structures to manage and react to the information.
When Sensory Processing Breaks Down
This only happens, however, if the brain has the natural capacity to change those structures, and when the new information or materials are introduced at the point of optimal mismatch rather than optimal match. The information experienced needs to be just beyond what is understood by the current capability of acting or thinking for a cognitive conflict to exist. The issue is that we need to be aware of the information presented for our brains even to recognize it, never mind modify cognitive structures. Again, the sensory integration process is relatively straightforward for most of us, but what happens when there is disruption in this process?
According to this resource, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) exists when sensory signals are either not detected or don’t get organized into appropriate responses. The complexity of sensory processing disorders is well beyond the scope of this blog, but for discussion’s sake and simplicity, let’s look at three possible sensory processing outcomes.
Three Possible Outcomes of Sensory Processing
We have already examined what happens when sensory input is adequately processed; namely, adaptive and educational responses are usually well-handled. (I say “usually” because everyone has times when they are off.) The other options are under-registration or over-registration.
Under-registration means that the brain does not even recognize the information presented. Over-registration occurs when the brain processes information simultaneously, struggling to distinguish between essential and non-essential details. Both of these outcomes negatively impact cognitive and educational growth by interfering with the need to recognize and compare information to existing knowledge, thereby hindering the brain’s ability to understand the material.
There are other potential consequences as well. Under-registration may lead to dangerous situations, such as failing to recognize a hot stove or experiencing sensation craving, which can result in unsafe behaviors. Conversely, over-registration can lead to tantrums, acting-out behaviors, and visible signs of physical discomfort at stimuli that would go unnoticed by most of us.
Sensory Processing in the Classroom
Think of the sounds, sights, and movements in even a small classroom — chairs scraping, children talking, pencils dropping. For a child with SPD, these ordinary experiences may be overwhelming or unnoticed entirely, making it harder to focus and engage in learning.
Up Next: Sensory Processing in People With Disabilities
In our next blog, we’ll look at sensory processing disorders in populations with disabilities, including autism and cerebral palsy, in our next blog. We will also look at how sensory issues are assessed and some ideas to help.
About the Authors
Dr. Stephen Dantzig earned his Doctor of Psychology degree from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology in 1991. His dissertation studied the development of higher cognitive functioning of children with cerebral palsy and spina bifida. He was a school psychologist for 38 years, serving New York, New Jersey, California, and Hawai’i, and is now the Education and Outreach Program Manager at the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawai’i. His autobiography was Get Up, Your Bus Is Here: Living MY Life with Cerebral Palsy: Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs. Read more about Stephen here.
Lesley Chow, OTR/L, has been in the field of occupational therapy for over 30 years, working in a variety of settings in Southern California, including adult inpatient rehabilitation and acute care, pediatric inpatient rehab and acute care, adolescent mental health, working with at-risk teenagers, as well as several preschool, elementary, and middle schools as a school-based occupational therapist. She works as an early intervention occupational therapist at United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii. She spends most of her free time with her family, going to the beach, hosting cookouts, and traveling.
Your Voice Matters
Beyond this blog, United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawai’i is working on a research study about aging with cerebral palsy. If you are an adult with cerebral palsy — or care for one — we invite you to share your experiences in their survey. Your input will help shape more compassionate care, policies, and support systems for adults with cerebral palsy.
Take the survey here.
