It is a complex neurological condition which impairs the ability to carry on normal activities of daily living in various domains of life. Our brain constantly works on the basis of the information received by senses. This information is picked by our senses and sent to the brain through the central nervous system. Our brain interprets and organizes this information into appropriate responses according to the situation.
But when the child is suffering from SPD, the brain fails to interpret the received information as it gets mixed up, as result of which child tend to produce some inappropriate response to particular stimuli which usually a person without SPD finds normal.
Pioneering occupational therapist and psychologist A. Jean Ayres, Ph.D., refers SPD to a neurological “traffic jam” that prevents certain parts of the brain from receiving the information needed to interpret sensory information correctly.
Sensory Defensiveness/Hypersensitivity:
When the nervous system over-responds or over-registers sensory input, one will avoid and defend to protect the brain/body from painful and uncomfortable sensations. Sensory defensiveness and over-registration is explained by an exaggerated avoidance to specific sensations which child without SPD would find normal. Over-registration can be explained as brain is receiving information simultaneously from multiple sensory systems and unable to filter and process the relevant and important information necessary to respond according to that situation. For example a normal child playing in a crowded park with ball can focus on the movement ball and ignore the unimportant information like noise of crowd, equipments on playground etc. On other hand the child with SPD may find the noise as overwhelming and annoying which might make him react inappropriate ways.
Sensory Seeking/Hyposensitivity:
These definitions are basically the opposite of the section above. Sometimes the brain under-registers information and the message either gets lost on the way to the brain or the pathways are not efficient in processing the information. The brain is not able t to process the sensory information, therefore creating a “seeking attitude” for sensory input type behavior. These are the children that just cannot get enough movement, touch, pressure, jumping, etc. and crave it on a constant basis. This can also present as the inability to “feel” pain or detect temperature as well as not getting dizzy when they spin. This under-registration of information can occur with one sensory pathway or more than one. A child with hyposensitivity always has a very difficult time with self-regulation in activities of daily living.
Sensory Modulation:
It is the ability of the brain to interpret the incoming information and adjust the response according to the situations. The efficient sensory modulation allows the central nervous system to regulate attention and activity level by enabling one to attend to important stimuli, filter out irrelevant stimuli, and modify the amount of response to the situation. Typically, healthy sensory modulation occurs automatically, unconsciously and without effort in normally developing children. For children with a variety of developmental challenges, the process is inefficient, demanding effort and attention with no guarantee of accuracy.
Sensory processing issues can be manifested as either the hypersensitivity or the hyposensitivity to our sensory systems which are:
Visual
Auditory
Tactile
Olfactory
Gustatory
Vestibular
Proprioception
To learn more about these senses and related issues kindly click on it.
SPD and Autism
Parents of a child who demonstrate symptoms of hypersensitivities or hyposensitivity always tend to think of it as ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). However, research suggests that SPD itself is a separate disorder. Though most of the children who are on ASD demonstrate some sort of hypersensitivities or hyposensitivity, it is not necessary that the child who has SPD will necessarily have autism. SPD can occur without Autism in most of the children!
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