Sensory Processing Disorder

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is becoming more recognized among education and health professionals. A recent article in TIME even asked whether this disorder was the new ADHD (see link in list below). Children with SPD disorder often struggle with the demands of formal schooling. I hope that these pages help you to understand how SPD can affect a child’s functioning, and empower you to help your child!

Sensory processing disorder has also been known as sensory integration disorder or sensory integration dysfunction (SID).

What is sensory processing?

Sensory processing occurs when the brain

1. receives information from the senses of the body,
2. processes (or integrates) that information,
3. decides how the body should respond,
4. and then sends the message for the body to respond appropriately.

• Sensory Modulation Disorder:
  A child may be sensory seeking, under responsive to sensory stimulation, or over responsive to sensory stimulation. Over responsive children are sometimes described as tactile defensive or sensory defensive.
  
  
• Sensory Motor Difficulties:
  Because the incoming sensory information is not being processed or integrated properly in the brain, the child’s motor output is affected. This can result in poor postural control and low muscle tone, problems with bilateral coordination and poor motor planning (dyspraxia).
  
  
• Sensory Discrimination Difficulties:
  Children who have difficulties in this area may struggle to process and understand what they see (visual perceptual problems), what they hear (auditory perceptual problems) or what they feel (tactile perception problems)
  
  

• More about Sensory Integration Disorder and how it can affect different areas of a child’s functioning.
  
  
• Identifying Sensory Processing Disorder in Children with a link to a comprehensive checklist.
  
  
• Find out more about SPD in Babies and toddlers with a link to a checklist.
  
  
• Some Sensory Integration Activities and Exercises that parents can do at home to support and help kids with sensory modulation disorder. Teachers may also find this article useful to help them deal with SPD kids in their classes.
  
  

Recommended Books:

• Raising a Sensory Smart Child
  One of the leading books to help parents with the challenges of living with a child who has SPD.
  
  
• The Sensory Team Handbook
  Recommended for preteens to read with their parents, or for teenagers to read on their own. This book is easy to read and does not use jargon, and will help a child with SPD to understand and deal with everyday challenges. Parents can read this book with their kids, and help them to implement suggestions in daily family life.
  
  

Other Helpful Sites on SPD

• SPD Website (opens in a new browser window)
  
  
• Article on Sensory Integration by the Autism Online Support Network (opens in a new browser window)
  
  
• Time Magazine Article on SPD (opens in a new browser window)
  
  

Your SPD Questions and Tips

Do you have any questions about SPD or tips to share?

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Return to Home Page of OT Mom Learning Activities

Receive free regular updates by signing up for my RSS feed - see the block under the Nav Bar. No email address needed!

New! Comments