“Why does Jimmy curl up in a little ball in the corner of the class and cover his ears during play time”?

“Why is Tanya always squirming in her seat and tugging at her clothes on her body? I can’t get her to wear anything but jogging pants! Sometimes she will even pull away or hit me if I touch her unexpectedly”.

“Does Kevin have behaviors at home, because at school he is always pushing kids in line and goes up to children to hit them for no reason at all! He often squeezes adults, and can even pinch too”!

“Catherine is always squinting, but the eye doctor says her vision is fine. It happens most often in shopping malls. Sometimes she will even close her eyes or cover them with her hands. Is she ignoring us, or playing a game”?

“Why can’t Amanda sit still…she is always upside down on her chair, or getting up and twirling around dancing”!

“Is it normal that a 7 year old still sucks on his thumb and puts toys in his mouth”?

These are common questions asked by many teachers and parents working with children with special needs, and yes there is an answer!

All these children have a nervous system that is having trouble interpreting and responding to sensory information. The senses send our brain information about the environment and our own bodies. Once this information is integrated, we respond with a behavior or emotion. When our senses do not register this information properly, or when our brain does not interpret this information properly, our response is greatly impacted! We might over-respond to the incoming sensory input, or under-respond.

Here is a description of the 7 Sensory Systems. Two of which are referred to as the “hidden senses”, as they are complex systems that people are less aware about. They are called the proprioceptive and vestibular systems.

• The Auditory System is our sense of hearing. In loud/noisy environments (i.e. the playground, a shopping mall), we must rely on our auditory system’s ability to filter out non-relevant auditory information. A child with auditory processing difficulties may not be able to do this, and may shut themselves off from the environment altogether.
• The Visual System is our sense of sight. Our visual system allows us to identify/recognize and locate objects and people, and it provides us with information regarding light and motion.
• The Tactile System is our sense of touch. It provides us with information about light touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, and pain.
• The Oral/Gustatory System is our sense of taste and food textures.
• The Olfactory System is our sense of smell.
• The Vestibular System provides us with information about movement, gravity, and changing head positions. It makes us aware of when our bodies and objects are moving or remaining still. It also lets us know where we are moving, and how fast we are going, if we are spinning, or moving back and forth. It gives us a sense of where our body is in space (i.e. whether or not we are standing or lying down). The receptors which send our brain information about the vestibular system are in the inner ear.
• The Proprioceptive System is our sense of how our body works. It allows us to be unconsciously aware of our body. Our brain receives proprioceptive information from receptors located in muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, and connective tissues. It provides us with information regarding the position of our body parts, in relation to each other, objects, and people (body concept). It also helps inform us about how much force our muscles need to exert in different situations. Like the vestibular system, the proprioceptive system also gives us information about movement and gravity.

Now let’s review the children above:

Jimmy is an example of a child with auditory sensitivities. He over-responds to auditory information, therefore he tries to block it out as much as he can. The classroom environment becomes very loud during free play time; which causes him to shut down and tune out from his environment.

Tanya is very sensitive to touch, even the feeling of her clothes on her body irritates her. Imagine how difficult it must be for her to attend in class, when she is distracted by the feeling of her own clothing, and is always on guard of someone who might brush up against her.

Kevin’s proprioceptive system is not giving his body enough information about where it is in space, and how much force he requires to complete tasks. He is not deliberately bumping into other children, he just doesn’t know where his body is in relation to others. He also seeks out proprioceptive information (i.e. squeezes and pinches) to help his brain have a better understanding about its own body.

Catherine is sensitive to visual information. People moving around her, worksheets with a lot of information on them, classrooms filled with pictures and drawings can be very overwhelming. In order to block out this information, she squints or covers her eyes.

Amanda’s vestibular system is not registering information about movement and gravity properly. She therefore seeks it out. Spinning and upside down activities provides us with lots of vestibular input!

Mouthing objects and sucking the thumb can be a result of developmental immaturity, but also a result of a sensory need. Children who lack awareness in their mouth may seek out a lot of oral-motor input. Sucking can always be very calming to the nervous system. Think of a baby, this is how they calm themselves. The reason this works is because sucking provides proprioceptive input. Proprioceptive input is calming to the nervous system.

Most of us are able to filter out unnecessary sensory information, and we will provide ourselves with appropriate sensory input that will allow us to function optimally on a daily basis (a.k.a ‘Sensory Modulation’). Many children with special needs have difficulty doing this.

Children with special needs don’t always have a clear ‘sensory profile’. Just because they are over-responsive to one type of sensory information, does not always mean that they will respond the same to another type of sensory information (i.e. they may be over-responsive to auditory input, but under-responsive to vestibular input). Depending on the surrounding environment, a child may also respond differently to sensory input from one moment to the next. This is what makes it difficult for teachers and parents to understand exactly why a child reacts the way they do, and what it is that their brain and body needs.

The above examples were provided to help you start thinking about your own child’s sensory needs, and to help you look beyond “behavior”.

As each child’s sensory needs are different, please contact an Occupational Therapist to provide you with strategies to help your child integrate sensory information better.



Tara Sloan is an Occupational Therapist at Summit School where she works with students from the ages of 4 to 21 with mild to severe intellectual disabilities, and a variety of syndromes (Autism and Down Syndrome), severe learning disabilities, ADHD, behavioral and emotional disturbances. Tara wanted to be an OT since she was 15 years old because she would have the opportunity to learn about medicine and psychology, work at a school, help children therapeutically and be an advocate for the children and their families!

Good references:
1. Stock Kranowitz, Carol (1998). The Out of Sync Child. The Berkley Publishing Group, New York.
2. Yack, E., Sutton, S., Aquilla, P. (1998). Building Bridges through Sensory Integration.