Sensory Integration Dysfunction

"My child seems healthy and looks normal in every way. Why is she acting so strangely?"

We hear this question all the time because many of the kids we work with don't have any obvious disorder. The problem is they're not processing sensory information correctly, in that part of the brain where this integration normally occurs. It's essential for parents and professionals who work with such a child to understand that, the problem may appear to be behavioral or attitudinal, it may be much deeper, and that correcting it may call for a different kind of intervention.

The child's relationship to his or her body, and even to gravity, are rooted in the brain stem, where fundamental awareness of the body and environment is integrated. Without normal integration, the child may suffer from hyperactivity, poor attention span, a fear of being touched, anti-social choices, or other problems. Much of this behavior makes sense when we realize that the child, often feeling isolated and confused, is secretly struggling to "put the pieces together," to bring inner and outer experience into harmony. LifeSkills helps the child do this through occupational and speech therapy coordinated through a remarkable, proven method called sensory integration (SI)

Dr. A. Jean Ayers, the occupational therapist and pioneer who founded sensory integration, developed SI to treat perceptual, motor, and learning problems in those cases where the causes were not clear. She found that many otherwise normal children could not correctly process the information provided by their senses. Typical areas of poor integration included touch, the sense of muscles and joints, and the movement system. There are many factors that could affect normal development, even something as seemingly insignificant as a history of ear infection.

What Causes SI Dysfunction?

1. Prematurity or multiple births
2. Prenatal exposure to drugs, alcohol, medication, toxins, or viruses
3. Genetic predisposition
4. Birth trauma such as emergency cesarean section, lack of oxygen, or surgery soon after birth
5. Insufficient stimulation after birth such as institutionalization in orphanages
6. Significant hospitalizations and invasive medical procedures
7. Unknown reasons

Sensory Integration Dysfunction often co-exists with allergies, ear infections, and asthma.Whatever the cause, the treatment techniques used in Sensory Integrative Therapy bring relief to those that have such inefficient neurological processing.

Each and every person depends on these building blocks for "cognitive learning". Bodies need to be in a "just-right state" in order to create the foundational skills needed to build upon. This pyramid is a developmental progression. Click here to see the Building Blocks of Sensory Integration graphic.