Sensory integration is the only option medics have to enhance the lives of people with sensory challenges. Medics adopt productive strategies like exercises, therapy, and sensory diets to foster sensory processing.
What is Sensory Integration?
Sensory integration refers to the mind’s natural ability to capture, process, and react to sensory information from their surroundings. Unbeknownst to many, bodily senses like smell and taste determine how humans interact with each other and the world.
How Can Sensory Integration Therapy Improve an Autistic Person’s Life?
Autistic people have deep-rooted sensory processing difficulties, and thus become hypersensitive or hyposensitive to a few sensory stimuli like taste. Therefore, they may overreact due to everyday life experiences like sudden noise.
Therefore, an occupational therapist enhances the patient’s motor skills and stimulates the person’s senses by employing various sensory solutions.
What Conditions Can Sensory Integration Therapy Alleviate?
Adults or kids with the following conditions should visit an occupational therapy center soon.
- Autistic people
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Genetic syndrome
What Senses Can Sensory Integration Therapy Rekindle?
Occupational therapists aim to strengthen the following body senses.
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Visual senses (sight)
A human’s visual system depends on the eyes to receive information after observation via the retina. Technically, this therapy sharpens one’s ability to interpret what they see well and react accordingly.
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Auditory sense (hearing)
Technically, this system counts on the ear (middle and outer parts) to capture sound and decipher the words to facilitate interpretation.
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Gustatory sense (taste)
Sensory integration therapy can help people with an impaired sense of taste. It rekindles the tongue’s ability to different good and harmful substances (like food) through clear detection of the chemical composition.
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Tactile sense (touch)
A person’s skin receptors enable the body to capture sensations like vibrations and temperature changes. Consequently, this system coordinates with the mind to trigger an appropriate reaction.
Dangers of Underestimating Sensory Integration Therapy
Failure to seek therapy services may expose your challenged child to further problems due to poor sensory processing. Top of these include:
- Poor grades due to lack of concentration.
- Poor social skills
- Over-reliance on people to perform basic activities.
- Abnormal sleeping habits
- Hurting the peers
In Conclusion
Parents should look out for notable symptoms like impaired attention and violence and seek sensory integration therapy early enough. Surprisingly, academic under performance and impaired sleep may signify sensory processing difficulty.