About Sensory Integration
Whether you are biting into a hamburger, riding a bicycle, or reading a book, your successful completion of the activity requires processing sensation or "sensory integration" (SPD Foundation). Sensory Integration refers to how the brain interprets information it receives from the senses and turns it into motor or behavioral response. Sensory Processing Disorder, a complex brain disorder, affects one in twenty children. Children with SPD experience touch, taste, sound, smell, movement, and other sensations differently from typical children (Sensational Kids, Miller & Fuller xviiii). Sensory Integration was developed by Dr. A. Jean Ayres in the 1950s. As an occupational therapist, her theory and her work laid the foundation for Sensory Integration therapy today.
Pediatric Therapy Partners has one of the region’s only Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT) certified therapists. Occupational therapists at Pediatric Therapy Partners help uncover strategies that the families can take with them and practice in a home setting. The therapists also help regulate the five senses as well as two additional senses. Proprioception is the sense of body position in space, and vestibular system detects movement of the head in space to help maintain posture, balance, and sense of where the body is. They also assess the impact the disorder has on the child’s self-care, play, social skills, and activities of daily living.
With each session, the therapists identify red flags that indicate the child’s difficulties in processing information. Some signs include impulsivity; excessive movement; oversensitivity or undersensitivity to sound, sight, or touch; poor coordination, becoming easily distracted; fine motor or growth issues. Often, children with autism, prematurity, ADHD, anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, OCD, or developmental delays experience sensory processing disorder.
The therapists at PTP believe that parent and family education is very important as therapists provide techniques and treatment plans based on the needs of the child.
Sensory Integration Seminar
The Pediatric Therapy Partners Sensory Integration Team will provide a 2-Part seminar to explain the definition, risk factors, signs & symptoms, and common populations affected by sensory processing disorder. Assessments and evaluations that can be used and the treatment principles and home programming that can be provided will also be covered.
Both sessions will be held from 6:30pm-8pm at Pediatric Therapy Partners, 3060 Frontier Way S., Fargo, ND.
PART 1: Sensory Processing Disorders: Learning to Recognize Sensory Processing Disorder in Children: Thursday, October 11, 2012
PART 2: Sensory Processing Disorders: Treatment for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder: Thursday, November 8, 2012
Please call or email today to RSVP as spots are limited at 701-232-2340 or info@pediatrictherapypartners.com
For further information, please visit www.pediatrictherapypartners.com or call for a free screening.
Sensory Integration Resources:
Ayres, A. Jean. (1979). Sensory Integration and the Child. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
Bundy, A., Lane, S., Murray, E. (2002). Sensory Integration Theory and Practice, 2nd Ed. Philadelphia. F.A. Davis.
Kranowitz, Carol Stock. The Out of Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction. New York, NY: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1998.
Miller, Lucy Jane; Fuller, Doris A. Fuller. Sensational Kids. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc, 2006. Print.
In-Sync Activity Cards by Carol Kranowitz and Joye Newman
