Is it Sensory or Behavior?
This is a question we get asked and ask ourselves all the time. This blog series will explore different answers for questions about common behaviors.
Mason is very “touchy feely” with his peers. He is always bumping, grabbing, lifting and hugging them. Most of his friends are starting to get annoyed and the teachers find this behavior disturbing and unsafe. Is it sensory or behavior?
Mason is not processing proprioceptive input efficiently so he is unsure where he is in space as compared to others and objects. This causes him to bump into things and people, fall over objects, lean on others, and enter other’s personal space. This also causes him to have a less intense response to hurting himself and others.
Mason is Sensory Under Responsive to proprioceptive input. The proprioceptive system provides us with general body awareness and gives us ‘internal’ information from our muscles and joints about where we are in space and where our body parts are in relation to one another. This input provides us with general body awareness and a grounded feeling in the world giving us knowledge (and confidence) on which to base our movements through space.
Someone who is Sensory Under Responsive is responding less than what is expected to sensations. They have a higher threshold for sensory input so they need more input in order to respond to the sensation. Mason needs more information from his proprioceptive system in order to meet the demands of the situation. He is receiving less information from his proprioceptive system than his peers hence one cause for the reported behaviors.
Founder and Creator of the Sensory Emotional Engagement Model
Michele Parkins, MS, OTR, is an Occupational Therapist specializing in working with children and families with Sensory Processing and Integration Disorders and challenges in social-emotional development. She is also a parent of two sensory kids. She works and lives sensational kids! Michele is a fellow of Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, OTR, and Sensory Treatment and Research Institute faculty.
Michele is passionate about working with families and other therapists and continues to do so as a clinician and educator. She educates therapists from all over the country and world and continues to provide consultation to schools on treatment for sensory processing disorder. Michele has co-authored a chapter in the 3rd edition of Sensory Integration: Theory and Practice, the textbook for sensory evaluation and treatment, alongside world-renowned pioneers in the field, and is currently writing a book to help support parents and families to understand better the impact of SPD on family dynamics and relationships and the day to day demands of life with sensory processing differences. Follow her on Facebook for updates and tips!
- Giving and Receiving Love in our own Sensory Emotional Ways - February 14, 2024
- 10 play-based motor planning activities - December 10, 2019
- 10 play-based vestibular activities - November 22, 2019
