Sensory Processing Disorder
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is an umbrella term describing many neurological disabilities which results in the brain having trouble responding to and receiving internal and external sensory information.
SPD can be either hyper or hypo to internal or external stimuli.
Internal stimuli regulate thirst, hunger, temperature, defecation and urination.
Hypo internal sensory sensation could result for instance in not realizing to take of one’s coat in hot weather, not realizing needing to drink or not recognizing the signs of needing to use the toilet. Hyper internal sensory sensation could give the feeling of constant hunger.
External stimuli on the other hand, relates to sense of smell, touch, sight, sound and our sense of movement.
Hypo external sensory sensation could be seen as being “zoned out” or switched off from your surroundings. Whereas hyper external sensory sensation could be experienced as a state in which everything needs to be turned down, where everything is too fast, too bright, too loud, a complete overload of our environment. It is a state where one is unable to filter out background noise making it overwhelmingly difficult to focus on one thing at a time.
Sensory Processing Disorder is responsible for many other disorders such as being unable to regulate one’s self in varying surrounding, including anxiety, sleep disturbances, irritation and aggression, and therefore accounting for further social, emotional and learning problems.
If a child is constantly pulling away from their caregiver or is reacting aggressively when touched due to the unbearable sensation, and if the caregiver is unaware of the child’s altered sensations, a lack of tactile affection between child and caregiver would develop a sense of frustration and a feeling of rejection would arise. If the caregiver is unable to comfort the child in a typical manner, these repeated occurrences may result in a inability to bond, increased irritation, becoming withdrawn or acting out with aggressive behavior.
Social interaction are dominated by our own perception of others and how we are perceived by others, these inappropriate behaviors would cause our social surrounding to act accordingly. This miscommunication of behavior would have negative impact on social and emotional development and be the cause of chronic stress, requiring the body to be in a state of constant biological adaptation, resulting in further adverse health conditions. Effects of learning will be further stunted as having a balanced sensory system is of paramount importance for further healthy development.
Please take a look a the learning hierarchy pyramid, here.
SPD can be either hyper or hypo to internal or external stimuli.
Internal stimuli regulate thirst, hunger, temperature, defecation and urination.
Hypo internal sensory sensation could result for instance in not realizing to take of one’s coat in hot weather, not realizing needing to drink or not recognizing the signs of needing to use the toilet. Hyper internal sensory sensation could give the feeling of constant hunger.
External stimuli on the other hand, relates to sense of smell, touch, sight, sound and our sense of movement.
Hypo external sensory sensation could be seen as being “zoned out” or switched off from your surroundings. Whereas hyper external sensory sensation could be experienced as a state in which everything needs to be turned down, where everything is too fast, too bright, too loud, a complete overload of our environment. It is a state where one is unable to filter out background noise making it overwhelmingly difficult to focus on one thing at a time.
Sensory Processing Disorder is responsible for many other disorders such as being unable to regulate one’s self in varying surrounding, including anxiety, sleep disturbances, irritation and aggression, and therefore accounting for further social, emotional and learning problems.
If a child is constantly pulling away from their caregiver or is reacting aggressively when touched due to the unbearable sensation, and if the caregiver is unaware of the child’s altered sensations, a lack of tactile affection between child and caregiver would develop a sense of frustration and a feeling of rejection would arise. If the caregiver is unable to comfort the child in a typical manner, these repeated occurrences may result in a inability to bond, increased irritation, becoming withdrawn or acting out with aggressive behavior.
Social interaction are dominated by our own perception of others and how we are perceived by others, these inappropriate behaviors would cause our social surrounding to act accordingly. This miscommunication of behavior would have negative impact on social and emotional development and be the cause of chronic stress, requiring the body to be in a state of constant biological adaptation, resulting in further adverse health conditions. Effects of learning will be further stunted as having a balanced sensory system is of paramount importance for further healthy development.
Please take a look a the learning hierarchy pyramid, here.
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