The seven sensory systems

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• Reading, Writing and Regulation
• When the Alphabet Isnt Enough
• Trina Westerlund, Founder Director
• Cathy DeLeon, Director of Clinical Services
• Childrens Institute for Learning Difference

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Learning Objectives

• Participants of this session will
• Identify the role of significant adults in
  helping a child develop self regulation
• Describe accommodations and modifications to
  enhance sensory processing
• Delineate elements of a learning environment that
  help children acquire the skills of self
  regulation

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The session

• Part I
• What impacts the development of self regulation
• Part II
• How sensory processing supports or interferes
  with self regulation
• Part III
• The impact of entering school without self
  regulation skills and ability to self regulate

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Guiding Principles

• Children will do well if they can
• Behavior is the clue, not the problem
• CHILD
• Your explanation guides your intervention
• All adults in the relationship with a child have
  an impact on the degree of self regulation
  capacity

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Part I

• What impacts the development
• of self regulation

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Self Regulation

• The ability to
• achieve, maintain and alter ones state to match a
  given task, situation or environment
• initiate and cease activities in relation to task
  and situational demands
• Its exhausting regulating a child who does not
  self regulate!

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Self Regulation, cont

• A dynamic process ever changing and on going
• Often addressed via sensory and cognitive
  strategies

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Role of the caregiver
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Role of the child
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Behavior is the clue, .not the problem!

• Studies have shown poor self-regulation is
  related to disruptive and aggressive behaviors,
  poor attention and lower scores on cognitive
  measures
• Children with poor self regulation disrupt their
  own and others ability to learn and interact
• Self-regulation involves the capacity to modulate
  mood, self-calm, delay gratification and tolerate
  transitions in activities.
• Calkins, S Dedmon, S. J. of Abnormal Child
  Psychology, 78, 34-46

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Behavior is the clue, cont

• Disorders of self regulation impact development
  of
• social and participation skills
• adaptive responses
• motor skills
• self confidence
• What is that impact on each of the areas?

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Behavior is the clue, cont

• Self regulatory difficulties - central features
  in
• autism spectrum disorders
• ADHD
• behavioral disorders
• Degree of attention and nurturing children with
  poorly developed self regulation need is often
  beyond the capacity of a typical classroom setting

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Behavior is the clue, cont

• Children with difficulty self regulating may be
• fearful and over cautious
• withdrawn and self absorbed
• defiant and negative
• motorically disorganized
• impulsive

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Part II

• How sensory processing supports or interferes
  with self regulation

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Seven sensory systems

• Vestibular
• Auditory
• Visual

• Oral
• Olfactory
• Tactile
• Proprioceptive

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The Vestibular Sensory System

• Hold on
• were in for a WILD ride!

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Vestibular Sensory Input

• Receptors located in inner ear vestibular
  apparatus adjacent to inner ear
• Provides information - position of head
• Responds to pull of gravity
• Referred often as great integrator
• vast neural interconnections affecting
• Muscle tone ? Timing / Sequencing
• Balance ? Attention
• Eye control ? Language
• Coordination ? Emotional state and regulation

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Auditory Sensory System

• Now Hear this!

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Auditory Sense

• Receptor is ear
• Purpose - protective and discriminatory
• Provides information - environment
• alert to danger
• discriminates giving precise mapping
  information
• informs the what and where and when around us
• Is transient input

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Visual Sensory System

• I can see clearly now!

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Visual Sense

• Receptor - eyes
• Function - protective and discriminatory
• Provides information - environment
• Transient (an action) or long-lasting
• Works in tandem with vestibular system
• Sensory and motor component (eye movements)
• Guidance system eye-hand, eye-foot coordination,
  etc

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Olfactory Sensory System

• Mmmmm-
• Whats that smell???

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Olfactory Sense

• Receptor - nose and olfactory bulb
• Function - protective and discriminatory
• Evokes memories information
• Direct path to the brain

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Olfactory Sensitivity Over-responsive

• Acutely aware of scent and odor
• May be accompanied by physiological reactions
• May be precise or picky - food choices
• May use sense of smell to identify objects or
  know people
• May have difficult time in community eating
  places

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Oral Sensory System

• Tastes great to me!

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Oral Sense (within the mouth)

• Receptors are in the lips, tongue, palate, inner
  cheeks
• Provides multiple types of information including
  taste, texture, feel, temperature
• Function is both protective and discriminatory
• One of the most sensitive (sensory rich)
• areas of the body

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Oral Sensory Sensitivity

• Picky eater few food choices
• May have long history - food refusals
• May gag (nausea) at thought of foods
• May be drawn to crispy foods that break up easily
  in teeth (munch/crunch)
• Food choices/demands may lead to problems with
  nutrition

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Tactile Sensory System

• Lovin the
• skin Im in!

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Tactile Sense (sense of touch)

• Receptors - within the skin
• Areas extremely sensory rich
• face, mouth, hands, feet
• Provides input - pressure, texture, temperature
• Highly discriminatory and precise
• Protective function danger alerts
• bug on my arm bit of eggshell

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Proprioceptive Sensation

• I got the power!

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Proprioceptive

• Receptors - muscles, tendons, joints and
  sheaths around bones
• Provides information
• awareness location and state of body parts
• position of body and limbs
• force and pressure
• Function - modulation and discrimination
• input needed to adjust all actions gross and
  fine motor
• often involved in mediating physical pain or
  discomfort

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Part III

• The impact of entering school without self
  regulation skills and ability to self regulate

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Arousal State

• The ability to maintain and transition between
  different sleep and wake states
• Quiet/calm alert state is often associated with
  prime learning state
• States
• sleepy ? hyper-focused
• calm/alert ? active/alert
• distressed ? meltdown
• shutdown ? and more

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Arousal State, cont

• Highly influenced by ability to register and
  adapt to sensory input
• Persons with sensory threshold differences
• Easily affected by (the 4 As)
• ? Arousal state
• ? Attention
• ? Affect
• ? Action

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Arousal State

• Ability to filter sensory input is a sub-cortical
  process (below-thinking) that profoundly
  affects arousal state

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Input Output

• (three circle diagram
• Thermometer visual?????)

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Shutdown meltdown

• Without self regulation, children do not have
  skills needed for success
• Two choices
• MELTDOWN
• SHUTDOWN

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Elements learning environment

• Empathy
• Flexibility

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Summary

• The role of significant caregiver is significant
• Understand that self regulation is a skill and
  often NOT present therefore must distinguish
• Understand that when you have the capacity to
  self regulate, all is fine and you will
• If we stop at the shoulds, then we sell the
  child short
• Understanding guides are interventions

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Learning Objectives - review

• Participants in this session will
• Identify the role of significant adults in
  helping a child develop self regulation
• Describe accommodations and modifications to
  enhance sensory processing
• Delineate elements of a learning environment that
  help children acquire the skills of self
  regulation

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Differences206.232.9690Trina_at_ChildrensInstitute
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