I see so many children all the time for behavior issues at home and school: temper tantrums, not focusing at school, impulse control, anger issues, loud, social problems and so on. Many of these children have already been identified as ADHD, ODD, bipolar, or Autism Spectrum Disorders and are being treated for such by medical doctors and/or psychiatrists. However, an additional piece of the puzzle is often the sensory integration piece which is frequently overlooked.
Most of us think of our senses as those having to do with seeing and hearing. But we also have the sense of touch, a sense of balance, a sense of taste, a sense of smell, and a sense of the placement of our bodies in the space around us. All of these senses take in information from the world around us and help us make sense of it. These senses work together to help us remain in control of ourselves and to understand and process what is going on in our environment. When these senses do not work well together, either by being underresponsive or overresponsive, we feel dysregulated or "out of whack" so to speak.
Often our children who exhibit huge meltdowns and cannot be consoled easily or who are bouncing all over the place and can't settle down, or who are loud and boisterous, clumsy, hard on toys, rough with others, who sit and don't like to move much and are underactive, are demonstrating signs of sensory integration problems. Understanding behavior from this perspective allows us all to look at the environment differently and help these children by controlling what we can in the environment and providing the external framework they need to regulate themselves.
This is a newer areas that many teachers and doctors are still learning about but it is a key element in working with many of these children who are struggling. I'll write more about this later with ideas of strategies to help. For a quick resource, check out the suggested books under Resources on my website. I highly recommend The Out of Sync Child books by Carol Stock Kranowitz for a better explanation than I can give and for activities you can do at home. Also I found this link on Facebook which looks interesting to check out as well http://shop.sensorytools.net/ .
Family Learning Solutions, LLC
