Children who show signs of Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) often have problems with paying attention. Problems with a shortened  attention span tend to interfere with the ability to complete activities when a child has SPD.  These children tend to become either over stimulated or under stimulated as an activity continues. The ability to remain organized is also often compromised due to the shortened attention.  This is shown when the child is unable to break down an activity into steps needed to complete a task. Strategies that result in an improved level of attention inclu ..read more

Children with Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) tend to have issues that influence school performance.  The areas of difficulty shown in school tend to imitate the three major areas shown in the various types of Sensory Processing Disorders. One major type of difficulty shown in school among children with SPD is that of difficulty  managing their level of energy.  This is commonly referred to as self-control or self-regulation.   Deficits in self-regulation is one of the major subtypes of SPD.   At times children who have these types of difficulties are hy ..read more

Children with Modulation Disorders Challenges with  behavior often result when a child is unable to cope with responses to sensory input.  This may happen when sensory input seems to be overwhelming to the child.  Frequently, the behavior may be due to a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).  The condition is referred to as a type of SPD called a  modulation disorder. “Sensory Modulation Disorder” is a medical term.  The term refers to difficulties that arise  from an overload of sensory input.   Children who have SPD often have problems blending sens ..read more

Generally speaking, motor coordination and body awareness work together. Body awareness is the ability to understand how and where  body parts are positioned as needed to plan and carry out motor activities.   When joints and muscles of the body provide the brain with consistent sensory input,  the brain is able to guide and direct their moves.  However, during growth spurts, sensory input tends to become uneven and variable. Uneven sensory input results in uneven output and thus coordination suffers. Muscles and joints throughout the body  send informa ..read more

What is Sensory Processing? The term “Sensory Processing” generally refers to specialized activities of the nervous system.  These specialized activities are triggered whenever sensory organs or their pathways are stimulated within the body. However, when this term is applied to children who have issues with child development, the term usually refers to Sensory Processing Disorders. Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) is a medical condition that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood unless treatment is provided. Dr. A. Jean Ayres identified SPD as a specific disorder during th ..read more

The term “Visual Motor Skills”  refers to the ability to mix visual information with motor output.  For the most part, the term includes the ability to coordinate moves of the eyeballs with those of the arms and hands or legs and feet.  Also, moves of the  midsection to position the body may be involved.   The ability to make sense of visual information prepares the way for a motor response.  The ability to coordinate muscles that surround the eyeballs guide the way for visual motor skills to emerge. Basic moves of the muscles that surround each eye need t ..read more

Children with sensory processing issues are often smart and repeat what they do well. However, they also often avoid activities that are new or challenging. In this way the child tends to curb learning from experience.  Using a plan for well-balanced play during the summer months can be helpful to offset this tendency. Ongoing growth of the child with SPD can be helped by including a variety of activities that focus on specific skills.  A menu of essential activities for the  summer is shown below. Self-regulation is an essential skill needed for successful play during the sum ..read more

The first phase of coordination may be described as  motor planning.  The first steps of motor planning include: Planning what steps to take Planning what sequence or order in which to organize the steps Using vision or visualization to guide the motor steps taken Coordination requires preparing the body for the first steps, or motor planning the activity.  Motor planning also requires following through with secondary steps needed to complete the motor activity.  For example, the photo above shows a youngster at mid-swing with a bat and ball.  This activity ..read more

Brain wiring includes language with visual input. We often look at artwork and use of symbols as examples of how vision works to help prompt our thoughts. However, visual perceptual skills do not work in isolation. Language helps the learner better understand what is shown. For example, the youngster in the photo above will need to break down the task card into spatial language terms. He needs to think through language concepts such as “left, right, on top of, under” for success in building the model shown. Imagining movement of the pieces as he builds the project requires including language ..read more

Concepts explored in this post: Functional Vision: Integrating vision with motor skills and language Dorsal Stream – integrating vision with motor skills Ventral Stream – integrating vision with language skills Ocular Motility: Coordinating movements of the eyeballs Fixations, Visual Tracking, Visual Pursuits Visual Association: Motor free visual perceptual skills impacting Social skills Visual discrimination (i.e., letters, numbers) Children with Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) often have difficulty with visual perceptual skills due to the nature of the disability.  Visual ..read more