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The most commonly known sensory systems are the visual (vision), olfactory (smell), auditory (hearing) and gustatory (taste). These systems work together with the following systems, called Primary Systems, to give us information about our environments and how to relate to the people and objects in our environments:
(a) Tactile – This is the sense of touch. In addition to feeling things—touching and being touched—this system also sends the brain messages about things like pressure on the skin, temperature and the awareness of our bodies. Essentially, when this system is out of whack, we don’t feel safe in the world around us because we never know how something is going to feel.
Jaimie, for example, isn’t able to handle light touch. It drives her crazy. When she’s very sensitive, she fights having a bath, getting her hair brushed or having her teeth brushed, she doesn’t like the feel of her clothes, won’t go outside if it’s too windy, or even refuses to have anyone sit too close to her. To her such things send a “pain” message to her brain and she goes into immediate sensory overload.
There are other times, however, where Jaimie can shove her hands into snow, hold ice cubes, hit parts of her body on other objects or touch something burning hot and she won’t feel the sensation until much later on. This aspect of SPD, the under responsive side, is scarier because a child can seriously injure themselves if they aren’t paying attention.
(2) Vestibular – This is one of the gravity senses that tells the brain about movement. This sense tells the body whether we’re moving or not, what direction we’re going in, and how fast. It works closely with the visual system to help develop good eye muscle control, eye perception and attention span. The vestibular system is also in charge of our coordination, balance, muscle tone and fine motor skills (hand control and dominance). As you can imagine, children with poor vestibular systems struggle with fine and gross motor skills and often seen as clumsy or “rag doll-like” (poor muscle tone and control.)
On bad days, Jaimie walks into things, trips and falls down a lot, isn’t able to concentrate on anything and struggles with simple tasks like bouncing a ball, hopping on one foot or cutting paper with scissors.
(3) Proprioceptive – Essentially this is just a big word to say it’s the system that tells us what our bodies are doing. It allows us to gauge, for example, how close we are to something or someone where are bodies are in the environment. The system takes information from joints and muscles and helps us to learn skilled movements.
Children struggling in this area will have trouble coordinating their bodies to do activities like bouncing a ball, playing coordinating sports—like baseball or hockey—and are terrified of heights, being picked up or held upside down or activities like ice-skating where we can lose a sense of control over their bodies.
It’s important to know about all of these sensory systems in order to understand why a child like Jaimie may react negatively to a certain activity, person or experience. And one should also bear in mind that what may bother a child with SPD on one day may not even phase him or her the next. It’s one of the most confusing and frustrating aspects of helping and raising a child with SPD.
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