What Is Sensory Integration / Sensory Processing?
Each of the individual sensory systems (tactile, vestibular, proprioception, auditory, visual, gustatory and olfactory) has receptors, or specialized cells, throughout the body that provide the starting points that deliver messages to the brain (see chart above). As you can see, some of the receptors are located in specific areas of the body (gustatory/mouth; olfactory/nose; visual/eyes; auditory/ears and vestibular/inner ear) and others (tactile/skin; proprioception/muscles and joints) are spread throughout the body. The location of the receptors relates to the functions of each of the systems. For example, the receptors for the tactile system are located in our skin, making this the most global of all the systems, covering our entire body. However, some areas of the skin have more receptors than other areas. Our mouth, hands, feet and genitals have far more tactile receptors than our back or legs. This makes sense when you think about how important our mouth, hands and feet are for o
Related Questions
- I see alot of websites with ideas on helping with sensory integration and sensory processing. Can I just follow this advice and skip the OT evaluation?
- Do children with Sensory Integration Dysfunction or Binocular Vision Dysfunction have brain damage?
- What are some signs of Sensory Integration Dysfunction?
