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Children with Disorders of Sensory Integration (DSI) have a difficulty interpreting and using
information from their senses. These senses include the five we are very familiar
with; taste, smell, touch, hearing, and vision, as well as our sense of movement and our muscle sense.
Your child's sense have special receptors that send information to his brain
for interpretation. His sense of touch has receptors located throughout his skin, especially
his hands, mouth, and the top of his head. These receptors provide him with two kinds of
information; discrimination and protection.
Discrimination or perceptive touch tells your child about the properties of things. It tells
him whether something is hard, soft, rough, or cold. Good discriminative touch allows
him to reach into his pocket and distinguish a key versus a coin without looking.
A child without good discriminative touch may have difficulty completing fine motor tasks such as manipulation
toys or fastening buttons. He may also have poor speech articulation.
Your child's protective touch system tells him when he is in danger.
A child who is overly sensitive to touch is said to have tactile defensiveness. Usually these
children are also overly sensitive to other senses such as smells, tastes, sounds, and movement.
When other systems are involved the child is said to have sensory defensiveness. Signs
of defensiveness may include difficulty with hair washing, fingernail cutting, tooth brushing, and
tags on clothing. A child may be a picky eater and may not like to get his hands dirty. Babies
that are defensive are noted to arch away from their caregivers and to have difficult time
regulating sleep cycles.
The special receptors for your child's sense of movement are located in his inner ear and are
known as the vestibular system. This system provides your child with information about the
position and movement of his head and how he is moving in relation to gravity.
This system plays a roll in developing his balance and coordination between the two sides of his
body. It works with his visual system so that he is able to maintain his focus on an object
while he is moving across the room. A child may be overly responsive or under responsive to information
from this system. Children who are under responsive
may have poor safety awareness because they are not aware of where they
are in relation to gravity. This person may show a lack of fear and really like
fast, unsafe movement. Persons who are under responsive may not get dizzy and
may seek out high intensity movement experiences. Children who are over responsive
do not enjoy play ground or other movement experiences such as skating or riding a bike. Children
who are over responsive avoid activities that challenge their balance. They
are often clingy, and shy away from playing with peers.
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Your child's muscle sense has receptors that are located in his tendons and muscles called
proprioceptors. These receptors tell his brain where his body parts are and what they are doing.
They tell him how hard to squeeze a cat, a glue bottle, and his best friend.
Children with poor muscle senses may have very uncoordinated movements. They may be clumsy and fall
frequently. They may enjoy crashing and jumping games. Often times children with poor muscle
sense will break toys because they cannot judge the amount of force they are using.
Who Can Treat DSI?
Occupational therapists who undergo additional coursework and training are skilled in assessing
and developing a treatment program for DSI. At RA our therapists provide both traditional clinical treatment for DSI as well as programs
for home and school.
Visit the following sites for more information:
The SPD Network
Sensory Intergration International
Sensory Comfort
Sensory Resources
If you have questions about DSI contact:
Tracy Miller, MHS, OTR