Sensory Modulation
The excitatory and inhibitory functions of the central nervous system (CNS) in response to incoming sensory signals.
- Linked to arousal level (may be too low or too high)
- Contributes to self-regulation
Sensory Discrimination
Includes detection & recognition
- Detection: ability to discriminate between a positive stimulus and a null stimulus
- Recognition: the ability distinguish between different stimuli
- Linked to attention, cognition, and memory
- Related to CNS processes of distinguishing between organizing temporal and spatial characteristics of sensory stimuli
Body Schema
- Sensory-motor map of physical self
- Thought to be important contributor to motor planning
- Product of intersensory integration of visual, tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive information
- Key brain structures thought to be thalamus and parietal lobe
Praxis
“An intelligence of doing” (Ayers)
Involves cognitive processes of ideation and motor planning
Sensory Registration
The ability to record or notice and respond to salient environmental information. The firing of one or more neurons in response to a single sensory event. A behavioral orientation to sensory input (Ayers).
Arousal
Neural reactions linked to the detection of input activating the sympathetic nervous system.
Self-Regulation
The ability to monitor one’s own behavior.
Ability to comply with a request, to initiate and cease activities according to situational demands, to modulate intensity, frequency, & duration of verbal & motor actions in social educational settings, to postpone acting upon a desired object or goal, and to generate socially approved behavior in the absence of external monitors.
Ideation
An ability to conceptualize a novel action, generate an idea of WHAT to do
Motor planning
An ability to organize a novel action, know HOW to do it or the organization of action in space and time
Influences on an individual’s sensory processing
- CNS functions
- Environment
- Genetic makeup
Development of sense of touch
Contributes to
- motor control
- emotional development
- Primitive reflexes: rooting, sucking, grasping
*Emotional development: Bonding - Body schema and motor skills
- Oral motor skills
- Hand skills
- Protection (not protective reactions)
Proprioception
Tells the brain when and how the muscles are contracting or stretching, when and how the joints are bending, extending, being pulled or compressed. This info enables the brain to know where each part of the body is and how it’s moving.
- Enables awareness of body position
- Regulates direction and amount of pressure/force during active movement
- May contribute to self regulation
Vestibular System
- Detects head motion in space
- Regulates balance in tandem with vision and proprioception
- Impacts emotional stability, postural control, and motor coordination.
Importance:
- Connecting to earth
- Postural control, ability to assume posture & positions against gravity
- Muscle tone (esp. antigravity extensor tone)
- Coordinated use of both sides of the body
- Compensatory eye movements
Development of Proprioception
Importance:
- Modulation of sensations (contributes to emotional regulation)
- Discrimination (motor control)
Contributes to:
- Discrimination and localization of body parts in space
- Grading the force of the contraction, timing of the movement, feedback from active motor responses
-Internalization of movement patterns, postural reactions, proximal joint stability, hand functions, oral motor control
Olfactory & Gustatory Systems (Developmental Functions)
- Caregiver-infant bonding
- Protection from noxious substances
- Attraction to potentially nurturing substances
Visual System (Developmental Functions)
- Bonding
- Spatial orientation
- Movement through space
- Social skills
- Communication
Auditory System (Developmental Functions)
- Language development
- Spatial orientation
- Modulation (?)
Sensory Integraion
- A process in the brain that occurs at multiple levels of the nervous system
- A theoretical framework for understanding human behavior, originated by Ayers
- A clinical framework for evaluation and intervention (ASI)
- Includes: models of sensory development, classification of disorders, interventions
- Ayers’ theory is based on multisensory processes and plasticity
Multisensory Integration
The term used in neuroscience that describes how sensory integration works. It occurs at the level of the neuron.
It’s an umbrella term, because it describes one’s ability to organize sensory information for use. It encompasses many CNS processes.
It involves CNS processes of modulation and organization (neurotransmitters and neuromodulators)
Describes the fact that sensory maps are not formed in complete independence of each other
i.e. balance, perception of rain
- Integration of different sensory modalities.
- Combination of unisensory inputs that produce greater neuronal responses than individual sensations alone (Bremner et al., 2012; Stein, 2012)
- Influences perception, cognition, and decision-making
It influences neuroplasticity through:
- Synaptic changes (inhibition and facilitation)
- Structural changes (repeated input may influence dendritic growth)
- Cortical re-organization
Sensory Integration Intervention
An intervention aimed at improving SI capacities through active engagement by the child. Based on systematic assessment to identify specific patterns of SI problems & strengths.
Intersensory Integration
The combination of information from different sensory modalities, leading to enhanced perception (Ayers, 1972)
The neurological process that organizes sensations from one’s body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively in the environment” (Ayres, 1989)
Adaptive Response (requirements)
- Environment that presents sensoryinformation
- Challenges to the child that are neither too great nor
too small - Sensory integration within the child
- Motivation to meet challenge that comes from the child
- Organization of a response that meets the challenge
Inner Drive
A drive towards development develop sensory integration is apparent in people
Neuroplasticity
- The basis of learning!
– Potential for brain structure or function to change as
a result of experience
– Represents the biological basis for development, learning, and recovery from brain injury
– Occurs throughout the lifespan, but is especially robust in young organisms
Over time, adaptive responses drive improvements in behavior via neuroplasticity, which increases the efficacy of sensory integration
