The term Occupational Therapy refers to the full range of methods to diminish sensory and motor problems and to enhance occupation and engagement in the task of life. Students with autism typically present with atypical sensory processing, motor difficulties and impaired social and communication skills. Occupational Therapists work directly with students, parents and teachers to optimize sensory experiences and improve motor skills.
Sensory Processing:
Research reveals that sensory processing refers to the way in which the central and peripheral nervous systems manage incoming sensory information from the senses. This encompasses the reception, modulation, integration and behavioral responses to sensory input. Sensory processing provides information about the environment through our vestibular (Head rotation and movement), proprioceptive (Position of the body in space), tactile, visual and auditory systems.
Vestibular awareness: The vestibular system detects head acceleration, head position and the pull of gravity by way of inner ear receptors that register the direction and rate of motion. Students with under-responsive vestibular processing seek opportunities for vigorous movement. This often is disruptive to classroom routines. Those who are over- reactive are often very fearful of movement and may show extreme emotional responses when moved.
Proprioceptive awareness: The proprioceptive system is stimulated by heavy work or work against resistance or traction of the joints. Stimulation of the proprioceptive system is thought to have a calming effect on students if they are over aroused and an alerting effect if they are under aroused. Proprioceptive input can be used throughout a student’s day to normalize hyper-arousal to a more optimal level.
Tactile awareness: This is when children are insensitive (hypo-sensitive to tactile input) and have difficulty registering sensations. These children may seek stronger stimuli. Other children are overly sensitive (hypersensitivity to tactile input) and avoid textures and sensations that other children find pleasant.
Visual: The visual system is responsible for visual acuity, eye movement and perception. The student or a child who is hypersensitive to visual stimuli may avoid eye contact and exhibit a high level of arousal when presented with high visual stimuli.
Auditory: The auditory sense allows the body to receive sound, process it and prepares the body for attention.
We all need sensory information to feed our nervous system. Maintaining the right level of alertness is essential in learning and performance. Within the classroom setting, the occupational therapist can suggest a variety of embedded activities (Sensory diets) that can help modulate the levels of student alertness required for specific tasks.
Applying Sensory diets:
Sensory diets are simply the activities that help the nervous system achieve a right level of alertness for being more available for learning. The goal of the sensory diet is to stimulate the back part of the brain through heavy work to muscles. If our school systems and organizations can stimulate the nervous system with a sensory diet of heavy work input, students with special needs will have the best chance of functioning optimally. The consumption of the following sensory diets in our schools will help exceptional students to remain calm and focus in the classroom.
Sensory diet activities for school:
Writing in clay tray with a pencil, passing out books to classmates, squeezing a ball of item while listening to a story, tug of war games at recess, help erase or wash the chalk board, sharpen pencils with a manual pencil sharpener, wear a backpack that is heavy (depending on the size of student), place chairs on desks at the end of the day or take down at the beginning of day and open door for other classmates.
These activities are most effective when provided in small doses throughout a student’s day as recommended by an occupational therapist and should be performed as always, with each teacher’s judgment and supervision. There is need to train occupational therapists in Nigeria to provide optimal alertness services for students who struggle to control sensory inputs in the classroom.
Obviously, there is a lot to know about the Occupational therapists and visiting your local occupational therapists’ service agency will be a smart move to advocate for children with special needs who struggle with sensory issues.
Isaac Osae-Brown
Isaac Osae-Brown works for the Compton Unified School District in California as an Education Specialist and a beginning Teacher Mentor. He is an advocate and a speaker for Special Education services in the United States and abroad. www.facebook.com/inclusivemindset/
