Sensory Modulation Training

Content
Children who would most benefit from Sensory Modulation Training are...
What is sensory modulation?
Who has problems with sensory modulation?
Goals of Sensory Modulation Training
What does a Sensory Modulation Experience Look Like?
A Sensory Modulation Outdoor Path
How can you tell Sensory Modulation Training is Working?

Children who would most benefit from Sensory Modulation Training are:
* children who do poorly on the Greenspan Infant/Child Regulatory Patterns Survey
* overly sensitive to touch, movement, sights or sounds
* under-reactive to touch, movement, sights or sounds
* easily distracted
* experiencing social and/or emotional problems
* unusually high or unusually low in level of activity
* physically clumsy or careless--poor motor planning
* impulsive and lacking in self-control
* experiencing difficulty making transitions from one situation to another
* experiencing delays in speech, language or motor skills
* delayed in academic achievement

What is sensory modulation?
Sensory modulation is when the senses work together. Each sense works with the others to form a composite picture of who we are physically, where we are and what is going on around us. Sensory modulation is a neurological function that is responsible for producing this composite picture. It is the organization of sensory information for on-going use.

Typically healthy sensory modulation occurs automatically, unconsciously and without effort in normally developing children. For children with a variety of developmental challenges, the process is inefficient, demanding effort and attention with no guarantee of accuracy. When this occurs, the goal to regulate sensory input and to "make sense of the physical world" and the "place of self within that world" is not easily attained.

Sensory experiences include touch, movement, body awareness, sight, sound and the pull of gravity. The process of the brain organizing and interpreting this information is often called sensory integration or sensory modulation. Sensory modulation provides a crucial foundation for later, more complex learning and behavior.

For most children, sensory modulation develops in the course of ordinary childhood activities. Motor planning ability is a natural outcome of the process, as is the ability to adapt to incoming sensations. But for some children, sensory modulation does not develop as efficiently as it should. When the process is disordered, a number of problems in learning, development or behavior may become evident.

Who has problems with sensory modulation?
A child who, although bright,
* has difficulty using a pencil, playing with toys or doing self-care tasks like dressing.
* so fearful of movement that ordinary swings, slides or jungle gyms generate fear and insecurity.
* whose problems lie at the opposite extreme uninhibited and overly active, often falling and running headlong into dangerous situations.

In each of these cases, a sensory modulation problems may be an underlying factor. Its far-reaching effects can interfere with academic learning, social skills, even self-esteem.

Some examples of situations in which sensory modulation problems are a concern are:
* Premature birth. More and more premature infants survive today; they enter the world with fragile, easily overstimulated nervous systems and multiple medical complications. Parents need to learn how to give their premature infant the sensory nourishment their child requires for optimal development and how to avoid detrimental overstimulation.
* Autistic spectrum disorders and other developmental disorders. Severe difficulty with sensory processing is a hallmark of these disorders. Children with autistic spectrum disorders seek out unusual quantities of certain types of sensations and are extremely hypersensitive to other types. Similar traits are often seen in other children with developmental disorders such as Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome and other genetic disorders. Improving sensory processing leads these children to more productive contacts with people and environments.
* Learning Disabilities. As many as 30 percent of school-aged children are estimated to have learning disabilities. The majority of these children, although normal in intelligence, are likely to have sensory modulation problems. These children are also more likely than their peers to have had a premature birth, early developmental problems and poor motor coordination. Early intervention can improve sensory processing and self-regulation in these children, minimizing the possibility of school failure before it occurs.
* Delinquency and substance abuse. Numerous studies indicate that learning disabled children are at risk for later delinquency, criminality, alcoholism and drug abuse. Repeated failure in school opens the door to self-destructive activities. By interrupting the vicious cycle of failure, intervention to help children with sensory and processing dysfunctions and learning problems may also prevent serious social problems later in life.

Goals of Sensory Modulation Training
Note: If you have the availability of Occupational Therapists who are trained in Sensory Integration Assessment and Intervention it would be best to contact them first to assess your children prior to providing sensory modulation training. This will insure that the sensory modulation programs designed for the children meet their needs without overloading or overwhelming them. However we recognize that not all communities, schools or agencies have the availability of Sensory Integration trained therapists and for this reason this site presents ideas for parents and teachers which hopefully will assist children to lessen their unhealthy responses to sensory stimuli. Hopefully this site and its information will stimulate you to seek out Sensory Integration trained therapists to take up work in your community, school or agency so as to provide your children with the appropriate sensory modulation training they need.

To guide children through a number of activities that challenge their ability to respond appropriately to sensory input and make a successful, organized response. These sensory stimulating experiences hopefully through repetition and continuous exposure allow children to become more capable of adjusting to sensory input and to regulate both their physical and emotional responses to these sensory stimulations. This process encourages self-regulation of sensory input and improves the children's ability to respond to the world of sensory input in a more adaptive way. This activity allows children to feel comfortable with the sensations of this world and to cope with how their bodies respond to these sensations.

Making sensory modulation training fun and playful motivates children to participate more fully in these activities. Most children tend to seek out activities that provide sensory experiences that are most beneficial to them at their current physical, emotional and social development. It is this active involvement and exploration that enables children to become more mature, efficient organizers of sensory information, and thus more relaxed with their experience of the sensory input of the world.

What does a Sensory Modulation Experience Look Like?
Typical Sensory Modulation Training experiences involve the child handling such physically interesting substances as shaving cream, finger paints, whipped cream, sand, water, Jell-O, raw beans, pellets or balls in a table activity.

For example: Here is young James being assisted to explore shaving cream. Look at his face. "Hmm. This is different!" He is not sure how he really feels about this stuff. James being exposed to shaving cream in a table side sensory modulation experience.

James is prodded to continue to keep his hands in the gooey substance, results in his becoming more relaxed and involved in this sensory experience. James needs less pressure or guidance to manipulate the shaving cream. He relaxes and begins to really engage in spreading it around the table.

Sophie has been doing this shaving cream "thing" for a while now and she gets into the process with no hesitation. Sophie looks at her hands and begins to contemplate what she might do with this wonderful white texture. She explores the feelings of the material more. She is on her own in this activity and needs little prodding. Her teacher is sitting next to her, but allow Sophie to take the "lead" in this exploration.

Sophie touches the palm of her hand. She is more "in tuned" with her body parts through this activity. She is willing to experiment with this substance as she proceeds, because she can do it at her own pace with no pressure to do so.

"Well let's get into this thing more!" She slathers the cream on her arm. Sophie is not all alarmed or frightened by the feel of the cream on her arm. She has become more "centered" in her sensory tracking of this experience. She is a veteran and expands to new exploratory heights in her sensory training using shaving cream to experience her body's sensations.

Finally she looks at the well lathered hands and arms and recognizes that she is the one responsible for them getting white. Sophie did not need any prompting or cuing in this sensory modulation activity. She took the "lead" and went to new heights to experience the sensations which it entailed. This is the goal of such activities to get the child to "take the lead" and to be desensitized to the discomfort which comes from such sensory input. This type of sensory exploration needs to be done on a regular daily basis with children who have problems with sensory regulation.

It is imperative that children be allowed to explore these sensations with no major limitations or prohibitions. So be aware that these activities can be messy, so prepare yourself for the "fun" involved.

A Sensory Modulation Outdoor Path
I am a volunteer four hours a week at a local elementary school in Tampa, Florida. I work with the four children pictured here. I set out to assist the staff to improve the sensory modulation of each child. To accomplish this goal, I decided to build a sensory modulation path next to the group's portable classroom.

The path is 24 feet long, 4 feet wide with six different sectors. There are two sand "traps" at the beginning and end of the path. There then is smooth river rocks, followed by cypress bark, eucalyptus mulch and small river pebbles.

Here is the teacher Donna encouraging James to enter the path so as to join Benny who is exploring the sand with his toes.

The children are encouraged to enter the path with bare feet. They are given up to 30 minutes a day of time to explore this sensory path. The goal is to allow the children to experience the varied textures, temperatures and smells not only with feet but to get into the materials and experience them all over their bodies.

James sitting down on the pebbles. Look at his toes, notice they are raised. He is very defensive to the touch of these pebbles to his feet. This path is a sensory challenge, one he will need to proceed with gradually at his own pace.

Bea, the classroom assistant, does not have to do much prodding any longer to get the children to explore the path. See how Sophie walks the wooden rails, Benny cleans the pebbles out of the mulch and James gets ready to sit in his sand box. Since the path is accessible daily, the children are able to explore textures, smells and other sensory experiences such as "cold stuff" on a daily basis. It only cost about $100 to construct this path. It has become a useful component in the classroom day to assist these children's to extend their sensory awareness.

Here is Sophie rolling the pebbles in her hands. The children are free to explore, create, define and experience this path setting with little to no restrictions placed upon them. Only thing they are told is "no throwing of the sand, pebbles or mulch" and "no walking off."

How can you tell Sensory Modulation Training is Working?
Children with hypersensitivity to touch, often walk on tip toes. This sequence of Benny's use of the path gives us a picture of what sensory modulation training looks like.

Here he is on the eucalyptus mulch. He was in a hurry to get off of it. The smell and texture seemed to upset him. He swung around and entered the river rock bed. There is a need for children to be exposed to sensory inputs in a gradual non-threatening way. By Benny taking the lead he knows how he is responding to these textures and he will show us how he can best deal with them.

On the river rocks he curled his toes. He did not last long on this texture. Look at how he stands on the side of his right foot.

He finally got himself across the path to the pebbles. Note, how his toes and feet are in the air. He is not comfortable yet with this sensation.

He begins to play with the pebbles and relaxes. However, you notice the feet and toes are still in the air.All during this process, Benny was allowed to explore on his own. No one forced him to engage with this "hostile" sensory experience.

See how he positioned his feet and look at the turn of his hand as he played with the pebbles. As he relaxed with the sensation of the texture on his body and feet, his toes and feet began to settle down.
Benny finally began to put the pebbles between his feet. See how his movement appears more relaxed and feet were less rigid. He was able within seconds to go from great sensory discomfort to having fun and enjoyment as he explored the use and feel of the pebbles on his body. This was a successful sensory event for him and the staff.

All We Need is Love!

"Wow! Here I am in something new!" "I don't like this very much." Chase is not sure if he likes this stuff or if he would like to run away from it. He is not pressured to do anything but to be himself and to explore this arena. Note, the w sitting. This is common with children with low muscle tone. He is very sensory reactive.

Chase while in the sand kept his body protected from the "fearful sensory assault" he was experiencing.
There is no guaranteed structured formula to follow in doing sensory modulation training. All that is important is that you expose the children to a variety of sensory experiences. Use your imagination and you will come up with a multitude of experiences which will suit the needs of the children with whom you are involved.

Chase hesitatingly moves from sector to sector on the path. Note the tentative nature of his stepping down from the rail to the next sector.

Look at his "toe walking" on the mulch. Toe walking is a common sign of sensory disregulation. "This sure feels icky; I want to get as far away from his stuff as I can." Look also at how he holds his arms and hands. His posture is also common with children with low muscle tone. "Watch out, Sophie, here comes Chase!" It takes time to regulate or modulate one's sensory response to new and different sensations. Chase needs encouragement and support to continue on his path to sensory regulation and modulation.
After his trip on the path, what Chase needed was "loving" from his teacher Donna and reassurance that he would be OK and would survive this assault on his senses. Hugging is a marvelous way to assist a child to modulate senses.

Do not rush children into these new experiences; let them take the lead. They will benefit from the process if they are not rushed or forced into doing any of these sensory activities.

The most important step in promoting sensory modulation in children is to recognize that it exists and that it plays an important role in the development of a child. By learning more about sensory modulation, parents, educators and caregivers can provide an enriched environment that will foster healthy growth and maturation.