What is sensory integration?
Sensory integration refers to how people use the information provided by all the sensations coming from within the body and from the external environment. Your senses integrate to form a complete understanding of who you are, where you are, and what is happening around you. Because your brain uses information about sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes, and movement in an organized way, you assign meaning to your sensory experiences, and you know how to respond and behave accordingly.
For most of us, sensory integration occurs without conscious thought or effort. For others, sensory integration happens inefficiently. People with SI dysfunction have great difficulty figuring out what is going on inside and outside their bodies, and there's no guarantee that the sensory information they're working with is accurate. In response, a child may avoid confusing or distressing sensations – or seek out more of the sensation to find out more about it. For example, a child who has difficulty integrating tactile (touch) input may avoid unpleasant touch experiences such as getting his hands messy with paint, sand, or glue, while another child may crave such touch input and actively seek it out.
For most kids, sensory integration skills develop naturally. As children learn about new sensations, they become more confident about their skills, refine their ability to respond to sensory experiences, and are thus able to accomplish more and more. As sensory processing skills mature, vital pathways in the nervous system get refined and strengthened, and children get better at handling life's challenges.
For some children, sensory integration does not develop smoothly. Because they can't rely on their senses to give them an accurate picture of the world, they don't know how to behave in response, and they may have trouble learning and behaving appropriately.
From Raising a Sensory Smart Child by Lindsey Biel, M.A., OTR/L and Nancy Peske.
Chiropractic helps children with Sensory Integration issues by specifically addressing the imbalances in the nervous system (which inhibit sensory processing), muscles and joints which control posture and movement that influence our ability to interact with our environment. By directly affecting the nervous system, chiropractic care for the child with sensory processing issues can begin to change the many sensory concerns by facilitating input into the organs and areas of the body involved in sensory integration, including the skin and the nervous system.
