Pediatric physiotherapie and sensory processing
Sensory processing
Sensory processing deals with the processing of sensory perception (vision, feeling, smell, taste and hearing) in the brain. These perceptions play an important role in warning for danger, focusing of attention and taking on information.
Milestones
With the majority of children sensory integration goes unnoticed. Feeling and taste are developed by drinking and eating. Vision develops as well. Simultaneously children learn to discriminate between sounds in the foreground and background and to interpret sounds so they do not get frightened. With their mouth and hands they explore objects around them. They learn to play with sand and water and experience a variety of materials. The development of the sense of balance is very important. The start of sensory integration takes place in the first four years of a child's life.
Anomalies in taste
Hypersensitivity
The sense of touch warns for danger. The children are sensitive for touch: they do not like to sit on one’s lap or to be hugged. We call this tactile hypersensitivity. They are usually very fussy about their food. Clothes are experienced as ‘itchy’. They are usually not fond of playing with water, sand, clay and paint, because they find it dirty.
Hyposensitivity
In this case the sense of touch provides too little tactile information. Touching or being touched are not well experienced. The child has less control over his body. Therefore the child is clumsy and will bump easily. These children do enjoy playing with ‘dirty’ materials like water, sand, clay and paint.
