Sensory Integration
Sensory integration refers to the processing, integration and organization of sensory information from the body and environment. It includes how we experience, interpret and react to or ignore information coming from all of our senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, small, proprioception (body awareness and position,) vestibular (awareness of movement, balance and coordination) and interoception (tells us what’s happening inside our body like hunger or fatigue.)) Sensory integration and regulation play an important role in language development as children need to be in a regulated state to learn. A dysregulated state can impact a child’s participation, independence and engagement in daily activities. Occupational therapist Winnie Dunn developed a framework, termed Winnie Dunn’s sensory processing framework (DSPF) which yields four sensory patterns.
