Liz

1. SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER
Elizabeth Matz

2. WHAT IS SENSORY PROCESSING
DISORDER?
• Sensory processing disorder is a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving
and responding to information that comes in through the senses.
• Some people with sensory processing disorder are oversensitive to things in their
environment.
• Others with Sensory Processing Disorder may:
• Be uncoordinated
• Bump into things
• Be unable to tell where their limbs are in space
• Be hard to engage in conversation or play
• Not recognized as a stand alone disorder, rather it is prevalent in developmental
conditions like Autism.

3. SIMULATION
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr4_dOorquQ
• Only displays the hyper responsive side of SPD.
• There is also:
• Hypo responsive
• Modulation issues
• Mono channel
• Sensory discrimination issues

4. TYPES OF SENSORY PROCESSING
DISORDER SYSTEMS
• Visual
• Taste
• Touch
• Auditory
• Smell
• Proprioception
• Your body in space/awareness
• Muscles, joints, etc.
• Vestibular
• Your balance and movement
• Inner ear
• Your relationship to gravity
• Enteroception
• Your ability to sense internally

6. FACTS AND SYMPTOMS
FACTS
• Affects developing children and adults.
• At least 1/20 people in the general
population is affected by SPD.
• Studies have found a significant
difference between the physiology of
children with SPD and children with
ADHD.
SYMPTOMS
• All of the symptoms exist on a spectrum:
• Over or under responsive to things
• Particular sounds may make them
scream or vomit
• Scream when touched
• Flinch back from the textures of certain
foods
• They become anxious and don’t handle
change well.
• Everyone has sensory issues to some
extreme, but it is when it becomes extreme
that it is called SPD.

7. CAUSES AND TREATMENTS
CAUSES TREATMENTS
• Occupational therapy
• Treatment depends on the individual
needs
• Helping children do better at activities
they're normally not good at
• Helping them get used to things they
can't tolerate.
• Treatment is called sensory integration
• The goal of sensory integration is to
challenge a child in a fun, playful way so he
or she can learn to respond appropriately
and function more normally
• Still unknown but researchers say it
may be a result of:
• Genetics
• Prenatal and birth complications
• Environmental factors (adoption)
• Birth risk factors (low birth weight,
prematurity)

8. STIGMAS/STEREOTYPES
• The child is just “acting out” or being
resentful
• Bad parenting/home life
• The student is just getting distracted
(hypo responsive)

9. SOURCES
• http://www.webmd.com/children/sensory-processing-disorder#2-4
• https://www.spdstar.org/basic/about-spd
• https://childmind.org/article/quick-facts-on-sensory-processing/
• http://special-ism.com/five-fundamental-facts-about-spd/
• https://www.dealwithautism.com/what-is-sensory-integration-disorder/