Our sensory system

I have had several people ask me about some of their students and why they react to certain smells, sounds and textures or have limited body awareness.

Are you aware our body has 7 sensory systems that help us understand the world around us? Some of our students have sensory ways give mixed messages.


We have 7 different sensory systems that our brain must integrate in order to interact appropriately with our environment. These sensory systems include: proprioception (muscle-joint awareness), vestibular (orientation in space), tactile (touch), auditory (sound), visual (sight), gustatory (taste), and olfactory (smell). Our brain works hard to integrate all of those sensations without becoming too overwhelmed, distracted, or disengaged.

Even things that don’t seem “sensory” actually are. Take handwriting, for example. In order to write, your brain must integrate a huge amount of sensory information: to remain upright in the chair (proprioceptive sense), to hold the pencil with an appropriate grasp using the appropriate force (tactile and proprioceptive senses), to form the letters appropriately with adequate spacing (visual and vestibular senses), to sustain endurance throughout the activity (vestibular and proprioceptive senses), to filter out distracting input (auditory senses).


Children (and adults) with sensory processing disorders (SPD) manage sensory input in ways that are not functional, meaning they interfere with their daily activities.

http://momentousinstitute.org/blog/making-sense-of-sensory-processing