Does your child seem clumsy, avoid the playground, or constantly crash into things? Maybe they’re always on the move and can’t sit still. These challenges might not be just “behavior.” They could be linked to the body’s hidden senses that control balance, movement, and body awareness. Understanding these systems is the first step to helping your child feel more confident and in control.
Hi, my name is Patti Rutledge. I’m the co-owner of Sensational Development Occupational Therapy located on Long Island in New York. Today, I want to explain the body’s hidden sensory systems and how they can affect your child’s behavior.
What Are the Hidden Senses in the Body?
When we think of senses, we often think of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. But there are also hidden sensory systems that play a big role in how children move and interact with the world:
- Proprioception (awareness of body position through muscles and joints)
- Vestibular system (sense of balance and movement)
Just like with the other senses, children may be hyperresponsive (overly sensitive) or hyporesponsive (insensitive) in these areas.
The Vestibular System Helps with Balance and Movement
The vestibular system is housed in the inner ear and gives the brain important information about motion, balance, and spatial orientation. Tiny structures inside the ear respond to changes in head position and movement, helping us know which way is up and how fast we’re moving.
When the vestibular system isn’t working well, children may show signs such as:
- Frequent dizziness or carsickness
- Appearing clumsy or uncoordinated
- Constant movement and fidgeting to seek input
- Avoidance of playground activities or sports
Vestibular Issues Can Look Like Hyperactivity or Fatigue
There are children that are in constant movement. They can’t settle down because they crave sensory input.
We also have children that would prefer not to move. You might see these children on the playground, not engaging in any playground activities. They’re not playing with their friends. They are choosing to just sit out. Maybe they’re not picked for teams, or they’re the last one picked because their peers already know that they’re not so good at sports. And these children, not only are they having a hard time motor planning, but it also affects their self-esteem.
And we might see children that are having meltdowns when they realize they can’t do what their peers are doing, or they have anxiety when they know they might have to participate in an activity where they’re not going to be able to keep up with their peers.
The Proprioceptive System Helps Kids Understand Their Body in Space
The proprioceptive system handles information that comes in through our muscles and our joints. It tells us how hard it is to bite into an apple versus biting into a peach. It tells us how hard to press on our pencil when we’re writing on paper. It tells us how hard to press on our crayon when we’re coloring. It tells us how hard it is to use our muscle movement to close a door.
There might be kids that are constantly slamming doors, and it’s not that they intend to slam the door, but they can’t judge their muscle movement. There are children that might be stabbing their plate when they’re trying to eat. Once again, they can’t judge their muscle movement.
Proprioceptive Challenges Can Make Kids Look Clumsy or Rough
We see a lot of children that have a hard time understanding where they are in space. They might:
- Seem very clumsy
- Trip over things
- Not notice things in their way
- Walk down the hall with their hands on the wall as a guide
- Fall off their chair
The Body’s Sensory Systems Need to Be Integrated for Optimal Function
And I think this is the most critical thing: when we talk about integration, it’s really important to remember that all systems need to work together. You might have a fine auditory system, but that’s not going to help you when you’re having difficulty with motor planning, when you have poor bilateral coordination, when your balance is off, or when you’re having difficulty in school.
If you’re a child that has difficulty processing vestibular information, not only is it your body that’s not processing it, but it’s a functional task that’s being impacted by your inability to process that information. If your system is not functioning properly and you are not processing sensory information accurately, it affects so many aspects of your life.
Examples of How an Unintegrated System Can Impact a Child’s Daily Life
In school, we often see children that have a hard time reading or writing. They might have a hard time copying information from the board and putting it on paper. They might have a hard time reading. They may lose their place easily, and that’s a child that has difficulty with ocular motility which is very closely connected to vestibular processing.
Handwriting is another activity that we see in school that will kind of give us a little clue into a possible vestibular dysfunction because some children can’t organize their work on a paper. These are the children that have a hard time putting their letters on a line. They write below the line, their letters are all spaced out, or their letters are crunched together. They can’t spatially orient their letters.
Reach Out to Sensational Development for Expert Support
If you have any questions or you suspect that your child might have difficulty processing sensory information, feel free to call us at Sensational Development. We’d be more than happy to walk you through the evaluation process and help you determine the best decision to make to support your child.
