Sensory Integration Disorder
Your body is numb; you can’t feel the tips of your fingers. Every hair on your body is growing an inch every second that goes by. You sit beside a nice warm fire; suddenly you can feel your body thawing out. A pack of marshmallows are lying in the chair next to you. You place a marshmallow on the fire, the smell is horrifying but you know the taste of the burnt marshmallow is your favorite- well at least it is for me. “Ouch!” you say. The burnt top layer of the marshmallow is crispy an odd tasting and the second layer is hot and melted. The memory of camping is bittersweet. Not all of the five senses were experienced but you have an idea. What would we do without the five senses in life? What if you couldn’t taste certain foods? Or the texture of them made you gag? IF you couldn’t feel a hot burning stove but had a scar to prove it. This is Sensory Integration Disorder; A disorder that my brother goes through each and every day. Sensory integration disorder is medically called Sensory Processing Disorder but it was introduced to me as Sensory Integration or SID. According to the website SPDFoundation.net, sensory integration is a term that refers to the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into appropriate motor and behavioral responses. Researchers tell that Sensory Integration Disorder starts before birth and continues throughout the child’s life. Children with Sensory Integration Disorder have difficulty processing information from the senses such as touch, sight, movement, smell, taste, vision and hearing. The cause of Sensory integration is still unknown. From my interview with Dr. Sunshine Smoot, she informed me that it’s commonly in people that have Autism, ADHD, Asperser’s and other developmental disabilities. Sensory integration Disorder is likely to be the result factor that is it both genetic and environmental. The symptom of Sensory integration disorder with children cannot properly process sensory simulation from the