Play Therapy for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder - Essay Example

Carol Stock has defined this condition as "inefficient neurological processing of information received through the senses, causing problems with learning, development, and behavior"(The Out-of-Sync Child, 1998). Other common terminologies used for this condition are Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), Dysfunction of Sensory Integration (DSI), and Sensory Integrative Disorder (SID).The term Sensory Integration Dysfunction was coined by Dr. A. Jean Ayres, a researcher, and pioneer in the field of occupational therapy (Miller, Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation).

Sensory systems are means of perceiving the external world. They are essential for maintaining arousal, forming body image, and regulating movement. Sensory inputs are necessary for brain function and contribute to development. Thus, those children in whom sensory inputs are not integrated or processed normally, experience real-life situations in a different manner when compared to normal children (Ayres, 25th edition, pages 13-22).Many children with SPD have normal intelligence (“How is SPD treated?

”, Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation), but the way they perceive sensory information is different from normal children. This does not mean they are blind or deaf. The blind and deaf children do not perceive the specific senses at all. There is a defect in the visual or auditory pathways. Whereas in a child with SPD, these pathways are normal, the perception is also present, but the perception is abnormal. The children are either hypersensitive or hypersensitive to outside stimuli.For example, a child who is hypersensitive to touch will constantly be crashing into things seeking extra stimulation, while a hypersensitive child will avoid being touched or will not touching things when at all possible.

Children with visual processing defects will have a hard time finding the right words for objects they are viewing or, if asked to go and get an object, they might look right at it and then say they can't find it.