October is Sensory Awareness Month!
October is Sensory Awareness Month. In celebration, Helping Hands For Kids salutes our seven senses-sight, smell, sound, taste, touch, vestibular and proprioception- while raising awareness for Sensory Processing Disorder, a disorder that affects at least one in 20 children.
Every day our senses are stimulated and our nervous system receives and interprets the information, trying to make sense of it all. Sometimes it can be successful, and sometimes, well not so much. For some children, it can bring on happiness and for some, it can be downright stressful. When a child has a sensory processing disorder, the world can be very confusing and frustrating. The nervous system is responsible for producing a response to an endless amount of stimuli, whether it be an adaptive response or maladaptive response. A maladaptive response is when information cannot be processed efficiently or accurately, and a child may respond in the form of tantrums, avoidance, sensory-seeking behaviors, etc. – just to name a few. As caregivers, it's important to recognize that every child will not react or respond to their environments in the same way. We need to help the child perform at their best during their jobs: at school, at home and at play.
Treatment is not just a particular set of rules to follow that never changes. It is important that there is a lifestyle change in perspective, attitude and activity. Helping Hands For Kids hopes to educate parents, caretakers and professionals to look at life situations differently and adapt. It is not only important to apply sensory strategies that address the neurologic system to help integrate the sensory systems, but also to understand that it is the whole child that has to be addressed in all domains of life and in all environments relating to everyday activities.
Should you have any questions, or are you interested in learning more about how Helping Hands For Kids can help your child with sensory processing disorder, please contact us.
