How Sensory Integration Therapy Helps A Child With Autism?

Sensory integration means a process in the brain that allows us to gather information from five senses, organize it and respond accordingly. In a child with Autism, Sensory Integration Therapy helps him or her to understand sensory stimuli in a better way. We spoke to our expert Dr. Kimaya Sabnis, Pediatric Physiotherapist, Sensory Integration and NDT trained, Mumbai, about the therapy and its benefits.

As part of the Autism awareness let us try to appreciate these creative little minds and to get an insight into how they perceive the world and get to know more about Sensory Integration (SI).

ETV Bharat Sukhibhava spoke to Dr.Kimaya Sabnis, Pediatric Physiotherapist, Sensory Integration and NDT trained, actively in Private practice -Kimaya Therapy Centre (Vile Parle East), Consultant at Body Dynamics Clinic at Borivali, Ex visiting Consultant at Bhakti Vedanta Hospital for some interesting insights.

SI is a neurological process that defines a person’s ability to gather information from the surroundings by his/her senses, filter and organize it and create an appropriate response. Simply put, Sensory Integration therapy is asensory-motortreatment strategythatlooks like and feels like play, and play is every child’s way of learning and developing. Sensory integration is one of the many therapeutic tools in a therapist’s tool kit, it is designed to help children who have sensory processing difficulties, in other words, trouble understanding the sensory stimuli that they feel.

It is essential to understand and differentiate, who is an ideal candidate for SI. Not all children with Autism or any other developmental, behavioral, or learning problems have sensory difficulties. If your child shows the following he may be eligible for SI:

• Overly /hypersensitive/defensive to touch, taste, smell, sound, visual stimuli,and fear of heights or movement.
• Under responsive child who seeks various sensory stimulation such as touch, hugs,self-talk, etc
• Kids with high or low activity levels, extremely hyperactive or very lethargic
• Kids with motor coordination difficulties such as eye-hand, eye-foot coordination & are clumsy with awkward movements.
• Kids with delay in speech & language, motor skills,or even academic achievements despite their normal intelligence
• Kids who are disorganized, clumsy, easily distracted, lack planning & find difficulty adjusting to new environments or tolerating change in plans
• Kids with a poor concept of SELF may appear bored, lazy, lethargic, or unmotivated.

However, instead of labeling a child’s behavior as unpleasant, negative, or bad, we as caregivers should be good detectives and try to identify and understand what their behavior is telling us about their emotions, feelings, or discomfort related to something in their surroundings.

The common challenges faced while administering SI therapy in children with autism are their stimming at times is not sensory and may purely be stereotypical, these therapeutic movement strategies may be difficult to administer without the availability of certain specific equipment. More often than less, a good way of involving parents and teachers in therapy is by enabling them to follow a Sensory Diet at home/school.

A Sensory Diet in other words is a sensory lifestyle built into the child's routine. It is done by creating a sensory smart home with quiet spaces, less clutter visually, use of objects which they can feel and see such as fidget toys, slime, poky textured balls, etc, accompanied by a set of tailor-made lists of activities a child can indulge in specific to each child's sensory needs.

“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” This statement gives us a beautiful insight into this world of Autism. Let’s not limit or box the abilities of these children into the boundaries of our expectations. If you fail to teach them, then remember to try till you succeed, this failure will only give you more information about what works for your child and what does not, in other words decoding autism. My advice as a therapist is to Have fun and explore the world together with your child.

For your queries contact, kimayatherapycentre@gmail.com