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Sensory Processing Disorder

What is SPD?

Sensory Processing Disorder goes by many names (Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Neurosensory Dysfunction, etc.) but no matter what you call it, the underlying causes of it don’t change.

Our sensory system is a “read and react” system. What this means is that our body is “preprogrammed” to respond appropriately to environmental stimuli. This programming occurs throughout life and can be thought of as ‘sensory learning’ or processing.

The clearest example of this is a child placing their hand upon a hot stove… once it is done, it is rarely done again. This is because the burning and painful ‘sensation’ of the hot stove becomes ingrained in our sensory memory, and helps prevent us from making this mistake again. All sensory patterns in the body work in this way.

This great quote from Dr. Bruce Lipton really helps explain things further:

The function of the nervous system is to perceive the environment and coordinate the behavior of all other cells.
Dr. Bruce Lipton

Perception and Cordination

The key elements to understand here are PERCEPTION and COORDINATION. Without proper perception, there cannot be proper (normal) coordination. Kids who suffer from SPD have an inability to properly perceive their environment, whether that be from vision, hearing and sounds, balance and coordination, touch and tactile sense, or others.

The best way to understand this is to think of the entire nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and nerves) as the “Air Traffic Control System” for the entire body. It’s constantly PERCEIVING the environment through it’s millions and millions of sensory receptors and nerve endings, and then “reading and responding” accordingly.

Taking the analogy a step further, it’s important to know that the brainstem and upper neck regions essentially act as the “Air Traffic Control Tower” and are largely responsible for the processing, integrating, organization, and “filtering” of sensory information from all over the body. In other words, it is in charge of letting certain sensory information “in” and moves it on up the ladder to higher brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex… and in turn, it “filters” out all of the sensory information not deemed important enough to reach those higher centers.

What kids who suffer from things like SPD, ADD/ADHD, and ASD have in common, is that they have an inability to properly process, integrate, coordinate, and adapt to their sensory environment. All of these issues are really neurological INPUT and COORDINATION problems, not output and behavior problems.

For children with SPD, this “perception and coordination” system is essentially not “programmed” correctly. For various reasons, it becomes imbalanced and disorganized as the child develops, leading to improper neurological and brain development.