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Research for Practice: Sensory Integration and Dyslexia.


Ayres’ published her research findings, making a case for emerging patterns of sensory integration dysfunction including;   

  • developmental dyspraxia – this pattern linking motor planning difficulties with deficits in tactile perception
  • difficulties with integration of both sides of the body; poor right-left discrimination, difficulties crossing the midline, and  reduced bilateral motor coordination – impacting on posture and postural control, thought to related difficulties processing vestibular input 
  • visual perception, form and space perception deficits impacting on visual-motor functions
  • difficulties with visual figure-ground discrimination
  • deficits in auditory and language functions.
  • tactile defensiveness and related sensory reactivity difficulties impacting negatively on attention 

A key feature of Ayres’ Sensory Integration is the adaptive response;  “an adaptive response is a purposeful, goal-directed response to a sensory experience … play consists of a series of adaptive responses that make the sensory integration happen. In turn, as sensory integration develops, better organization and more complex skills are possible” Ayres 2005.

In 2013, Viana et al reported that children with dyslexia show poor performance and variability while relating visual and somatosensory information. Children with dyslexia showed less coherent and more variable body sway;  suggesting difficulties in multisensory integration from sensory cues coming from multiple sources.

 

man in brown jacket holding a book

Studies with adults and children found that there is reduced neurophysiological adaptation in adults and children with dyslexia. In 2016, Perrachione et al published research suggesting that people with dyslexia are likely to have differences in sensory integration and processing, noting significantly reduced adaptation to speech from a consistent voice and less adaptation to the repetition of words, objects, and faces. They provide evidence to support the hypothesis that reading skills in dyslexia are related to the degree of neural adaptation.

In 2017 Wandel and Le confirmed the importance of the effective processing of multiple sensory inputs, including successful sensory integration for competent reading. 

“Successful reading involves the ability to efficiently integrate visual signals with the sounds of speech and the language system; thus, diagnosing the reading circuitry requires testing the cortical and white matter regions that carry reading information from the visual, auditory, and language systems. Reading impairment can result from problems within neural circuits that are used for multiple purposes, not uniquely reading (Rayner et al., 2012, Seidenberg, 2017). Hence, we advocate assessing the circuitry broadly, not just portions that are highly specialized for reading.”

In clinical practice, some children with sensory integration difficulties benefit more from the use of coloured overlays. Research from Kriss and Evans (2005) suggests that 

“Children with dyslexia seem to benefit more from coloured overlays than non‐dyslexic children. MIS and dyslexia are separate entities and are detected and treated in different ways. If a child has both problems then they are likely to be markedly disadvantaged and they should receive prompt treatments appropriate to the two conditions. It is recommended that education professionals as well as eye‐care professionals are alert to the symptoms of MIS and that children are screened for this condition, as well as for other visual anomalies.”

Read the full article: The relationship between dyslexia and Meares‐Irlen Syndrome

Read more here:

Dyslexia link to eye spots confusing brain say scientists.

Dyslexia and Sensory Processing, is there a link?

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Respect the Intelligences of Kids with Intellectual Disabilities

Screen Shot 2019-07-29 at 23.35.21.pngread the whole story at Respect the Intelligences of Kids with Intellectual Disabilities

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Christmas Themed – Calm Down Glitter Bottle Timer

Thanks so much for this beautiful, simple idea sent to us by one of our families.

Have you tried making and using a glitter-filled calm down bottle timer to help your little ones? It’s easy to put a Christmas theme into them by using festive colours and adding seasonal themed sequins or beads.

With so many versions on the internet, here is a blog post from my Crazy Blessed Life with tried and tested instructions to make your own. While Mama OT explains how the bottles can work by aiding self-regulation http://mamaot.com/sensory-calm-down-bottle/

And a Christmas themed jar from Teaching Mama

Christmas Sensory Bottle

Don’t forget there is still time for you to win a copy of Love Jean by entering our Christmas time book give away. Share your Christmas themed sensory ideas with our community… by leaving a comment on one of our Christmas themed blog posts or on our facebook page … before the 15th December 2018

love jean book

 

 

 

assorted color sequins

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Helping Autistic Children Manage the School Christmas Play

Christmas time in school can be difficult for children with additional needs, changes in routine and new experiences can be hard to manage. Here is some advice from Its a Tink Thing with ideas for helping autistic children to be included in the Christmas play.

How to help an autistic child to manage the school Christmas play

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Back to School: help and ideas for all

Back to school is just around the corner. School can be tricky for young people with sensory integration challenges, and especially those first few weeks in a new schools, classrooms, with new teachers and sometimes new classmates. New uniforms and shoes can also be a challenge.

Practising these exercises at home over the next 2 weeks may help young people have some ways to reduce anxiety and provide the brain with calming proprioceptive input. Get everyone in the family practising at breakfast and dinner time so those brain networks learn and know how to do these when they are most needed – in times of high stress. Mum and Dad doing these in front of everyone when they feel stressed will make them OK and something everyone does when they are bothered by tricky things.

This handout is available to download and print out – and despite the title, they are suitable for all ages. These ideas can be used at home, school, work and out and about.

PDF Download: goo.gl/kYr9RY