What is Sensory Integration?
Visual, auditory, olfactory, proprioceptive stimuli attack us from all sides. Our brain works constantly to eliminate irrelevant information and capture only the most important elements for us from the environment. However, there are people who cannot cope with the bombarding number of stimuli. They see, hear, feel and experience everything exactly. It is difficult for them to function in our world – full of colors and sounds. They become nervous, get irritated quickly, or close themselves in empty and quiet places to calm down. Every day we use self-regulation (consciously or not). The problem arises when self-regulation is not enough to function and cooperate with the environment. Then the therapy that allows us to cooperate with all our senses – Sensory Integration (SI) therapy becomes helpful. It is used mainly in children (but not only) who have problems experiencing stimuli. The therapists’ task is to play with the child in a non-directive way. As the name suggests – it is an action aimed at integrating all the senses with each other. In therapy, we use swings, rollers, balls, objects with various structures, music, sounds and much, much more.
author: physiotherapist Ilona Sambor
