A child with sensory processing deficits may have difficulties in the following areas:

Tactile Processing (Touch):Definition: The tactile system includes two branches including: Discriminative-provides information about what type of touch and characteristics about the object being touched and Protective-provides information regarding touch that can alert our body of potential harm. Avoids touching or being touched; reacts strongly to a light touch; dislikes getting dirty; objects to clothing textures and tags or craves touching and being touched; unaware of temperature or pain; bumps into objects and people.

Visual Processing (Sight):Definition: Allows us to see and interact with other and objects in our environments. Poor eye contact; covers eyes; over-reactive to bright lights; over excited by too much to look at or touches everything because vision is poorly coordinated; misinterprets facial expressions, gestures, written directions and signs.

Auditory Processing (Sound):Definition: Allows us to interact and respond to sounds in our environment. Covers ears to shut out voices or sounds; complains about loud noises such as vacuums, hair dryers, fans, and the flushing of a toilet or seems to ignore voice; has difficulty following verbal directions; speaks in a loud voice or has speech delays.

Olfactory (Smell):Definition: Allows us to react or acknowledge various scents. Objects to odors that others don’t notice; will not eat foods with strong smells or does not notice unpleasant odors; sniffs people, objects and food.

Gustatory (Taste):Definition: Receptors help us identify certain tastes (spicy, sweet, sour and bland) Will not eat foods with certain textures or temperatures; has limited diet; gags when eating or eats or licks inedible objects; prefers very hot or spicy foods.

Vestibular (Movement and Balance):Definition: The vestibular system is the sensory system that responds to motion or change of head position. It is noted to have an influence on muscle tone, posture, bilateral motor coordination and balance. It is considered the unifying system of the brain and is responsible for regulation of arousal, speech and language development, motor planning and concentration. Avoids running, sliding, climbing or swinging; insecure when off balance or craves swinging, rocking, twirling; does not get dizzy; in constant motion and fidgety.

Proprioceptive (Body Awareness):Definition: The proprioceptive system allows for the awareness of the position of muscles and joints. It is important for determining and implementing the appropriate amount of force needed to complete tasks and executing smooth, coordinated body movements. Specific functions are to improve body awareness and contribute to motor control and motor planning. Uncoordinated; stiff; avoids playground activities requiring coordination; appears clumsy; slouches; bumps into things; stomps feet and twiddle fingers.

Praxis (Motor Planning):Definition: Praxis is the ability to accomplish a non-habitual motor act or the ability to coordinate the body through a complex movement that requires an adaptive response. Praxis allows us to interact effectively with the physical world and includes ideation, conceptualization (planning the course of action, including sequencing the actions) and execution. In other words, the ability to form an idea about an action, plan the action and execute it. Seem clumsy, accident prone, experience prolonged difficulty in master of new skills, attempt to imitate actions of peers rather than try to initiate activity independently, have difficulty developing a strategy to complete new tasks and therefore work slowly, work is messy and haphazard.

Behavioral: Impulsive; lack of self control; easily distracted; short attention span; resistance to new situations; difficulty with transitions; angry; frustrated; gives up easily; intensely shy and withdrawn; difficulty making friends; overly sensitive; unable to calm down.