Sensory Integration is a specialty area of Occupational Therapy that is based on over 40 years of theory and research. The term “Sensory Integration” refers to: The way brain organizes sensations for engagement in occupation.
Sensory integration is the ability of a person to absorb and connect relevant sensory information to organize and interpret it, and respond accordingly. Our sensory integration system mainly consists ofseven senses, which are visual sense (sight), auditory sense (sound), gustatory senses (taste), olfactory sense (smell), tactile sense (touch), proprioceptive sense (position and movement) and vestibular sense (gravity, head movement and balance).
Nobody has the perfect sensory system; we all have our own quirks whether we are aware of them or not. Children also have their own little quirks. The difference between quirks and sensory difficulty is that the latter interferes with daily life, thus preventing the child from performing efficiently.. These difficulties indicate a need for intervention.
SI therapy helps child to achieve and maintain optimal functioning level thus helping them to stay focused, improve balance, improve attention, sitting tolerance, motor planning skills, improves their hyper or hypo sensitivities to various stimuli etc.