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Sensory Integration 101

9/16/2014

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Every human has a particular response to sensory information. Some are hypo sensitive, meaning they find it difficult to engage with most senses, especially when the senses are assaulted by an onslaught of information. A busy mall, for example, could send a hyposensitive person into a panic attack or a melt down.  Other people may be hypersensitive and quite willing and able to handle all sorts of sensations, in fact, the more the better. And then there’s the mixed group that craves some sensations and avoids others. I’m in the later group. I crave extremes in temperature (nothing beats jumping in a freezing pool and then lying on a hot pavement), slight shocking sensations (think- licking a 9 volt battery or chewing tinfoil into a filling) and very deep tissue massages (the kind that can make a muscle man screech). I also like to walk hard, ride bouncy horses and the feeling of a ball against a racket or bat. It would seem somewhat logical to think if I could handle those rough sensations, I could surely handle lighter sensations. After all, rough things are tougher on the core than are small tiny things. Wrong. A blouse’s tag against the back of my neck, a tiny taste of slimy okra, a sniff of flowery perfume, a certain blend of polyester sliding across my arm- oh no thank you! I swear, when these sorts of sensations hit my system, I feel like my skin will crawl off my bones just to find relief. It’s easy for me to explain which senses are horrid and easier still to stay away from them, but I’m an adult and have learned a lot about myself in all my 50+ decades. I’m afraid dealing with sensory information isn’t nearly as easy for children and young adults, and even for some my own age and older.

Sensory integration refers to the central peripheral nervous system’s ability to receive and process information. It’s a complex scenario that can baffle parents and people affected by it. It is also a frustrating system because just as one discovers how to handle one sensation, another bit of sensory information can come cascading in and cause a whole different and unexpected response. Figuring out one’s every sensory need and every negative trigger really can be next to impossible. Thankfully there are lots of resources that can provide good ideas for dealing with sensory integration. Listed below are several such organizations.

If Asperger syndrome or autism is part of a diagnosis, I can almost guarantee there will be a sensory integration dysfunction component at play, as well. Learn what you can about sensory integration, but learn with caution. Before you begin your own at-home program, it is always best to have the advise of a professional in the field who can evaluate the person in need and suggest some good starting supports. This isn’t something one should experiment willy-nilly. Get advice, get an evaluation, read all you can, and go slowly when adding sensory integration supports.

The state or regional Occupational Therapy Association

Sensory Integration International (SII)/The Ayres Clinic
Mail: P.O. Box 5239, Torrance, CA 90501-5339
Phone: 1-310-320-2335
E-mail: sensoryint@earthlink.net
Web site: www.sensoryint.com

American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA)
Location: 4720 Montgomery Lane, Beheads, MD
Mail: P.O. Box 31220, Beheads, MD 20824-1220
Phone: 1-301-652-AOTA or (800) 668-8255
Web site: www.aota.org

#sensoryintegrationdysfunction #SID #occupationaltherapy

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Find Your Calming Color

5/19/2014

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Finding your color at aspie.com
Find your calming color.
Wouldn’t it be neat if we all had the money and resources to surround ourselves with a colored environment that meets our sensory and energy needs?  We could have one room for relaxing, one for working out, one for exercising the brain, one for sleeping, and on and on and on.  If I had my druthers, I’d have a majority of blue rooms, one soft celadon green room and one industrial style black and white room.  Those three palettes would get me through the moods of my day and the needs of my mind. I’m kind of simple girl when it comes to color, though I admit I do like looking at a myriad of colors (think 1960’s Peter Max posters), but I can’t live within them if I expect to do much more than play in my imagination and feel my pulse rise.

Finding the colors that help you find your best place for doing whatever it is you need or want to do, isn’t so much a science as it is an art. Tons of resources are available online to help you find your color code, but beware, many resources are not very flexible in their suggestions. To some, color is not flexible reality individuals can play with, but rather something certain thanks to empirical research based on opinion polls and some decent comparison studies. For example, there is research that concludes if a woman is wearing the color black, she is presenting a submissive position to men. That’s rather funny to me, as I wear black to look thinner not to help men feel superior. 

So… as you explore your color world don’t take it too seriously. Look in your closet and see what kinds of colors you turn to for your day-to-day wear. Are they bright, dull, mostly one color, or all kinds of colors? Pick up some color swatches at a home improvement store and look at them one at a time until you’ve had enough time to find the color(s) that seem to create the effect you’re after (calm, stimulated, energized, etc.) And when you think you’ve found the colors you are happiest with, begin to surround yourself with those colors. You don’t have to paint a whole room or buy a new wardrobe. You can carry a small piece of cloth to pull out of your wallet or pocket when you need a color to zone in on. You can get a few pillows, or paint a rock to sit on your desk, or make a big collage of your color from the color swatches; in other words, you can keep and display tiny bits of your color choice nearby for a quick color fix.


Aspie.com #colorscheme #colorzen #coloryourworld

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