Addressing the High Percentage of SPD at Preschool Centers
The challenges that teachers at preschool centers are facing today are increasing with the discovery that a high percentage of children are suffering from sensory processing disorder (SPD). This condition was originally called sensory integration dysfunction (SID). Sensory integration was defined by occupational therapist Anna Jean Ayres in 1972 as “the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment”.
Sensory processing disorder exists when multisensory integration is not adequately processed in order to provide appropriate response to the demands of the environment. In other words, children have difficulty responding to the messages their senses are sending them.
Our senses provide information from various modalities—vision, audition, tactile, olfactory, taste, proprioception, and vestibular system (movement) Children can be overly sensitive to touch, smell, noises or movement, or under responsive to pain. In the case of SPD the sensitivity or lack thereof is significant and reactions and responses are confused and cause secondary problems. Some of the signs are:
- Overly sensitive to light, touch, noises, smells, or movement
- Floppy or stiff body, clumsy, poor motor skills or handwriting
- Difficulty dressing, eating, sleeping, or toilet training
- Frequent or lengthy temper tantrum
- Easily distracted, fidgety, withdrawn, or aggressive
- Craves movement
- Easily overwhelmed
These are only a few of the signs and SPD covers a wide variety of different developmental problems. Parents are usually the first to notice that their child is displaying different behaviour, and an unaware preschool may not be any help. October is National Sensory Awareness Month and a good opportunity for preschool centers to address this problem. Children may need occupational therapy or speech and language therapy. These will help them participate in the normal activities of childhood.
It is often thought that these children are naughty or that it is a case of bad parenting, however the symptoms are very real and if preschool centers have some knowledge, children with this condition can be taught and guided through the difficult early stages of life. Parents who are stressed themselves may exacerbate the problem by punishing their child. Many children with SPD are intellectually or artistically gifted, and when we look back through time we notice that many valuable contributors to society had problems at school. Einstein apparently did not talk until he was four and was considered a school failure.
The causes of SPD are not clear, and are probably numerous. What is known is that this condition has only appeared in the last 35 years. The stress that modern life has put on parents could be causing children to either shut down or be over sensitive. Researchers at the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation have been studying SPD for over 30 years and supports continued research of SPD. There are many excellent online support sites to help parents and teachers with this very difficult situation.