We, the intern team, learned so much about sensory processing from Carol Stock Kranowitz’s (2005) book, The Out-of-Sync Child. In this post, we’d like to talk about what we learned about the vestibular and visual systems. You can find more information about other sensory systems in other posts.
The vestibular system determines the body’s position in space. It tells us whether we’re up or down, what direction we’re moving, and how fast we are going. The vestibular system sends the information to the central nervous system (CNS) so we can generate enough muscle tone to move smoothly and efficiently. I learned that receptors for the vestibular system are hair cells in the fluid of the inner ear. They act as a carpenter’s level as our heads change in position.
We learned how important the vestibular system is to not only movement, but many other brain processes. The brain processes all other sensory information in reference to the vestibular system. When the vestibular system functions inaccurately or inconsistently, other sensory information can be misinterpreted. Individuals with sensory processing disorder may be overresponsive to vestibular input and are overstimulated by changing position, underresponsive and not be able to sense and react to falling sensations by extending an arm or leg to catch themselves, or constantly seeking vestibular input by climbing, hanging upside down, swinging, or spinning.
The visual system is one of the most complex systems in the brain. It enables us to identify what is in the environment without touching it. Additionally, it helps to guide and direct movement so we can interact, socialize, and learn in our environment. We learned that eyesight is a prerequisite for vision, but eyesight is not the same as vision. Vision is something we develop as we learn to integrate our senses and make sense of what we see. Individuals who are overresposive to visual stimuli tend to avoid contrasts, bright lights, shiny surfaces, flickering lights, or moving objects. Individuals with visual underresponsitivity may not notice novel stimuli such as decorations, not blink or turn away in response to bright light, or respond efficiently when something comes flying at them. Individuals who seek visual stimuli, such as bright or flickering lights and extra screen time. Visual discrimination has a major impact on academic learning, nonverbal communication, and visual motor skills such as hand-eye coordination.
In our weekly symposium, we had the opportunity to put what we learned into song form! Please enjoy “Out-of-Sync” to the tune of “A-B-C” by the one and only Jackson 4 (Angie, Megan, Juliana, and Molly).
-Molly and Juliana, MTCCA intern team
MTCCA Music Therapy Blog 