I. What is sensory integration disorder in children?
There are many parents and teachers who have headaches about their children’s personality disorders such as inattentiveness, poor academic performance, procrastination in doing homework, hyperactivity, nervousness, timidity, withdrawal, crying, misbehavior, picky eating or overeating. In the past, some people diagnosed these problems as ADHD and gave the child medication, injections, etc., but the effect was minimal and could also cause certain sequelae; other parents thought their children were intentionally disobedient and beat and scolded them, causing physical and psychological trauma to the children.
In 1970, the American psychologist Iris first discovered that among children aged 3 to 13, 10% to 30% of them have the above-mentioned syndrome, which is not a problem of education, but an inconsistency in the development of the child’s brain function and needs to be corrected by psychological training. A large number of clinical psychological studies by scientists have found that a significant number of these problems in children are due to disorders of the brain’s sensory integration of the body, which in medical and psychological terms is called sensory integration disorder or learning disability.
This is because all parts of the human body transmit sensory information to the brain through contact with the outside world, and this information is effectively combined by the brain to direct the person to complete various activities. When this system does not function properly due to developmental or other reasons, the above behavioral problems will occur.
Second, children with sensory integration disorder will have what performance?
1, vestibular balance malfunction: manifested as restlessness, inattentiveness, inattentiveness in class, and love to make small movements. They are more likely than average to cause trouble for parents, pick and choose, and have difficulty sharing toys and food with others, and are unable to consider the needs of others. Some children may also have delayed language development, late speech, and difficulty expressing themselves verbally.
2. Poor visual perception: They are unable to read fluently despite being able to watch cartoons and play with electric toys for a long time, and often have more or less words; they write upside down, do not even know the words, forget them after learning them, cannot do calculations, and often copy the wrong questions, etc.
3. Poor auditory perception: This is manifested by not being able to hear what others say, losing things, often forgetting what teachers say and assignments left, etc.
4. Poor motor coordination: Poor balance, falls easily, cannot roll, tie shoes, ride bicycle, jump rope, shoot ball, etc. like other children.
5, proprioceptive disorders: manifested as a lack of self-confidence, negative withdrawal, poor language skills, clumsy hands and feet, etc.
6, tactile over-sensitivity: manifested as nervousness, isolation, misfit, love to provoke others, partial or overeating, grumpy, fear of unfamiliar environment, eating hands, biting nails, crying, love to play with genitals, etc. These problems will undoubtedly cause obstacles to children’s learning and interaction, because such children, despite their normal or extraordinary IQ, are unable to work properly and effectively because their brains are unable to work properly and effectively, thus directly affecting the completion of their learning and movement.
Third, what are the causes of sensory integration disorders in children? What are the consequences?
The causes of children’s sensory integration disorders are complex and are mainly related to problems during conception and the way they are nurtured after birth. For example, pre-eclampsia, medication or emotional stress during pregnancy, premature birth, caesarean section, less parental cuddling after birth, especially if the child walks without crawling, more sedentary children and less active children, and excessive restriction of the child’s range of motion.
These problems may not show up in the child’s early years, but when they reach school age, they will show such and such obstacles in their learning ability and personality. Compared with other normal children, they play what they can learn as soon as they learn, and can also pay attention, but, in terms of learning ability, interpersonal skills and psychological quality, it seems to be very difficult, so that parents and teachers are very worried.
According to the survey, about 10%-30% of children in the general population have different degrees of sensory integration disorder. Parents and teachers should find these behavioral problems in children early and conduct psychotherapy training in time, otherwise, it will affect children’s intellectual development and learning ability development, resulting in poor learning foundation, delayed psychological development and interpersonal relationship problems, and then anorexia, truancy, lying and other behavioral problems.
Fourth, how to conduct sensory integration training for children? How does it work?
Sensory integration training for children is firstly conducted by psychologists to measure and diagnose the child’s level of sensory integration disorder and intellectual development, then a training course is developed and the child is allowed to participate in the form of games through some specially developed apparatus. interpersonal relationships, eating and sleeping, and mood are all satisfactorily improved and improved.
Among them, children’s intelligence can also be improved to different degrees. In the United States, Japan, Taiwan and other places, sensory integration training for children has been developed since the 1970s, and now every school has a sensory integration training room, and good results have been achieved. At present, the techniques of this training theory have been researched and developed in China, and have also achieved significant results in Chinese children. Clinical practice shows that all children who participated in the training had different degrees of improvement, and 85% of the trained children received significant results.
V. What is the curriculum of sensory integration training for children?
The training includes two parts: sensory integration training and special brain training. The psychologist will arrange different training sessions and time according to the degree of disorder of each child. A free test is given after 20 training sessions to evaluate the results. The training time is after school and on holidays, no less than 2 times a week, and more often for children with severe disorders.