Sensory Integration involves our ability to take in information through the senses, organize the information in the brain, and use it to respond appropriately to a particular situation. This process involves the central nervous system, which consists of the spinal cord and the brain.
Sensory Integration begins at conception, and continues from infancy through childhood. Although the process of sensory integration is matured and integrated at approximately eight to ten years of age, sensory integration continues to be refined throughout our lives. Because many sensory processes take place within the nervous system at an unconscious level, we are not usually aware of them.
Although we are all familiar with the senses involved in taste, smell, sight, and sound, most of us do not realize that our nervous systems also sense touch, movement, force of gravity, and body position. Just as the eyes detect visual information and relay it on to the brain for interpretation, all sensory systems have receptors that pick up information to be perceived by the brain. Cells within the skin send information about light, touch, pain, temperature, and pressure. Structures within the inner eat detect movement and changes in the position of the head. Components of muscles, joints, and tendons provide and awareness of body position.
Sensory integration supports process of information from the senses to develop good posture, concentration and organization, self-esteem, self control, academic learning ability, the capacity for abstract reasoning, and fine discrimination of environmental demands based on sensory cues. Normally it also is reflected in an "inner drive" toward exploration, engagement, participation and confidence in interactions with both the human and non-human world.
Any disruption in the intake of information from the outside world (human or non-human), organization of that information in the brain and planning of an appropriate response/reaction, is called Sensory Processing Disorder.
