The ‘unknown’ senses – Recognising when help is needed

Aug 11, 2021 | Testimonials

Last week, I discussed two ‘unknown’ and invisible senses that we rely heavily on for our daily functioning. These are the vestibular and proprioceptive senses.  They are both implicated in children’s learning and ability to behave appropriately and so deserve our notice.  

There are signs that can be red flags to indicate when a child has not developed these senses fully.   If you see any of these, it might be necessary to refer to a neurodevelopmental practitioner for help.  Here are a few of those most commonly observed but be aware that there are other clues too.

The vestibular system, also known as our balance centre, is responsible for receiving information regarding our bodies movement in space, as well as, acceleration and deceleration of movement. The receptors in this system are located in the inner ear and are stimulated by changes in head position.  Some red flags are:

  • Dislikes activities requiring feet to leave the ground
  • Seeks out rapid movement, spinning, rolling, constant motion
  • Moves slowly or cautiously or avoids excess movement
  • Experiences motion sickness or dizziness
  • Appears to never become dizzy with excessive spinning
  • Poor safety awareness or impulsive jumping, running and/or climbing
  • Dislikes/prefers changes in positions
  • Frequent head tilting
  • Might rock in a chair or rock the body when seated

Proprioception informs us of our body position in space. The receptors for this system are found in our muscles and joints and they send information to our brain about where our body is and how much force we are using. Proprioception is important in building body awareness and achieving motor milestones.

Red flags for difficulty with proprioceptive processing:

  • Frequent crashing, bumping, climbing, falling, or jumping
  • Frequent kicking while sitting or stomping feet while walking
  • Bumps into you when walking together
  • Enjoys deep pressure or being “squished”; Prefers tight clothing
  • Uses too much force when writing or colouring
  • Plays roughly with other children
  • Misjudges the amount of force required to pick up objects – can break objects
  • Difficulty with sleep – prefers sleeping with another person, stuffed toys or being tightly wrapped in blankets
  • Sleepwalks or falls out of bed
  • Struggles to acquire number sense and maths skills
  • Has a poor sense of direction

Children with these underdeveloped sensory motor senses can often be labelled as hyperactive, clumsy, undisciplined, unfocused, disinterested and naughty.   We have to be cautious about labelling children too quickly and overlooking what might be the underlying causes of their behaviour. 

 

 

Martin Doherty, writing for The Conversation, says that at the age of about four, children reach important milestones in brain development.

One of these is a huge improvement in understanding others’ thoughts and feelings. This is the start of empathy.  Another is in spatial thinking—understanding how objects are positioned and related. This is the beginning of the ability to read maps.

Martin and his colleague, Catherine Sayer, conducted a study with 175 two to five-year-olds to explore how children are able to use scale models to figure out where something is in the real world. At about four, children are able to use a scale model of a room to work out where something is. We thought that this might result from children’s understanding of how one thing can represent something else. But we actually found that four-year-olds’ ability to use scale models came from their spatial abilities.

At the same age, children start to understand that someone’s behaviour is due to what that person believes, not necessarily what is really the case. This has interesting consequences.

If you’ve played hide-and-seek with young children, you may have noticed that they aren’t always very good at it. They love the ritual of looking in all the wrong places first, but beforehand they may tell you where they are going to hide, hide in the same place every time, or not be especially hidden.

After their fourth birthday, they get much better at hide and seek. They understand that the seeker looks in the wrong places because they don’t know where the hider is.

At about three to four children also start to tell lies. They realize they can make someone believe something that isn’t true.

Understanding symbols

Martin’s earlier research with fellow psychologist Josef Perner suggests that four-year-olds don’t just start to understand how others’ minds work. Figuring this out is part of the development of an understanding of “representation”—that symbols, like thoughts, words, or pictures, can be used to stand for something else.

Children start to think about how words relate to objects. This means, for instance, knowing that “animal” can refer to something you already have a name for, such as “rabbit”. This might help children learn the new word.

Their ability to use a understand the components of pictures also improves around this age. Very young children use a lot of trial and error to complete a jigsaw, picking up random pieces to see if they fit. By the time they are about four years old, they start to use the picture as a guide, trying to connect lines and match bits of colour, while checking the guide picture on the box lid.

Developmental experiments

Another ability children develop at around four is using scale models. A classic set of developmental experiments involved a model of a regular household room. The real room had typical furniture—sofa, table, cupboard and so on—and the model had miniature versions laid out in the same way.

Children were shown where something was hidden in the model and told to find an object hidden in “the same place” in the room. Children of around four can find the object using the identical layouts. If shown a sticker under a particular chair in the model room, for example, they can go straight to the “same” chair in the other room. This is the fundamental understanding required to read maps.

Adults see scale models and maps as representations. Maps represent a town or a country. A scale model of, say, the Eiffel Tower represents the real thing. At first, Martin suspected children’s ability to use scale models is more evidence of understanding representation at this age.

He was wrong. Instead, the researchers found that this ability is based on a development in children’s spatial abilities that also occurs at about four. This is the ability to think about spaces and where objects are within them. Spatial abilities help with maths skills, and good spatial ability is linked to an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Their experiment was simple. They compared the model room task with a test of understanding how representation works. The two abilities develop around the same age, but they found they were not related. Children who could do one task couldn’t necessarily do the other.

They also had a test of purely spatial ability. Children who passed the model room task also passed the spatial task. So it looks like the model room task relied on children‘s spatial thinking.

They don’t yet know why two important but apparently unrelated abilities arise at the same time. Perhaps it’s related to changes in the growing brain at this  interesting age.

Provided by The Conversation. 

Image supplied by Freepik.