Winnie: Thanks so much! I am really glad to be here with all of you. Thanks for signing on to spend some time with me. Today we are going to talk about the Sensory Profile 2: What's New And What Stayed The Same? There are a lots of factors we have to consider when we are examining sensory patterns. We have all gotten used to the way that we were doing it so it is important for us to know the rationales for doing the new edition, and what new things you have to look forward to if you have not used it yet.
Overview
Many of you know I like to start with a couple of quotes that remind us about why we are talking about sensory processing.
Take away the sensations of softness, moisture, redness, tartness, and you take away the cherry. Since it is not a being distinct from these sensations, a cherry, I say, is nothing but a congeries of sensible impressions perceived by various senses; and the impressions are united into one thing.
George Berkeley in the 1700's.
He is pointing out the importance of sensory processing, of putting all those parts together to make meaning out of something in your everyday experience.
My other favorite quote is from a movie called The City of Angels. I really love this quote because the movie is about angels, and the angels are in charge of taking care of people on Earth. Angels can do fancy things like walking through walls and transcending. However, one of the things that angels cannot do in this movie is experience sensation. This one angel is watching over a woman, and he notices how she reacts to things and he does not understand it. They are in a farmers market, she picks up a pear and takes a bite. He looks at her and says, "I don't know what a pear tastes like to you." She says, "Sweet, juicy, soft on your tongue, grainy like sugary sand that dissolves in your mouth. How's that?" The reason this is one of my favorite quotes about sensory processing is that we can all agree that those things are true about the pear. We all know that those things are true, and some of us love pears because they are so unique. They have a grainy texture and are juicy. Others of us hate the pear for those exact same reasons. People that hate pears say, "Why don't you just eat an apple? Why have all that graininess in your mouth?"
This is what is really interesting about sensory processing. It is not about the objects and the activities around us, it is how we react to the things that are going on around us. These quotes remind us to appreciate that even though we are all experiencing the exact same thing, the way we each make meaning out of it might be different. This is what makes sensory processing such an important area to understand when we are serving children and families and adults.
In the process of doing all this research over the years, we came up with this idea about Dunn's Sensory Processing Framework in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Dunn's Sensory Processing Framework.
If you are used to seeing Dunn's Sensory Model, this one looks a little bit different. I changed it because it looks a little bit more dynamic. When it was in the square boxes, like maybe some of you are used to, it felt more static and people would kind of get stuck in a box. Somebody would just be a Seeker or just be an Avoider. Hopefully this diagram will remind you that there is a little bit more fluidity, and that the interaction of the person in their context is what makes a difference to what we understand. Let's look at this model a little bit more carefully. It is based on two primary principles, neurological thresholds and self-regulation.
Neurological Thresholds
The vertical part of the diagram are the neurological thresholds. Neurological thresholds are the moment when your nervous system and your nerve cells have enough information to fire. It is the place where all the excitation and inhibition has gathered up, and it has created enough excitation to fire that neuron, or to fire that neuron system. That is a principle from the neuroscience literature that we understand to be true. People, because of their makeup, might have really high thresholds, which is at the top of that arrow. High thresholds means it takes a whole lot of input for the person to notice or for those neurons to fire. A person can have low thresholds, which is at the bottom of that arrow, which means you do not need very much. You might notice a lot more things. This is the first construct.
Self-Regulation
The second really important construct is called self-regulation. In self-regulation we go from a passive state, which is a situation where a person might let things happen and then react, to an active state on the other side of that arrow, which is people doing things to manage the amount of sensory input they get. They are doing things to participate and get the amount of sensory input they need.
Passive to active, and high to low thresholds comprise the four patterns of sensory processing. We have been able to see these from the evidence, from thousands of children and adults across the lifespan.
Four Patterns of Sensory Processing
The first pattern is called seeking. Seeking is, as you can see on the diagram, high thresholds and active self-regulation. Seekers enjoy sensation, and they really want more sensation and do things to get more. If you are working at a public school, you may see these children brushing their hands along the bricks when they are walking in the hall or skipping instead of walking. These are ways people add more sensation to their everyday experiences. Seekers love sensation.
The second category is called avoiding. Avoiders have low thresholds. They have active self-regulation like the seekers, but instead of trying to get more sensory input, avoiders try to get less. These are people that close the blinds, keep things off the wall, or only eat certain foods because those are the ones they prefer. Their brains are geared to detect a lot of input, but they have low thresholds so every piece of input is potentially seen as harmful or threatening. The less unpredictable input they get, the better they feel.
Now the third category is called sensitivity. Sensitivity is also a low sensory threshold like avoiding, but it is a passive self-regulation pattern. People with sensitivity try to participate, but then they get overwhelmed. These are people that might say to you, "Could you stop popping your gum?", "Quit tapping your pencil", or "The stuff's going by too fast in the car and I have to sit in a different seat so I don't see it all in the window." They try to do things to keep it to a minimum, but they are in the game participating so sometimes they get overwhelmed. Their brain is trying to take the stuff in, but their low sensory thresholds are flooding them. Sometimes people with sensitivity can feel overwhelmed or bossy, because they are trying to navigate and participate as much as they can.
The fourth category is registration. Registration shares high thresholds with seekers, but they have a passive self-regulation strategy. We call them bystanders.
