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Characteristics of Sensory Integrative Dysfunction

How do we assess a child and decide that this child has Sensory Integrative Dysfunction? We must also remember that the spectrum of characteristics stretches from very slight to very severe problems. However, when the behaviour of children seem constantly to be out of character, where it seems as if children are constantly pitching themselves against everything and everyone else, we need to consider the possibility of SI Dysfunction.
Kranowitz (Martin, 1999) says that one of the most obvious problems associated with children with SI Dysfunction is that they exhibit unusual responses to touch and movement experiences.

• Children who are over-sensitive to touch sensations (tactile defensiveness) will avoid touching and being touched and are unwilling to participate in messy play. They shy away from contact with others, avoid pets, certain textures, many types of food, seams in their socks and certain clothing.


• This over-sensitivity may also extend to visual and auditory sensitivity. We get children that cannot handle normal everyday sounds like hair driers, vacuum cleaners, certain music and normal preschool sounds. I once had a little boy that crept under the table as soon as we started music. Thirty years ago the term SI Dysfunction did not even exist and we decided that this child’s home environment was lacking in some way – a viewpoint many preschool teachers still adhere to.


• Over-sensitive children are often defensive of movement experiences. They are earthbound and find it difficult to jump, climb stairs or play on the outside equipment. For instance, they defend themselves against an oncoming ball. In severe cases, they get hysterical in lifts or on moving escalators. There are reported cases where children refuse to climb in a car because they experience overwhelming fear of movement.


• Certain children may also be under-responsive to touch; they seem to crave touching and will rub themselves against the teacher, rub her dress between their fingers or bury their noses in food to smell. They will spend a long time exploring different textures. Sometimes this under-responsiveness to sensations will extend to sound and these children will turn the music on to a deafening pitch or experiment with instruments without listening to rhythm or words. It almost seems as if they play the instruments in a trance becoming mesmerized with the noise.


• Under-responsive children will often finger-paint the floor, their arms and their clothes. While this is acceptable, exploratory behaviour from a two year old, it is definitely “out-of-sync” for older children.


• Under-responsive children seem to be oblivious of danger and unable to protect themselves.

In categorising these symptoms, we use the categories of Stephens (1997).

Attention and regulatory problems

To be able to give attention anyone of us need to focus on the relevant sensory information and screen out any irrelevant information. A child learning to read initially needs to be able to focus on one word, hen one sentence and eventually one paragraph. You cannot read if you are not able to screen out all the other letters and words on a page. In the same way we listen to the sounds we want to listen to. Many of us have the ability to exclude all other sensory information and concentrate on relevant information only. This is an essential ability. If your brain cannot give attention and regulate the attention in such a way that important information is separated from unimportant information, it would mean that something as unimportant as a car passing in the street, or a dog barking outside or the refrigerator running, would have the same intensity and importance as the adult telling a story. What we have in fact is a myriad of sensory experiences knocking on the same door, with the same urgency, clamouring to enter into the brain’s consciousness all at the same time. Stephens (1997) says: ... These children are always ‘on the alert’ and constantly asking about or orienting to sensory input that others ignore ... Other children may fail to register unique sensory input and are unresponsive to stimuli. Children with regulatory disorders often have difficulty establishing appropriate sleeping and eating patterns, are unable to console themselves and may over-react to environmental stimuli. Parents often report that children will be inconsolable and will scream and sob for hours for a relatively minor reason.

Shore (1997:23) also explains that Rakic and his colleagues at Yale University have found that the developing cortex (outside folded layer – centre of higher thinking skills of the brain) is vulnerable to external influence virtually from conception. As the foetus’ brain develops, different types of brain cells are placed in the appropriate places in the brain by sliding up ladder-like structures, the glial fibres. Influences like a virus infection, alcohol consumption, poor nutrition or use of drugs at a sensitive time could result in brain cells landing in “wrong” places. The brain destroys most of these cells but those that survive may cause neurological disorders like autism or schizophrenia at worse, or lesser neurological problems. This damage can happen as early as 14 to 30 days into conception. At this stage, many prospective mothers are not even aware of the fact that they may be pregnant.

Sensory defensiveness

Sensory defensiveness is a Sensory Integrative Disorder characterised by a “fight, flight or fright” reaction to sensory information (Stephens, 1997). The difference between the defensive reaction of a child with SI Dysfunction and that of most other individuals, is that the sensory input is considered harmless. Consider the stress and energy a child with sensory defensiveness is constantly producing because the nervous system does not have the ability to recognise input as non-threatening. High levels of adrenaline, which in itself also triggers the secretion of the stress hormone dopamine in the brain that further inhibits normal brain function, always accompany a high level of “fight, fright or flight” reaction. The result is a highly aroused nervous system and because danger is presumed to the child, the child reacts with a very human emotion namely aggression to protect him- or herself from the perceived danger. This can be extremely stressful for families and for preschool centres. Normal activities like shampooing hair, combing hair, brushing teeth, flushing the toilet, just to mention a few, could turn into a major battle zone. Imagine a child that acts ferociously and aggressively if he or she is accidentally touched. These children’s social skills are indeed seriously hampered by their sensory dysfunction. It is interesting to note that it seems that some of these defence mechanisms persist into adulthood if not sufficiently addressed in the preschool years.

Activity levels

All children are active. It is the hallmark of childhood. Especially toddlers seem to be forever running to explore and discover something interesting. However, warning signs that seem to flash with children that could be suffering from SI Dysfunction, could be the following:

• Children are easily labelled as being hyperactive. Most children could be very active but their activity is purposeful. They accomplish something through their activity. A child with SI Dysfunction is disorganised and lacks purpose in his or her activity. Stephens (1997) says that this child will go through a room like a tornado. Interest in a toy or an activity is short-lived. It also seems that these children find it difficult to explore and discover through their activity. Exploration and discovery is the main purpose of children’s playing.


• This child as a baby did not move around to explore the environment. Stephens describes these children as “good” babies or toddlers who are content to stay in one place and watch from a distance though the toddler is perfectly capable of moving and reaching out. The older child may use good verbal skills in communicating with adults in order to avoid manipulating the environment. This is probably one of the first clues we can pick up quite early if the child has a problem with sensory input. All babies and toddlers use their bodies to explore. The brain compels the child to move around and explore because the brain needs the input to strengthen synapses and establish new synapses. This early phase is the key to establishing good sensory integration later on.


• Because exploration and discovery is a way and means to develop a knowledge base of the surrounding world, these children have a one-dimensional approach to play activities. They lack variety and creativity and play may become repetitive (because it is safe) or stereotypic. Some children prefer visual activities like TV and videos. These activities hide the fact that the child has a problem and in a way exacerbates the problem because it makes the opportunity for sensory learning over a wide spectrum less, while providing the child with verbal skills which make the child appear as precocious.


• The child appears clumsy, falls easily and bumps into furniture. The child appears to be impulsive and does not look where he or she is going. Other children may always have bumps on their heads because they do not know how to protect themselves when they fall.


• These children easily get over-excited and have difficulty to calm themselves after an exciting physical activity or being upset. Tantrums may last for hours. Many of these children seem to be “on a high” right through the day. Lunch, dinner and sleep time becomes a battle zone. Some of these children find it extremely difficult to “switch off” and to fall asleep.


• Some children seek excessive amounts of vigorous sensory input. They run around, jump, swing and spin without pause and without care for themselves and other people. They seem to be unable to control themselves.

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