We have SEVEN senses...REALLY?

I had some difficulty writing this. Mainly because I like my articles to be personal and insightful, not just about facts and information. After many drafts, I realised that I was just regurgitating loads of information and going about it all wrong.

So, this isn't an article educating you about the 6th and 7th senses in a human being. It is about understanding why many children, including both Lauren and her friends with autism and sometimes typical kids, behave the way they do with their bodies - arms, legs, head, fingers etc.

At school, we are taught that everyone has five senses. Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch. Then when I was introduced to the world of Autism, I learnt two important things:

1. The five senses of a person with autism can be impaired and affect the way they receive and respond to those senses.

2. There are another two lesser known senses called the Vestibular sense and Proprioception. These two senses are internal senses and because they are less tangible, they are always taken for granted until and unless something affects them making their absence or lack of presence very obvious.

So first, a quick, simplified introduction to what the Vestibular and Proprioception senses do for us.

Have you ever noticed a child writing too lightly that the words can hardly be seen? Or on the contrary, have you noticed when a child presses his pencil down on the paper so hard that the paper tears, and the pencil lead breaks when he or she writes? The inability to adjust the pressure of the pencil to the paper indicates a proprioceptive impairment.

Proprioception is called the 6th sense and is about being aware of your body parts in relation to space - where your limbs are, whether you have left your feet dangling in the air, or are swinging your hands all over the place. It is linked to our nervous system to help keep track of and control the different parts of our body. So, the proprioception sense helps us control our limbs, know where and what it is doing without us having to look at them.

It is quite a difficult concept to understand because proprioception happens internally and we take it for granted when we are doing our everyday tasks, until of course, we lose this sense or it is impaired. With a dysfunctional proprioception sense, our brain cannot tell what our limbs and other body parts are doing, unless we are looking at ourselves, that is, we must use our sight to help us see what our limbs are doing, to compensate for dysfunctional connection between our limbs and brains.

The vestibular sense is also known as the sense of movement. It helps us maintain our balance in relation to our environment. So, whether we sit up straight with good posture or slump in our chairs, whether we have good eye contact and hold our head position upright in relation to where our body is, and whether we walk straight and comfortably as opposed to walking on tip toes or hopping and jumping while walking, can all be attributed to a normal or dysfunctional vestibular sense. It is also important to know that our other "regular" senses like sight, hearing and touch contribute and provide information to the vestibular system to help it work right.

If you can imagine that a person with autism can be hyper (very) sensitive or hypo (under) sensitive in their typical five senses, for example, in their hearing - Lauren is very sensitive to sudden, loud noises, causing her to cry or scream - or in their sight where certain light bulbs can seem like a stroboscope of lights and affect their focus in class, and some people with autism can be so sensitive to touch that the sand or non-natural fabric can feel like needles pricking their skin, this dysfunctional input of sound, vision and touch to the vestibular will just enhance the impairment to this 7th sense.

When Lauren was younger and had not yet received any therapy, she would often times sit on her head (come to think about it, she still does but only once in a blue moon - see the picture below. The moon was quite blue & bright that day!), she could not walk properly on her two feet.

She would always be hopping or skipping or jumping after four to five steps and Lauren was not able to sit upright. She would sit with her body slumped to the table or her body would be leaning to the left or right.

Where did you say my head was...?

Lauren has hyposensitivity to movement because to this day, she loves to swing as high as possible - honestly there are times I think she is going to literally fly off the swing! - and for very long periods. If I didn't ask her, she would be swinging for half an hour to an hour without even realising it. She, as you can see in the picture above, still likes getting into upside down positions.

When Lauren is seated, she likes shaking her leg, quite vigorously, that if the chairs are linked together, you'll feel a mini earthquake! Kevin and I normally sit near her, and with a simple placement of our hands on her thigh, she gets it and stops shaking her legs.

Swing me to the...moon! Best vestibular therapy for Lauren.
Picture by Colleen Sim, Lauren's aunty:-)

There are many exercises and activities we do which can help improve our vestibular and proprioception senses and that is why occupational therapy is an important component for children with autism. It helps their body understand, better manage and hopefully appreciate the environment around them - all with the objective of helping them live more comfortable and happier lives.


Be patient with me, I may have autism and my body isn't understanding our world as yours does. 


References - Signs on Proprioceptive & Vestibular Disfunction
http://www.spdaustralia.com.au/the-proprioceptive-system/
http://www.spdaustralia.com.au/the-vestibular-system/