Many children with autism also have proprioceptive sensory issues. As a result, their behavior and stimming activities make them look uncoordinated, clumsy, hyper, or even malicious. When the proprioceptive system is functioning correctly, the brain feels a connection with the body. Nerve cells in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue alert the brain to the position of the head and limbs. This sensory information helps the brain make immediate corrections in body movement or the adjustments needed when picking up objects.
The good news is that unlike most sensory processing disorders, with therapy and time, sight and other senses can help compensate for the dysfunction.
Proprioceptive Difficulties in Children with Special Needs
While the signs of sensory processing difficulties in the proprioceptive system can look a lot like vestibular dysfunction in children with special needs, the reasons behind these sensory issues differ. Vestibular dysfunction affects balance, while proprioceptive function senses the motion and position of the body, enabling the brain to make corrections when an individual moves or picks up objects.
When corrections cannot be made because incoming information is scrambled or missing, the lack of sensory motor integration may impair the unconscious judgment of the weight of a drinking glass, the rate of speed the hand is moving, or timing. The result can be reaching out and missing the glass itself, knocking the glass over, or dropping it.
Signs of Sensory Motor Integration Hyposensitivity Problems
Hyposensitivity problems vary from individual to individual. Like all sensory issues in children, proprioceptive integration problems can involve hyposensitivity (not enough stimulation), hypersensitivity (too much stimulation), or anything in between. Some common symptoms of hyposensitivity include:
- walks with heavy footsteps or stomping
- obsessed with trampoline or wrestling
- kicks at chair or floor, shakes leg when sitting
- sucks or chews on fingers; bites fingernails until they bleed
- chews on shirt, straws, crib, pens, pencils, or any inedible object
- grinds teeth or cracks knuckles repeatedly
- pushes others roughly; hurts self or others
- writes too hard (breaks pencil lead; tears paper)
- constantly crashes, moves, shakes, runs, jumps, or bounces
- wears only very tight clothing
- craves pressure: bear hugs, weighted blankets, weighted vests
- crawls into small tight places
Signs of Sensory Motor Integration Hypersensitivity Problems
Sensory integration difficulties for hypersensitive children closely resemble an individual who cannot pass a field sobriety test. They have no ability to modulate their tone of voice, no way to perform certain activities without using their other senses to help them. These children often have:
- trouble getting dressed: can’t button, zip, put legs inside their pants
- bump into other people or objects
- have difficulty cutting with scissors
- have difficulty getting spoon to mouth, or spills on self when eating
- often trips and falls
- breaks toys and objects
- miscalculates object weight: slams doors, sets objects down too hard
- drops things, tightly clutches objects he manages to carry
- hurts animals or others without meaning to
- breaks pencils and pens when writing, or erases right through the paper
- difficulty doing jumping jacks, climbing, riding a bike, hitting or catching a ball
- sits or stands in odd body positions
- unable to walk or function in the dark
Helping Autistic Children Through Visual Sensory Treatment
When helping autistic children with proprioception issues, visual sensory treatments can train the eyes to compensate. Ordinarily, nerve cells located in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue give feedback to the central nervous system regarding muscle and joint stretch or tension. That’s how the brain judges the weight of an object. Since dysfunction in the proprioceptive system scrambles or omits this information, visual opportunities can help autistic children process sensory information.
Through visual sensory treatment, children with proprioception disabilities can watch the distance the arm travels and eventually learn the rate of speed it takes to reach for a glass. In this way, children with processing disorders can improve their clumsiness and lack of coordination. However, using visual sensory techniques takes patience and time. The eyes won’t be able to adapt overnight, but day-to-day function can dramatically improve with practice and conscious effort.
Children with Disabilities Can Improve Proprioceptive Processing
Most children with disabilities experience one or more sensory problems. In fact, those who display signs of processing disorder in the vestibular system often have issues with the proprioceptive system as well. While some of the symptoms like clumsiness and lack of coordination appear to be identical, the reasons a child with autism trips and falls differs.
With vestibular dysfunction, falls come from lack of balance; with problems in proprioception falls occur because the brain doesn’t know the body or limbs have moved. Scrambled feedback can’t tell the body to take another step or readjust itself. While sensory difficulties are common in autistic children, given enough time and practice, sight can take over for many of the sensory motor integration functions lacking in children with proprioceptive disabilities.
For more information on SPD, check out Understanding Sensory Processing Disorder, an introductory article that includes links to all of the other seven sensory systems.
Sources
Behavioral Neuroscience Course of Macalester College, “Proprioception,” (accessed January 10, 2011).
Dodd, Susan, Understanding Autism, Elsevier, December 2004.
Sicile-Kira, Chantal, Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: A Parent’s Guide to the Cognitive, Social, Physical, and Transition Needs of Teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Perigee Trade, February 2006.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her child's health should contact a doctor for advice.
Vickie Ewell - Vickie has worked with autistic individuals for 9 years. She has celiac disease and specializes in gfcf living.
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