Internal

Senses
Michelle Colletti, OTR/L

Why cant little Bobby sit still in his chair? Why is Mark constantly in motion? Why

is Betty so slow when she copies from the blackboard? Why does John constantly trip over
his own feet and bump into everything? To answer these questions, we need to understand
the sensory system.

We are all familiar with our five senses, taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight.

However there are two very important senses that give our brains information. They are
the proprioceptive sense and the vestibular sense. These two sensory systems play a
significant role in our awareness of the world and in our ability to understand and learn
(Hannaford, 2005).
Proprioception

In all our tendons and muscles are tiny little receptors called proprioceptors. The

word comes from the Latin proprius meaning ones own. Every time we pull or stretch or
compress our joints, every time we contract our muscles, our proprioceptors send
messages to our brains, telling our brains what part of our body has moved and how much
force has been exerted. Our proprioceptors continually give our brains information as to
what is going on in our bodies, giving us a sense of our bodies from the inside. The
proprioceptors in our fingers tell our brains what letter our fingers are making, so that we
dont have to look at our fingers to see what we are writing, we can look at the blackboard
as we write, and keep up with the rest of the class.
Vestibular

Our vestibular sensory system tells us if our head or our body is moving. If we begin

to walk across a room, our vestibular system tells our brains our head is in motion. Our
proprioceptors from our legs also send messages to our brains that our legs are moving,
thus our brain concludes that our whole body is in motion. If we just turn our heads
because we hear our name being called, our vestibular system tells our brains that our
head is in motion, but since our brains are not getting information from our legs, our brain
concludes that only our head, and not our whole body is in motion. If we watch someone
else moving across the room, our vestibular system tells our brain that we arent moving,
that we are still. The vestibular system is housed in the semi-circular canals in the inner
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ear. The same nerve that brings what we hear to the brain also brings our sense of
movement.

Our vestibular system is so important it is the first sensory system to fully develop

(five months after conception). It is the sensory system considered to have the most
important influence on our everyday functioning. The vestibular system is the unifying
system that directly influences nearly everything we do. It even impacts how awake and
alert we are (Hannaford, 2005).

There is an area in our brainstem known as the Reticular Activating System (RAS).

The job of RAS is to wake us up, getting us ready to take in and respond to our
surroundings, and to learn. The vestibular system sends sensory information directly to
the RAS. Sometimes, the reason why Bobby cant sit still in his chair is that he is trying to
keep himself awake and alert by providing his RAS with enough vestibular input to do the
job. (Ayers, 1979)

One of the jobs of the proprioceptive sensory system is to help modulate the

vestibular system. Muscle and joint sensations enable the brain to use vestibular sensory
input more efficiently. Therapists will often recommend to parents and teachers to have
their child do, heavy work; i.e. push the wall, carry heavy items, jump up and down, rough
house play with dad; these heavy work activities contract a lot of muscles and compress
many joints in the body. This helps the brain inhibit some of the excessive vestibular
activity that is problematic (Ayers, 1979).
Body Scheme
In order to create any successful movement, whether writing letters legibly, or
walking to the front of the class without bumping into a desk, or another classmate,
sensory input from the body must be organized into a clear picture of the body. The
brain must have an accurate internal sensory picture if it wants to accurately move the
body. This internal sensory picture is often referred to as body scheme (Ayers, 1979).
Proprioceptive input from our muscles and joints contributes to our body scheme.
Without this information we would not know where the parts of our body are or how they
are moving. As we move our bodies, proprioception updates our body scheme so that our
brains can plan the next movement correctly, and contract the muscles at just the right
time so we are successful. Children who have challenges processing and integrating
proprioceptive information have a vague or hazy proprioceptive sense and their brains
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dont have an accurate body scheme. They often have to overly rely on vision to know
exactly where their fingers, hands, legs and feet are. These are the children who take
longer to copy from the blackboard then their classmates. They have difficulty sensing how
much muscle effort they need to use and so they push too hard, they dont try hard enough,
and they break things. They stumble over their own feet and bump into everything (Ayers,
1979).

Movement information from our vestibular sense also adds to our body scheme.

Vestibular information helps orient our bodies to the space around us. The vestibular
system sends information down the spinal cord to modulate information from our muscles
and joints. If the vestibular system is not working well, then the other senses are less
efficient. Impulses from the vestibular system also travel to the muscles, keeping them firm
and ready to respond, this is called muscle tone. Many children who have challenges
processing and integrating vestibular information also have low muscle tone. This reduces
the amount of proprioceptive feedback the muscles send to the nervous system. As we can
see, the proprioceptive and vestibular systems have a profound effect on each other, and
how the body functions as a whole (Ayers, 1979).
How We Can Help

Another way we can help children who have challenges processing and integrating

proprioceptive and vestibular information is through how we interact with them.

Sensation is food to the nervous system. Providing our children who have challenges
processing and integrating proprioceptive and vestibular sensory input throughout the
course of their day will help feed their nervous systems what they need. Simply,
vestibular is movement and proprioception is heavy work. If these can be incorporated
seamlessly into the childs everyday routine, over time, it will help organize his nervous
system. Can you do ten or twenty jumps in the morning while he is getting dressed? Can
you do push-ups or push a wall? Can you do simple yoga postures as in downward facing
dog? Before he gets out of bed can you arm wrestle? Can you begin to look at your childs
daily routine, and create simple games that allow his body to move and his muscles to
work?

Our emotions also play a large role in how we interact with ourselves and with

others. CAT scans show that children process information through their emotions first, and
information that is most emotionally relevant to them, is what they process first
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(Hannaford, 2005). So, if you are used to getting into a battle of wills with your child over
their handwriting, or having to sit still, what they are learning is how to fight authority
figures. I always tell parents, when I am working with any child, one of my goals is to
always keep their emotions and their thinking (cognition) in alignment. So, whatever they
are interested in is what I am interested in. No matter how long or how short of a time.
The goal is to keep their emotions and cognition in alignment. When I interact with them,
and respond to their interests with my genuine emotion, what happens naturally is they
will pay more attention to whatever they are interested in for a little longer. This is the
way, and the only way, to help them develop a longer attention span. Over time, this will
also help them develop a more calm and tempered approach to the world.

References
Ayers, A. J. (1979). Sensory Integration and the Child. Los Angeles, CA: Western
Psychological Services.
Hannaford, C. (2005). Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head Salt Lake
City Utah: Great River Books.











Michelle Colletti, OTR/L is an occupational therapist with over 15 years experience in her
field. She has studied the alternative/complementary healing arts of reflexology, polarity
and cranial sacral and incorporates these into her work with autistic children. She treats
children with special needs in her practice, Waters Edge Healing in Whitestone, Queens
and is an alumnus of Rebecca School in Manhattan.
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