Latest News

Written by Susan N. Schriber Orloff, OTR/L | 19 November 2008

The Medical College of Georgia issued the following news release:

Kate Baly remembers how great it felt when she finally learned to tie her shoes. While her three sisters had no trouble learning such simple tasks, it took the Atlanta native years of therapy to learn how to do things most people take for granted.
Ms. Baly had a stroke after birth, leaving her left side weakened. The occupational therapist who helped her learn to tie her shoes also inspired her career choice.

Responding to the “latest buzz-words”; helping parents understand sensory integration
ADVANCE Newsmagazines

We are often the first people that parents speak to, after the teacher, when there are problems in school. Today, in this information age, parents come into the pre-therapy sessions with a lot of words, some knowledge, and many challenges of their own to overcome.  How do we, as practicing occupational therapists, explain occupational therapy, diffuse parental defensive behaviors and initiate possible treatments while simultaneously functioning as an educator for both parent and child?

This predicament is what is facing many, if not most, of the occupational therapists that are treating children with learning differences both privately and within school-based situations.

It seems to start with a phone call that goes something like this, “….Mrs. Jones, Tommy’s teacher told me to call you about getting Tommy some OT. He is very bright, I mean he reads way above grade level, and he has a terrific memory, better than mine. You do work with smart children, right?...I have done reading, and I really think he does not have sensory integrative disorder, that is just not him!...We really want you to fix his handwriting. If he could just do that, everything else is OK…….”.

So now it becomes incumbent upon the occupational therapist to translate, in everyday terms, what the child’s behavior means, how it is impacting his /her academic and possibly social performances, why these behaviors and reactions are occurring, and when, with intervention, might changes be observed.

So what is sensory integration and why is the word dysfunction often part of the phrase?  Simply, it is the body’s “auto-pilot”. These mechanisms, our five senses, protect, process, practice, project and plan, in some way, everything we do. Our senses alert us to danger to protect us. We understand our world because of the way we process the people and places and the nuances we encounter. Combined, our senses help us practice familiar and unfamiliar skills. Who we are and how we are perceived and the image we project to others are intrinsically dependent upon our sensory system. But all of this would be useless without the ability to create and execute a plan for their coordinated utilization.

Sensory Dysfunction is often used interchangeably with Sensory Defensiveness. Both connote disorder, but for parents helping them move from titles to treatment while understanding that the only thing that separates function from dysfunction is the degree to which these behaviors are exhibited.  It is normal to feel excited, it is normal to jump to an unexpected noise, it is normal not to be able to find something blatantly in view, it is normal to react to smells both good and bad, it is normal to react to being touched, it is normal the crave certain foods.  When these things are experienced in the extreme, then that is dysfunction.
So when fire drills create hysterics, food and/or smells gagging, touch withdrawal, light a preference for darkness, then that, in any degree, is dysfunction.  Sensory defensiveness/dysfunction limits choices, impairs social interactions, and batters self-esteem.


Dennis Prager, in his book “Happiness is a Serious Problem”, states that happiness is the by-product of effort and accomplishment, requiring the full participation of the individual. Fun, on the other hand, does not require participation only presence.
The essence of sensory integrative treatment creates coping skills and enhances personal courage to meet life’s challenges creating successes from mistakes; letting each child be a full participant, their own personal architect, of their distinctly unique vision of happiness.

Susan N. Schriber Orloff, OTR/L, is the author of Learning Re-enabled, a guide for parents, teachers and therapists. The book is featured by the National Education Association. She also writes “Ask the Therapist,” a column in Exceptional Parent magazine, and is CEO and executive director of Children’s Special Services, LLC, an occupational therapy service for children with developmental and learning delays in Atlanta, GA. She can be reached on the Web at www.childrens-services.com or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .