Sensory Integration and Self-regulation in Infants and Toddlers

Book excerpt: Some children require a great deal of assistance to overcome difficulties in taking in and responding to information from their senses, and to achieve the levels of self-regulation they need to interact with and explore the world around them. This monograph, targeted to a wide array of disciplines from the medical, therapeutic, educational, mental health, and psychosocial fields, presents information on the sensory development of children from birth to 3 years. The monograph describes assessment and intervention approaches designed to promote very young children's self-regulation and adaptive behavior, and discusses new directions and outstanding questions in basic and applied research. Chapter 1 describes the modalities through which infants and toddlers receive sensory input from the environment and their bodies, and introduces the concept of sensory integration, which involves organizing sensation for adaptive use. Chapter 2 provides a framework for understanding how the sensory integrative process is revealed in the behavior of infants and young children, particularly with respect to arousal, attention, affect, and action. Chapter 3 introduces the concepts of sensory modulation and praxis, and introduces several frameworks for classifying problems in sensory integration and self-regulation. Chapter 4 presents guidelines and methods for the screening and assessment of sensory integration, and discusses interpretation of assessment data, leading to intervention planning. Chapter 5 addresses the needs of parents, the importance of modifying the sensory environment, and the nature of clinical reasoning during direct intervention; this chapter also provides intervention guidelines with accompanying case studies for children with hyperreactivity, hyporeactivity, and dyspraxia. Two appendices discuss play in the context of sensory-based intervention and describe strategies to enhance self-initiation and adaptive behavior. (Contains 86 references.) (KB)