Proprioception

You will quickly learn that proprioception and vestibular input are my two most favorite sensory topics ever! First I'll address what proprioception is and why it's so important; then we can jump into the fun stuff- ideas for incorporating them into your kids' play!

What is Proprioception?

Proprioception is a type of "sense" that we have to help our bodies and brains make sense of the world around us. We all know there are five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touch. But, proprioception is a really incredible "other" sense and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth sense". Wikipedia nicely summarizes proprioception for us as "the sense of the relative position of one's own parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement". This basically means that proprioception is the ability of our muscles and our body to communicate with our brain about it's position in space and in relation to other body parts (for instance, I can close my eyes and still know that my arm is positioned above my head or that my finger is raised, etc) and the force that it takes to complete a task (for example, how hard should I squeeze a can of pop in order to sufficiently hold it without dropping it but not so hard that I crush it).

A great example of proprioception is drinking coffee from a coffee cup. So I pick up my beautifully brewed coffee in the morning, half awake, staring off into space, yet somehow I'm still able to raise the coffee cup to my mouth, without even looking. How is this possible? It's pretty sweet actually. With movement of the body, the proprioceptors are stretched (within muscles, tendons, joints or in our inner ear), sending information up to the brain to communicate how fast a muscle is moving or how forcefully. The brain interprets this movement (and the speed) as position in space and force. This is how we can get that coffee in our mouth without even looking or thinking and more importantly- without spilling any!

Why is it So Important?

Remember this pyramid of development that I shared in the last blog post? Take a look at where proprioception lies...

It's right there, at the very foundation of development. Effective integration of proprioception within the central nervous system is critical for developing an awareness of self, promoting self regulation and prepping the muscles for gross and fine motor skill development.

In Sensory Integration and the Child, Jean Ayres, Ph.D. says, “If the proprioception from your hands were not sufficient to tell you what your hands were doing, it would be very difficult to button clothes, take something out of a pocket, screw a lid on a jar, or remember which way to turn a water faucet. Without adequate proprioception from the trunk and legs, you would have a very hard time getting in or out of an automobile, walking down steep stairs, or playing a sport.”

Clearly, we've already established that proprioception is the foundation for motor and higher level developmental skills. So, it stands to reason that if these skills are not adequately established, a child will demonstrate difficulty with fine and gross motor skills. Attention can be impacted because it becomes very difficult to remain seated and still with poor awareness of one's self in space. Kids with poor proprioception struggle to figure out how their hand holds a pencil and moves across the paper. They may struggle to form diagonal lines (which appear in a LOT of our upper case letters) and have a difficulty time maintaining posture for adequate participation in the classroom. Immature proprioceptive systems can make learning and attention very difficult.

Proprioceptive SEEKING behaviors:

These are your children who:

• Play rough, often injuring themselves or others.

• Are overly aggressive

• Walk on their toes

• Appear to fall on purpose to crash into people or walls intentionally and forcefully

• Are underresponsive to pain or touch

• Seek extreme play (climbing, jumping, crashing) beyond what appears typical for other children

• Constantly touch others and things (to the point that it can be annoying to others)

• Demonstrate poor personal space or are frequently bumping into objects and others with little awareness

• Chew on clothing and objects

Proprioceptive AVOIDING behaviors:

These are your children who:

• Are cautious in play or appear fearful of climbing or swinging or jumping or new activities with peers

• Do not like tight clothing

• Appear lazy or lethargic

• Can be sensitive to touch or sounds

• Tend to be clingy to parents or other close caregivers

• Appear uncoordinated with their movements, especially running and managing stair

• Are clumsy

What can we do to promote mature proprioception?

This is seriously THE BEST PART. Proprioceptive activities are so. much. fun. All kids benefit from these strategies and all kids need their systems developed. Mature proprioception should be established by the age of 7-8ish but the techniques are always beneficial and are beneficial to ALL KIDS. So, if you have a classroom full of kids or multiple kids at home and you suspect one of them needs additional support to address their awareness of body in space and use of force- all of the kids will have fun and benefit from these tasks!

Depending on the activity and the timing of them, proprioception activities can either calm an overresponsive child (hello, wall bouncers!!) or alert an underresponsive one (enough TV... time to get moving!). If you are using these activities as "therapeutic", I highly recommend consulting an Occupational Therapist for guidance and direction. Otherwise, these activities are just really good for all children.

I can only come up with a partial list to get you started. One based on MY experiences. But it's important to remember that every child is unique in their needs. You will target the proprioceptors within the muscles with any activity that includes pushing and pulling on the muscles. There are tons of creative ideas for targeting proprioception so please don't feel limited by this sample, rather use it to generate your own ideas as well!

Sensory Inspired Applications:

• Weightbearing activities:

• animal crawls

• chair pushups

• yoga postures (downward dog, cobra, plank)

• wall pushes

• Heavy work:

• I LOOOOOVE to intentionally trick my kids into doing heavy work at home :)

• carrying laundry baskets to their rooms

• bringing in the grocery bags

• carrying a stack of library books back to the library

• moving furniture, pushing chairs in

• carrying a heavy backpack (within reason, people!)

• Oral activities:

• chewing gum or chewy candy

• blowing bubbles

• sucking milkshakes, yogurt or other thick foods through a straw

• Deep pressure:

• tight hugs,

• "squeezes" to arms, legs, head

• mat squeezes (gently squeeze the child between gymnastics mats or couch cushions... seriously though- don't smother your kid. use good judgment)

• ball massage (use a ball to roll over a child's back, arms, legs, etc)

• Resistance activities:

• tug of war

• stirring thick batters (like brown mix or chocolate chip cookie dough)- who doesn't need a great excuse to bake sweets with our kids?!

• pressing the palms of hands into each other

• climbing a rope or ladder

• vacuuming and mowing (for older kids- obviously use caution... why do I feel like I even have to say these things??)

Good luck, "prop"ing. If you come up with any cute proprioception activities or catch pics of your kids doing prop activities, tag me in them! I'd love to see! Also, hashtag SensoryInspired! #SensoryInspired

*The little monkeys in these pictures were more than willing to be participants and models for my proprioceptive activities. Mommy is so tricky- Muahaha!! **

**No children were harmed in the making of this blog ;)