How Does Our Sensory System Work?

We often talk about Sensory Processing Disorder but how often do we think about our senses and where they get their stimuli.

A sensory system is made up of sensory receptors, neural pathways and different sections of the brain involved in sensory perception. Commonly recognised sensory systems are those for vision, hearing, somatic sensation (touch), taste and olfaction (smell). Receptive fields have been identified for the visual system, auditory system and somatosensory system, so far.

Sensory processing is the ability to interpret the information the brain has received.

Throughout the day your brain is receiving information related to all the senses and its job is to work out which is important and which is not. The brain has a tough job to do and, depending on our emotions, our response to each of the stimuli can vary.

There is some excellent information in this clip entitled Sensory System which will help explain how the senses work and how to “make sense” of them. We hope it gives you some more insight into how and why your child reacts when his or her senses are triggered.