#sensory integration

[dog-journey]

[alternate link]

Sarah is offering Worked Up as a webinar on May 23rd, 2026 9AM PDT. Info + tickets here.

She is also going to be running four two-day workshops in four U.S. cities in June and July 2026. Info + tickets here.

Sarah Stremming

Some dogs are just “full of bees”–meaning they are buzzing with energy. What does sensory integration therapy have to do with dogs? It turns out, kind of a lot. If your dog is a little bit too much providing them with sensory outlets–especially the outlets they tend to seek themselves–is not only necessary for progress but vital for good welfare. Learn all about releasing the bees in this episode.

Further reading:

Sensory Project: What is Sensory Integration Therapy?

Sensory Project: Sensory Ladders

[nld-as-insights]

What is Proprioception?

A lot of people think we have five senses, but we actually three more that many people do not know about.

Proprioception (pro-pre-o-sep-shun) is the sense of where we are in space, and it comes from nerve endings, called proprioceptors, in our muscles and joints. These proprioceptors tell us what angle our joints are in. Our proprioceptive system is both the parts and the workings of those receptors and our brain that interprets the information from those receptors.

Some people’s brains are under-sensitive to proprioceptive input, and we may seek out more proprioceptive input even if we don’t know that that is what we are doing. People who have difficulty processing proprioceptive input have trouble with motor coordination, and that level of difficulty may or may not be enough for other people to think the person is clumsy.

Proprioceptive input can help us change our energy level if we feel either sluggish or wound up.

Activities that involve pushing or pulling on our joints give us proprioceptive input.

These activities include:

Chewing and sucking on things

Push-ups, walk push-ups, chair push-ups, and pressing your hands together

Animal walks

Heavy chores

Band exercises

Many other physical exercises

This is a link to a short video about proprioception from an occupational therapy perspective.

Cheers,

Julia

[monsteraanathema]

surely i'm not the only one whose eyes hurt from stim boards. i honestly hate them.

[disabilityaware]

Signs of Sensory Processing Disorders

“The ability to attend to a task depends on the ability to screen out, or inhibit, nonessential sensory information, background noises, or visual information.”

A person with sensory integrative dysfunction may often respond to or register unrelated sensory information. They do not have the screening ability. By the “system”, they are considered to be distractible, hyperactive, or uninhibited. I wonder if we are trained like machines with this skill within the formal schooling system. The same way we are taught to wait in line for our turn. Is this screening ability taught to us from a young age? Part of it probably comes naturally to us but I need to explore this further.

In solidarity,

- A

[esperantoauthor]

hello!! do you happen to know anything about sensory processing disorder in adults/teens? all of the articles that i’ve found have been talking about it in elementary age children, especially boys

Sure! Still not an Occupational Therapist, but the population I work with has a high rate of sensory processing challenges so I certainly have some background and experience in this area. Sensory processing issues are definitely something that can affect teenagers and adults!

Most articles do tend to focus on the early years when it comes to developmental disorders, I suppose because that is when diagnosis most often occurs and the importance of "early intervention." This can create the illusion that these are childhood when the reality is that they are lifelong conditions that one doesn't grow out of. Sometimes adding the words "adult" or "adolescent" to your internet searches can yield more specific results.

Here's a resource I found that might be a good starting place for you to learn more!

As you may know, the majority of the teenagers I work with have ADHD and I can definitely report that most of them also have some degree of difficulty with sensory processing. They can be fidgety, sensitive to loud sounds, only eat foods of certain textures, wear only soft tagless clothes, like to have a toy or fidget with them to touch/move/look at, spin in their chairs, get distracted if worksheets have too many elements, pace the classroom, and much more. Accommodations can be very helpful!

I hope that helped 💖

[hearkensentinel]

Self-Care for the Rest of Us

Self-care is hard for lots of us, for many reasons. But it doesn’t help that most of the popular suggestions are a friggin' sensory nightmare (temperature changes, fragrances, nudity, new places, bright lights, having stuff touching you, strangers looking at various body parts, etc. etc.) Obviously everyone has different positive and negative sensory experiences, but just once I'd like to see a list that's a little more generally neurodivergent-friendly. some random ideas to get us started:

Wear your favorite jacket indoors, or your favorite fuzzy pajamas outdoors.

Buy a weighted blanket.

Fiddle with something that has a texture you appreciate.

Sit as weirdly as possible. (If you can do so safely, of course)

Try adjusting the environment so you’re really comfortable. Just for a little while, ignore everyone else and arrange the universe to your precise specifications. (If you live with someone else, obviously you’ll want to get buy-in from them first.)

Turn all the lights off (or on). Wear sunglasses if it helps. Get some soft yellow LEDs and/or opaque lampshades for diffuse lighting.

Turn down the brightness/contrast on your monitor. Try Dark Mode in your browser or your whole computer.

Turn off/unplug chargers, surge protectors, TVs, smart outlets, and any other electronics that make That Sound.

Wear earplugs or headphones around the house, even with no music. Or, try turning music up (safely) loud, if that helps you breathe.

Turn up the heat/AC/fan and sit right next to the radiator/vent.

Close your eyes and rock back and forth. (It’s a classic for a reason.)

Tell people you’re going on a social media break. If at all possible, arrange to avoid seeing the words "yoga", "mindfulness", "positive", "holistic", and "wellness" for 48 hours.

I can’t promise any of these will work for you, of course, and not everyone has the resources to try them. But the idea is to think of things that might make you more comfortable and help you relax, and try doing them sometimes, whether that means lighting scented candles or banning scented candles (even unlit ones) from the house for a week. You might find that some of these changes could even be made permanent.

[autismacademy]

[nld-as-insights]

What does vestibular mean?

Many people think that we have only five senses, but we actually have three more senses that many people do not know about.

The vestibular sense is the sense of where our head is compared to where up and down are, and it helps us balance. Our vestibular system is the parts and the workings of both our inner ears and our brain that interprets the information from our inner ears.

This is a link to a 4-minute YouTube video that explains the parts and workings of the vestibular system.

This is a link to a 2-minute YouTube video that explains the vestibular system from a sensory occupational therapy perspective.

Some people are more or less sensitive to vestibular input than most people are. People who are more sensitive to vestibular input tend to avoid it, and people who are less sensitive to it tend to seek it out, even if they do not know that that is what they are doing.

Vestibular input tends to make people feel more awake. (If you want to use vestibular input to help yourself feel more awake, please be careful to not make yourself feel sick to your stomach.) Some slow and rhythmic activities, like rocking back and forth, can be calming.

Any activity that involves moving our head a lot stimulates our vestibular system. These activities include:

Bouncing or rolling on an exercise ball

As a small child: being thrown up in the air, getting bounced on an adult’s lap, or getting pulled around in a blanket

Doing gymnastic moves such as handstands, cartwheels, and somersaults

Playing on playground equipment such as swings and slides

Doing team or individual sports with very fast movement

Spinning in a chair

Going on amusement park rides

Riding in a car that is going fast onto the highway

Cheers,

Julia