A exciting new Sensory Processing Tool on your iDevice

                                                                                                                                      For those of you who remember me talking about listening therapy, let me fill you in on some exciting news. Audioforge Labatories and Ease Music have worked together and have  produced an app there are three versions:

                    

                    EAse Lite Version                                    EAse Personal Version                                       EAse Pro Version

What Listening therapy can do, is assist those who are on the spectrum those with Auditory Processing Issues and those with Sensory Processing Issues. The initial idea is that you desensitise the person to the sounds that bother them. A simple illustration would be a child who struggles with the hand dryer in the toilets, to gradually introduce the sound of the hand dryer from different positions until they are able to use the hand dryer without distress. This music works on a similar principle.

Desensitisation is not the only benefit of this listening therapy. As with any other symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder I am sure it also assisted with other issues. This included things like emotion regulation, planning and organisation. Also we had a breakthrough in one area that our son who had been struggling to put his socks on, suddenly learnt how to put his socks on. Keep in mind some of the music will have different effects on your child which is why it is so beneficial and I believe essential to have an OT work with you as they have the experience to share with you and make adjustments as you go. 

This year with our money we are considering purchasing this app.. and using it to add to our son's current therapy as we have found it extremely beneficial. 

Further Information:

Audio Forge

EAse Listening Therapy
Vital Links

Vital Sounds (music and accessories)

EAse Listening Therapy APP information

EAse available apps

EAse app user guide

Therapeutic Listening Information

Please check out my other posts on Sensory Therapy as well :) 

Making sense of it all

I must admit when I think about Sensory Processing Disorder sometimes I have an idea of what it means but there are so many components to it, that I do get lost. So in order for me to attempt to get my head around this I need to take a deeper look at the way it all works.

As I mentioned before (in other blog entries) there are seven senses that we use everyday:

Tactile or the Somatosensory System - sense of touch

Visual System - sense of sight

Auditory System - sense of hearing

Gustatory System - sense of taste

Olfactory System - sense of smell

Vestibular System - sense of balance

Proprioception System - sense of body position

Each sense works to provide us with our perception of the world, not all people have the same experience of the world as we do as a person. This is why there can be so many misconceptions and misunderstands when dealing with an undiagnosed person with sensory processing issues. Another person will see a child who has sensory processing issues can see their responses and behaviour as unreasonable, illogical and naughty. This is precisely the reason why some children get punished at school for their behaviour or ostracized socially because of how they act. Without understanding through a diagnosis, these people are not able to make sense of their world and be at peace with it.

The first image most people see when we are told about Sensory Processing Disorder or even more commonly Autism (it is common for SPD to be diagnosed with Autism) is about children who struggle with tags, their socks, touch or sound. With my son it was a little different we noticed small things like as a baby my son hated the beach and the sand it took years for him to be able to tolerate it, to this day we are not able to use the hand dryers in the toilets, sound for us is the biggest issue. However tantrums and meltdowns also come hand in hand with these situations. Then strange situations when our son was overspun on the wizzy dizzy and vomited afterwards it took six hours plus the possibility of a CT Scan and suddenly he was able to work straight again. 

Over the next few posts I am going to look at each different sense, how it works and what activities you can do to assist in that area. Bare with me I will attempt to provide a comprehensive idea of how it works, from my point of view as well.