BEHAVIOURS WHICH INDICATE THE NEED FOR A SENSORY INTEGRATION ASSESSMENT
TOUCH
- Avoids “messy” materials in play (play-doh, glue, paint, sand)
- Dislikes the feeling to certain clothing
- Dislikes standing in line and unexpected touch or touch in general
- Doesn’t register pain as others do (eg. Doesn’t notice bleeding until mentioned by others)
MOVEMENT
- Hesitates to climb or play with equipment that moves
- Seeks out spinning and jumping a lot
- Becomes motion sick easily
BODY AWARENESS
- Clumsy, accident prone, bumps into people and things
- Lacks co-ordination
- Difficulty imitating postures
SOUND
- Misses part/all verbal instructions often
- Fearful of noises that don’t bother others (eg planes, vacuum, hair dryers, sirens)
- Distracted by noises not noticed by others
SIGHT
- Easily visually distracted
- Overwhelmed in visually stimulating environments (eg shopping malls, supermarkets)
SMELL
- Distressed by smells not distressing to others (eg perfume, cleaning products)
TASTE
- Constantly mouths non-food objects (eg sweaters, toys)
- Very picky eater (texture based)
- History of poor feeding/irregular hunger patterns
GENERAL / SELF-REGULATION (“Engine” related issues)
- Difficulty accepting change in routine
- Lacks organisation in tasks
- Appears to know what he/she wants to do, but can’t “get it together”
- Rapid and extreme mood and activity level changes
- Difficulty calming after exciting activity/fidgets a lot
- Difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep/irregular sleep or hunger patterns
- Finds excuses to wander during seated time (school; desk work, home; dinner table)
- Day dreamy, hard to motivate
- Difficulty sustaining concentration
