Guest Speaker: Amanda Bruce, Low Incidence Consultant, Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative

This session will explore Sensory Processing challenges and provide some tips to address Sensory Processing challenges. Sensory Processing refers to the way the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into responses. For those with Sensory Processing challenges, sensory information goes into the brain but does not get organized into appropriate responses. Some people with sensory processing disorder are oversensitive to things in their environment. Common sounds may be painful or overwhelming. The light touch of a shirt may chafe the skin. Others with sensory processing disorder may be uncoordinated, bump into things, be unable to tell where their limbs are in space or be hard to engage in conversation or play. Addressing Sensory Processing challenges depends on a person’s individual needs. But in general, it involves helping children do better at activities they’re normally not good at and helping them get used to things they can’t tolerate. This concept is called Sensory Integration and we will be exploring some easy tips for home and school.