Last modified on August 5, 2024
Did you know that we have seven senses, not five? There are the ones that immediately come to mind: sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste. And then there are two others, more "hidden" but just as important: proprioception and the vestibular sense. Malika Taganza and Dominique Cronier, both psychomotor therapists, tell us more about this function that regulates our sense of balance.
What is the vestibular system?
Our brain constantly feeds on sensory information to adapt to our environment. Thus, our senses, through a mechanism of discrimination and modulation, are fully involved in our development and in our reactions, including behavioral, emotional, and social responses, as well as our praxic abilities. In our ears, the vestibular system underpins our sense of balance: it participates in the control of posture and the coordination of reflexive eye and head movements. Furthermore, our brain integrates messages from the vestibular system with information from other sensors (visual, joint, muscular, or pressure-sensitive) to enable the perception and orientation of the body in space. It is also involved in eye stability, our state of wakefulness and sleep. It also influences our limbic system, which is involved in emotions such as fear or security through body movements, memory, learning, and the control of the endocrine system.
Ideas for stimulating the vestibular system
The diverse range of Wesco play equipment allows all children to satisfy their sensory needs, and more specifically addresses the needs of children with sensory processing difficulties. Through this colorful equipment, we can introduce variability in sensory information to the vestibular system by adapting the speed, direction, and duration of movements. It is through these playful activities that a process of modulating vestibular sensory perception will take place. Swinging in the Hammock Or on the board, to launch themselves onto the motor skills board or even twirl on the Carousel Or the Toopi, These are all playful, fun and therapeutic ways to help hypo-reactive or hyperactive children better integrate sensory information.
This new approach will undoubtedly offer children the opportunity to work on the foundations necessary for the development of sensorimotor, perceptuomotor, behavioral and cognitive functions.
Aucun commentaire