I’d like to reverse engineer the theoretical and physiological principles driving Sensory Integration Therapy to explore applications for adults above and beyond a medicinal application. Explore a Tonic model as opposed to a Dysfunctional model, i.e. helping to relax, regulate the body, sooth the central nervous system.
“Sensory Integration is a theory developed more than 20 years ago by A. Jean Ayres, an occupational therapist with advanced training in neuroscience and educational psychology (Bundy & Murray, 2002). Ayres (1972) defines sensory integration as "the neurological process that organizes sensation from one's own body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment" (p. 11). The theory is used to explain the relationship between the brain and behavior and explains why individuals respond in a certain way to sensory input and how it affects behavior. The five main senses are: Touch (tactile), Sound (auditory), Sight (visual), Taste (gustatory), and Smell (olfactory). In addition, there are two other powerful senses:
a) vestibular (movement and balance sense)-provides information about where the head and body are in space and in relation to the earth's surface.
b) proprioception (joint/muscle sense)-provides information about where body parts are and what they are doing.” http://www.ldonline.org/article/5612
