Proprioception

“Proprioception is our ability to know where our muscles and joints are in space and how they are moving. This is very important for the development of body awareness. Our proprioceptive sense cannot work in isolation, but requires constant input from our tactile and vestibular systems. Unorganized processing of proprioceptive input may be seen as someone who is clumsy, falls or stumbles frequently, is overly aggressive (e.g., tackles people), walks on toes, constantly chewing on food or objects, has difficulty motor planning, or is messy at mealtime. Someone who is unconsciously worried about where their body is on the chair or how they will walk around the table without bumping into it, will not be able to focus their attention on what is being said or what they are carrying.”  (Dana Nicholls, OTR/L, Peggy Syvertson CCC-SLP).
Does your child:

• walk on their toes?
• like to jump all the time?
• laugh a lot when you press them with pillows or balls?
• love deep massages?
• love to walk on pebbles?

All of these questions are examples of activities where your child’s body gets a lot of proprioceptive input. Especially for children who are hyposensitive to this kind of input, these activities bring a lot of joy.