Let’s Talk About Sensory Processing: What are the 8 Senses?

You may have learned about the five senses - taste, smell, hearing, touch, and sight. But did you know that we actually rely on eight different sensory systems to understand and engage with the world around us? 

In this blog post, we’ll explore each of the eight senses and how they support your child’s development, regulation, and ability to participate in meaningful activities. 

Why Are the Senses Important?

Our sensory systems form the foundation of learning and development. They are essential for building the higher-level cognitive skills children need for things like communication, play, regulation, and engagement. Our affirming approach at Blume ensures that we target the base of the pyramid - looking at the whole child - instead of focusing only on skill acquisition at the top of the pyramid. 

Some children experience differences in sensory processing, and this can look like being over- or underresponsive to input in certain situations. Understanding how each sensory system functions is the first step in recognizing and supporting your child’s needs.

Gustatory System (Taste)

The gustatory system allows us to detect and perceive flavors - such as sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory - through taste receptors on the tongue. This sense is closely connected to our sense of smell. 

Overresponsiveness to the gustatory system may present as selective eating or aversion to certain tastes or textures. Underresponsiveness may result in seeking out additional oral input. 

Using a child-led approach, you can support gustatory exploration through offering access to a range of textures, flavors, and temperatures to allow your child to explore new tastes without pressure. To learn more about our affirming approach to feeding, stay tuned for a future blog post on this topic!

Olfactory System (Smell)

Our sense of smell helps us to identify scents and determine if they are dangerous, unpleasant, pleasant, strong, or faint. It also helps to create the flavors we taste in food. 

Overresponsiveness to olfactory input presents as heightened sensitivity to smell, dysregulation during meal times, and/or gagging from smells that others may not notice or consider unpleasant. Underresponsiveness can result in craving strong smells or difficulty detecting unpleasant or dangerous smells.

Using a child-led approach that respects your child’s autonomy, your child can explore olfactory input by smelling flowers, playing a blindfolded smelling game, using flavored lip balms, and incorporating scented materials in crafts. 

Auditory System (Hearing)

Our auditory system enables us to process what we hear, including volume, tone, pitch, and rhythm. It helps us assign meaning to sound and orient ourselves to where sounds are coming from in the environment. Auditory receptors located in the inner ear help us identify whether sounds are loud, soft, high, near, and far noises. 

Overresponsiveness to auditory input may result in sensory overwhelm. You may observe your child covering their ears or ducking their head in noisy environments, or they may avoid loud settings altogether. A child who is underresponsive to auditory input may miss parts of conversations, not hear the sounds around them, or appear inattentive.

Using a child-led approach that respects your child’s autonomy, you can support your child’s exploration of the auditory system by engaging in activities like singing, listening to music, playing a musical instrument, or noticing sounds in nature when outdoors. 

Tactile System (Touch)

The tactile system is essential for learning, as it allows us to detect touch, pressure, pain, temperature, vibration, and texture. Our sense of touch develops in the womb and becomes fully established during the first year of life through a variety of experiences, including skin to skin contact, exposure to a variety of textures, floor time, and movement. 

Someone who is overresponsive to tactile input may become overstimulated during messy play, grooming activities, or in any context involving light touch. Underresponsiveness to tactile input may present as decreased awareness of messy hands, food on the face, or changes in temperature.

Examples of activities that engage the tactile system include finger painting, water play, popping bubbles, and craft activities 

Visual System (Vision)

Our sense of sight allows us to see and detect objects in our environment. The receptors in our eyes pick up visual input and provide feedback on color, shape, form, and movement. Our visual system supports attention, coordination, and our ability to navigate our environments safely. 

Someone who is overresponsive to visual input may become overwhelmed by bright lights or busy environments. Someone who is underresponsive to visual input may benefit from increased visual contrast or movement to register static or subtle visual stimuli. Challenges with processing visual input may impact learning, coordination, and safety. 

Activities involving visual input support the development of visual perceptual skills, visual tracking, and eye coordination. Some activities include “I Spy,” mazes, kaleidoscopes, and sensory bottles. You can also use tinted lenses and calm, dim lighting indoors to help reduce visual overload. 

Proprioceptive System (Body Awareness)

Proprioception helps a child understand where their body is in space and how much force to use when moving. Our proprioceptive system receives feedback from sensory receptors in our joints, ligaments, and muscles and provides information about motor control and movement. Our sense of body awareness and coordination is directly impacted by our ability to process proprioceptive input. 

Someone with overresponsiveness to proprioceptive input may avoid activities involving deep pressure or may appear stiff or guarded during movement. Someone with underresponsiveness may experience differences in body awareness, coordination, movement, and force modulation. They may need additional proprioceptive input to understand where their body is in space. 

Examples of activities that provide proprioceptive input include pulling a wagon, jumping on a trampoline, climbing on playground equipment, and practicing animal walks. 

Vestibular System (Balance & Movement)

Our vestibular system supports balance, motion, and head position. Via receptors in our inner ear, this sense supports a child’s ability to understand when they are moving and the direction and speed of that movement. Vestibular input also supports the development of posture, balance, and coordination. When functioning well, the vestibular system gives us a sense of gravitational security, or remaining stable in a position without falling. 

Someone with overresponsiveness to vestibular input may experience anxiety or adverse reactions to movement-based activities, such as riding in the back seat of a car, swinging, or walking downstairs. Alternatively, someone with underresponsiveness to vestibular input may seek out additional input by rocking, swinging, hanging upside down, or moving frequently to feel regulated. 

Examples of activities that engage the vestibular system include swinging, rolling, hanging upside down from playground equipment, and riding on a scooter board. 

Interoceptive System (Awareness of Our Internal State)

Our interoceptive system enables awareness of our internal body states - both homeostatic (bodily state) and affective (emotional state). This system receives feedback from sensory receptors located in our internal organs and relays that information to the brain’s insula to help us understand our internal experience. Our interoceptive system allows us to experience hunger, temperature, the need to urinate, pain, sadness, and joy, among other things. 

Differences in interoceptive awareness may show up as:

• Body signals being too big (i.e., really strong and overpowering)

• Body signals being too small (i.e., muted, weak, or hard to notice)

• Body signals being distorted (i.e., noticeable, not not clear enough to give specific information about the exact location or type of sensation)

What’s Next?

Now that you know about the body’s sensory systems, it’s time to learn about how sensory processing differences show up in daily life and what you can do to support your child’s regulation and engagement. Stay tuned!

Have questions or topic ideas for future posts? Send us an email at hello@blumekidstherapy.com and let us know!

References

The Well Balanced OT. (n.d.). Sensory modulation strategies and treatment for each system [Fact sheet]. 

Neff, M. A. (n.d.). Interoception: Neurodivergent emotions book two. https://neurodivergentinsights.com/clinical-resources/the-interoception-workbook-clinical-edition/

Mahler, K. (2019). The Interoception Curriculum : a step-by-step framework for developing mindful self-regulation. Kelly Mahler.

Mahler, K. (n.d.). What is interoception? [Fact sheet]. https://www.kelly-mahler.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Interoception-Handout-FINAL.pdf 

Tools to Grow OT. (2018). The sensory systems: Sensory strategies, activities, & practical ways to incorporate sensory input [Fact sheet].

Graphic: Pyramid of Learning (Taylor, Trott 1991)