Many of you have heard me talk of this strange and difficult to remember word called proprioception. But what even is it?!?
Proprioception is a sensory system and is commonly known as “body awareness”. It is one of our three ‘hidden senses’ (alongside the Vestibular system and Introception). The proprioception system lets us know exactly where our body is without needing our vision to tell us. That’s how we know where our arms, legs, etc are without needing to look down at them.
Did you know proprioception plays a key role in our postural control, motor planning and motor skills, grading of movement and pressure, attention/concentration and regulation? All things vital for schooling success!
Our proprioception system is one of the only systems that can both ‘alert’ when we are low energy and ‘calm’ when we are high energy! Think about what things you like when you are stressed, tired, upset or even angry? For most of us our answers will be those that are proprioception rich – e.g. a massage, cuddle, wrapping yourself up in the blankets or even, exercising.
Just like with all our sensory systems each person responds slightly differently to proprioceptive input based on the way they process information from this system. They can be under responsive (not get enough information from their propriocepive system), over responsive (have too much information come in), seeking (actively looking to get input from this system often on a way that interrupts other activities).
Here are our top tips to help our little peas with ‘under responsive’ (that is they aren’t getting enough information from that system) proprioception systems:
– Prior to doing any work, use these ‘proprioception poems’ (as per picture) to help get their bodies in the ‘learning zone’.
– Try walking like an animal – ‘dog walks’, ‘bear walks’, ‘crab walks’, etc.
– Do lots of pushing and pulling activities.
– Identify what ‘deep pressure’ activities your child likes – is it a massage? A cuddle? Playing tug of war? Lying under a weighted blanket? Lying in a piece of lycra?
This sweet little Pea is Rebecca’s niece, Georgia and she found the lycra hammock the perfect type of proprioceptive input to play all sorts of games with her Aunty Bec whilst also supporting her motor development.
Rebecca Lockyer
Occupational Therapist, Little TheraPeas