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9 Sensory modulation
Sensory modulation
Sensory modulation is the ability to match your responses and behaviour to the environment, activity and/or situation. It is the brain’s ability to process the sensory inputs, or messages, from the body and produce a response that is in proportion to the input. It needs to match the level of intensity and the environment.
Teaching tip
It is important to remember that pupils can have different responses with different senses. They might be more sensitive to touch but slower to respond to proprioceptive sensory input. It is rare that there is a neat pattern of sensitive, seeking or slower across all senses. Remember, responses will fluctuate depending on overall arousal (Idea 21).
Taking it further
The book Sensational Kids by Dr Lucy Jane Miller explores the concepts in much further depth. In the literature, sensory modulation differences are broken into two, three or four ‘subtypes’ depending on the author. All authors agree that there is a continuum of responses from low to highly reactive. They just present their models slightly differently. In this book we will stick with three subtypes: sensitive, slower and seeking.
Sensitive (over-responsive)
Pupils who are sensitive have lower thresholds for sensory inputs than others. This means that they can be quickly overloaded (Idea 32) by sensory information. There might be sensitivities to sound (Idea 13), touch (Idea 14) or movement (Idea 15) and also food fussiness (Idea 39). For them, sensory inputs can also trigger a fight, flight or freeze response. Externally, you may observe these pupils hitting out, running away, engaging in avoidance or shutting down (Idea 32). Internally, what is occurring is that the pupils’ brains are being overwhelmed by the sensory inputs they are receiving. If have already read Idea 1, you should have some appreciation of the sheer number of sensory inputs occurring in your classroom. Pupils who are sensitive will notice even more sensory inputs than you! If they are verbal,
you can ask them what they notice. One boy I worked with could identify blue and white chalk by smell. If they are non-verbal, it’s your job to identify what sensory inputs might be triggers. The starting point for individuals who are sensitive is to help to decrease their arousal (Idea 24).
Slower (under-responsive)
Pupils who are slower to respond can often be missed. This is because they are usually quiet and blend into the background easily and are missing out on learning opportunities. It’s important that you look out for them! These pupils will take more time to notice sensory inputs. Their response may be slower. They may also have poor posture (Idea 17 and Idea 56). They often need help to increase their arousal (Idea 26).
Seeking
Sensory seekers are easy to spot. They are the pupils who are rocking on their chairs, or always touching or fiddling with things on their desk. They might use too much force and always be seeking out more push or pull. They are typically the ones that like harder, faster and bigger sensory inputs. Typically, sensory seekers need support to help to organise their systems; this is explored further in Idea 25.
Other considerations
Sometimes, sensory behaviours are not as straight forward as they may appear. A pupil might be ‘seeking’ sensory inputs from one sense in an effort to compensate for another. For example, they might appear to be seeking out extra auditory input because they are making noises. However, they are actually making their own noise to drown out other sounds in the classroom. Or they might be touching everything to compensate for slower responses from their proprioceptive sense (Idea 5). Pupils can have different reactivity or responses with different senses. Responses can fluctuate with anxiety, tiredness and hunger. They will also change as the pupil matures.
