Adapted Activities for Improving Force and Body-Spatial Awareness for Children with Proprioceptive Hyposensitivity

The proprioceptive system is located in our muscle tendons, joint capsules and ligaments. It affords us with a sense of body awareness and detects/controls force and pressure. Also, the proprioception system has an impact on behavior regulation. Proprioception is a sense that informs us about the position of our body parts in relation to each other, other people and the environment around us. Proprioception is an inner sense that enables us to move and perform movements without looking at our body. In that way it informs us about the way our body parts are moving and the amount of force needed for performing different activities, such as in driving, cutting with scissors or jumping over an obstacle. Proprioceptive stimuli also regulate our emotional and behavioral responses to sensory stimulation. Children with poor proprioceptive processing may show decreased postural control and difficulties with motor planning, overreliance on visual cues other than inner proprioception stimuli, movement imitation, and problems in organizing body movements in a specified space. Children with hyposensitive proprioception profile may display an extreme and persistent need for proprioceptive stimuli in order to feel their body is in space or in relation to other people or objects. Some kids are ‘proprioceptive stimuli seekers’. Usually they involuntarily act vigorously in order to obtain this ‘missing’ input, which is significantly needed by them (they might knock body parts, raise or hold objects with excessive force, throw themselves roughly on floor, and so on. Such behaviors may also cause social problems and accusations of misbehaving. In this presentation a variety of unique proprioceptive activities will be displayed. These activities are aimed at improving body awareness and promoting force awareness in an enjoyable way.