Vestibular- Awareness of one's movement in space.
If your child is hyposensitive to this sensation, they may never get dizzy, always move around, and constantly fidget in their seat.
If your child is hypersensitive to this sensation, they may be shy around playground equipment and afraid of heights, and they may get motion sickness easily.
Proprioception- Awareness of one's body in space.
If your child is hyposensitive to this sensation, they may love rough play, have no personal space boundaries, and need a lot physical activity to calm down.
If your child is hypersensitive to this sensation, they may dislike wearing tight clothing or tags, being held, and receiving tight hugs, and they may be a bit claustrophobic in big crowds.
Interoception- Awareness of the sensations inside one's body. Examples include knowing when you need to go to the bathroom, when you are hungry, and when you are starting to feel sick.
If your child struggles with interoception, they may find potty training, eating at mealtimes, and understanding how to identify their emotions challenging.
Children can struggle with sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell too! Some might react strongly and be super sensitive to these stimuli (examples include disliking sudden or loud noises, hating messy play or tags in their clothing, etc.) and others may need a significant amount of sensory input to self-regulate (examples include touching everything they see, needing more time or prompts to respond to their name or verbal directions, etc.). Each child's sensory system is unique, so they may prefer different sensory experiences.