The prevalence of children with sensory integration dysfunction (SID, also known as SensoryProcessing Disorder, SPD) is increasing, and has caught the attention of medical professionals,parents and educational researchers (Lee & Chuang, 2013). SID is a neurological disorder inwhich the brain is unable to accurately process certain information received through the senses,and thus sufferers may have behavioral disorders resulting from complex multifaceted problems.However, it is not a disease that leads to brain damage or brain deterioration, and thereforeneurological specialists usually are unable to effectively identify children with this condition(Ayres & Robbins, 2005). The current clinical identification of SID can be categorized into fourpatterns: "Visual perception and Auditory-Language Disorders," "Tactile Defensiveness,""Disorders involving the Vestibular System," and "Developmental Dyspraxia." While childrenwith SID (CwSID) may not have all the symptoms of a certain dysfunction, they usually haveseveral symptoms of these four patterns (Ayres & Robbins, 2005; Kranowitz & Miller, 2006;Miller & Fuller, 2007).
Ayres (1972) indicated that the human sensory integration system starts developing during theembryo stage, while the sensory integration capability evolves slowly in daily life with sports,games and other activities during one's infancy and the primary stage of childhood. Ayres notonly identified the syndromes of SID, but also the relationship between learning and sensoryintegrative functions. In a study sponsored by the Valentine-Kline Foundation, Ayres (1976)accomplished three objectives: exploring the relationships among academic, intellectual,language and sensory integrative functions; determining the distribution of different types ofdisorders and the significance of these to academic learning; and exploring the efficacy oftherapeutic procedures. For the first time in occupational therapy the role of the vestibularsystem in learning disabilities was clarified. The neurophysiologic literature later delineateddifferent functional areas which manifest apraxia, including postural dyspraxia, motorsequencing deficits, dyspraxia on verbal command, oral dyspraxia, and constructional dyspraxia.Ayres (1985) further connected praxis and language by stating that the former is to the physicalworld what speech is to the social world, because both enable interactions and transactions, andsome aspects of speech and language comprehension may be closely related, even dependentupon, the development of praxis. Moreover, both praxis and language require cognitive functionsof ideation and concept formation, both require integration of sensory input and both requireplanning that enables motor expression. As speech and language comprehension is highly relatedto the learning process, CwSID will have more problems in adapting to the learning environmentif they also have dyspraxia, and thus finding an effective therapy to train CwSID and improvetheir sensory integrative ability will promote their learning performance. The connectionbetween SID and academic performance in a technology-enhanced learning environment canalso be illustrated by our modified pyramid of learning, adapted from Williams andShellenberger (1996), as shown in Figure 1, in which many elements discussed above serve asimportant building blocks of academic learning.
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In the 1990's the primary instrument for identification of SID was the Sensory Integration andPraxis Test (SIPT) (Ayres, 1989). SIPT includes measures of tactile and vestibular-proprioceptiveprocessing, measures of form and space perception and visual-motor coordination, measures ofpraxis, and measures of bilateral integration and sequencing. Examiners who administer theSIPT must be carefully trained by the organization Sensory Integration International, and haveextensive experience in pediatrics. …