Our tactile system
Our tactile system is developed through touch as a primary method of communication and to establish social bonds. Through tactile responses, a child learns about feeding, dressing, language, movement, perception, basic concepts and handwriting. When skin is touched there are two types of responses:
- Discriminative – tells you where and what is being touched. The information is sent to the cerebral cortex and associated with vibration, pressure, proprioception and adaptive behaviour.
- Protective – is a response to danger and can trigger a flight or fight response. Our protective response is associated with pain, temperature and touch.
Hypersensitive
| Potential signs | Potential impact | Strategies to assist with learning |
|---|---|---|
| Dislike of certain foods, brushing of hair or teeth. | The avoidance of messy play or being dirty | Consider ways of changing the task or environment, such as different fabric on art apron or sports bib, let the child stand at the back of the line so they’d don’t have unexpected touch from behind them. |
| Difficulty with clothing labels or textures. For example struggling to wear art aprons or sports bibs. | Label free clothing or sewing soft fabrics over labels.
Allowing some flexibility around what to wear. Trying different washing powers, such as eco brands. | |
| Dislike of physical touching especially light touch. For example struggling to line up or sit in assembly. | A dislike of crowds | The exploration of different textures; water play, finger painting, science and cooking activities and handling pets. This will need to be carried out in a careful graduated response due to the negative feelings associated with touch and should always be carried out on the child’s or young person’s terms. |
| Touch being perceived as negative or threatening | May respond with physical aggression to light touch | Proprioceptive activities can help inhibit the protective pathway and aid in reducing sensitivity. |
Hyposensitive
| Potential signs | Potential impact | Strategies to assist with learning |
|---|---|---|
| Lack of reaction to painful experiences | Difficulty developing fine motor skills, self-help skills and play | The messy and explorative play strategies above can be appropriate |
| Difficulty manipulating tools and toys | Children or young people may also struggle with grading pressure and can be over forceful at times or appear to have weak muscles. They may get tired more quickly during writing tasks | In addition, using vibration equipment and proprioceptive strategies can assist in improving tactile discrimination |
| Feely boards can be useful |