Sensory Issues: Case Study Report on Miguel's Sensory Processing

This report presents a case study of a 14-year-old boy named Miguel, who has been diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder. The case study details Miguel's behaviors and challenges, including tactile defensiveness, auditory sensitivities, and visual learning preferences. It discusses how his sensory issues affect his learning, social interactions, and eating habits. The report references relevant literature, such as Cermak, Curtin, and Bandini (2010), to support the analysis of Miguel's condition. Furthermore, the report explores the relationship between sensory development and motor skills, as well as the symptoms of ADHD that Miguel displays. It also includes a discussion of the Conceptual Act Theory (CAT) and its relevance to Miguel's emotional expression. The report suggests various sensory strategies that can be implemented in the classroom, such as sensory diets, physical activities, and auditory inputs. It also highlights the importance of nutritional assessments and the potential benefits of yoga exercises. The conclusion emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to address Miguel's sensory issues, incorporating both indoor and outdoor sensory activities, physical exercises, positive reinforcement, and appreciation.

Running head: SENSORY ISSUES
SENSORY ISSUES
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Behaviour presentation and its relation to the sensory Processing disorder
Miguel is a 14 years boy old who has sensory processing disorder. The boy had past
history of fluid build-up in his lungs, due to which he had to undergo a surgery. Miguel does not
participate in lesson explanation and is primarily a visual learner, but not an auditory learner and
generally takes a long time to write the alphabets. Miguel needs short breaks from time to time
for restoring his attention. Miguel is the quite restless and could not pay attention in classroom
studies. Miguel is a picky eater and gets distracted easily due to background noises. He displays
extreme responses against high pitched voice, or metallic noises. Miguel feels uncomfortable in
socks and shoes. Cermak, Curtin and Bandini, (2010) have described that children suffering
from autism spectrum disorder and sensory processing disorders exhibit tactile defensive to
tactile stimuli like clothes or woollen blankets, that come in contact with their skin. Oral over-
responsiveness is a part of tactile responsiveness, where they develop aversion against certain
textures of food. Individuals with sensory processing issues are extremely picky eaters as the
smell or texture of any food is being processed in the brain as displeasurable in certain way. It
has been reported that individuals suffering from tactile defensiveness are resistant to eat
vegetables, thus the overall vegetable consumption is reduced to half. He often gets frustrated
and angry on refusal of any tasks that he desperately wants to do. Miguel had suffered from hay
fever and is under medication for his hyperactivity at home. Kids suffering from sensory
processing disorder are over sensitive and hence try to escape feelings that are intolerable. They
can be sensory seeking and sensory avoiding. The motor skills of Miguel is not well developed.
He can express his basic needs, but finds it very hard to express his feelings. Having sensory
processing issues might affect the motor skills of children in various ways. If an individual is not

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comfortable in the touching things then they might be reluctant to play with and hence would
manipulate objects (Critz, Blake & Nogueira, 2015). This can reduce the rate of development of
some motor skills. Children with sensory disorder can suffer from poor proprioception and
vestibular issues might feel off balance. Moreover, sensory issues can make it tough to gauge
movements of all kinds. They might not feel comfortable on swings as they might think that they
would fall.
Relation between sensory development and motor skills have been reported in children
especially in the infants. Fine motor skills in children are able to guess expressive language by
about 36 months in the infants, who are at a higher risk for ASD. As per the maturation
hypothesis, motor advances occurs due to the general process of maturation, affecting all the
spheres of the development. Again, as per the developmental cascade hypothesis, gaining a new
skills causes a significant development in the child’s regular practice by changing, the kind of
information that is available and how other responds to the child (Libertus & Violi, 2016). Some
of the ADHD symptoms that has been displayed by Miguel is lack of attentiveness, impulsivity
and hyperactivity (Redmond 2016). As per the Conceptual Act Theory (CAT) is an instance of
emotion which occurs as the information from one body is made meaningful in the light of the
present situation, by using the concept knowledge about the emotions. It has been suggested by
CAT that language plays a great role in the expression of emotions, as the language supports the
contextual knowledge used for making the meanings of sensation from the body and world in a
given context (Lindquist, MacCormack & Shablack, 2015). Again, it is evident from the case
study, that Miguel is a visual learners and generally does not participate in classroom
explanations. This is due to the fact, which the visual learners think in images. A simple
explanation regarding visual learning is that visual perception occur in the brain. The assumption

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of a series of levels leading from perceptual to semantics has been abandoned successfully
(Mostafa, 2017). Miguel generally avoids academics. During stress children normally use two
protective behavior, either fight or flight. Fighting behavior can be displayed by throwing
tantrums or by hitting other person, or displaying frustration. Flight behavior normally includes
physically leaving the activity or refusing to participate.
Sensory strategies that can be implemented in the classroom
It is necessary for an occupational therapist to take up several strategies to provide
accommodation to a student having sensory issues. Various classroom activities has been found
to be effective for children having sensory issues. A sensory diet is a treatment, which can assist
the kids with sensory processing issues. In generally involves a series of physical activities,
which can be practiced with the child at home. A sensory diet plan can be tailored as per the
needs of Miguel. It has been found that the effect of the sensory diets in combination with
professional interventions are generally cumulative and effective. These sensory activities the
help children to tolerate sensations and situations that are challenging and is capable of
regulating emotions, alertness, by increasing the span of attention, reducing sensory seeking
behaviours that are not necessary.
There are several activities which an occupational therapist can carry out a sensory diet
plan specific for Miguel. Jumping activities like jumping on a trampoline or a rebounder or
playing on hopscotch can be helpful (Schaaf et al., 2016). Jumping on the trampoline and the
rebounding actions helps to improve the balance, encourages development of the muscles and the
bones. With each up and down, the body receives proprioceptive input and vestibular motion
feedback. Children and adult tends to use the vestibular input for maintain the upright posture,

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balance and move through the space. It also informs children about the speed and the direction of
how and where things around are moving. Walking and climbing over unstable surfaces can help
an individual to strengthen the muscles of the trunk region. Some of the other incidental
exercises like lifting up of free weights, using playground swings can be effective in stimulating
the vestibular sensitivities. Auditory inputs can be stimulated by letting Miguel to listen to the
natural sounds recordings, such as sounds of rain falling, bird songs, ocean waves. In order to
stimulate the tactile senses, Miguel can be allowed to sculpt, sew or weave. Since, Miguel tends
to cover his ears and is intolerant to loud noises, earplugs or noise muffling headphones can be
given to help with the sensitivity of noise.
Some chores like raising piles of books and mild heavy objects creates a sense of
pressure. He can be assigned to develop a scrapbook with various textures like handmade and
sand papers. Miguel can be made to listen to music that has been engineered to promote
calmness, energy or creativity. It is known from the case study, that Miguel had been a picky
eater. Restricted intake of food may lead to nutritional insufficiency if the varieties of food
remains restricted. This can pose potential health risk, giving rise to nutrition deficiency diseases
(Cermak, Curtin & Bandini, 2010). In such case, it is necessary to conduct a nutritional
assessment for understanding any nutrient deficiency that is occurring. In such a case, it is
necessary to collaborate with Miguel’s parents, to list down the food that Miguel prefers to eat.
Yoga exercises have been found to be a possible school intervention for children
suffering from behavioural and emotional disorders. Yoga practicing helps an individual to
master certain skills, promoting self-control, attention, body awareness and management of
stress. Researches have reported the beneficial effects of Yoga in reducing the hyperactivity,

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attention and anxiety and have also improved the quality of peer relationship and the patterns of
sleep (Chou & Huang, 2017). A current systematic review has advised that physical activities
show a promise as an effective treatment, reporting an improvement in the measures of
interference control, set sifting and consistent response speed.
It is evident from the case study, that Miguel is not very good at socialising with his
classmates. In such a case, Miguel can be encouraged to take part in role plays and classroom
dramas, where he can be assigned with a role, where he can take a lead. This way, an individual
will be able to regulate their own behaviours and get along with the other students as well. In
case Miguel tries to take part in any activities that is out of his comfort zone then he can be
appreciated or praised.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated, that more emphasis should be given on the Miguel’s
sensory issues, which can be done by introducing both indoor and outdoor sensory activities.
Physical exercises and Yoga can be helpful in relaxation and development of the motor skills.
Positive reinforcement and appreciation has been found to be effective in children like Miguel.

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References
Case-Smith, J., Weaver, L. L., & Fristad, M. A. (2015). A systematic review of sensory
processing interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 19(2), 133-
148.
Cermak, S. A., Curtin, C., & Bandini, L. G. (2010). Food selectivity and sensory sensitivity in
children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
110(2), 238–246. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2009.10.032
Chou, C. C., & Huang, C. J. (2017). Effects of an 8-week yoga program on sustained attention
and discrimination function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
PeerJ, 5, e2883. doi:10.7717/peerj.2883
Critz, C., Blake, K., & Nogueira, E. (2015). Sensory processing challenges in children. The
Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 11(7), 710-716.
Libertus, K., & Violi, D. A. (2016). Sit to Talk: Relation between Motor Skills and Language
Development in Infancy. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 475. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00475
Lindquist, K. A., MacCormack, J. K., & Shablack, H. (2015). The role of language in emotion:
predictions from psychological constructionism. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 444.
doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00444
Mostafa, E. (2017). Perceptual Visual Skills in Delayed Language Developed Children.
Egyptian Journal of Ear, Nose, Throat and Allied Sciences, 18(2), 127-129.

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Schaaf, R. C., Benevides, T., Mailloux, Z., Faller, P., Hunt, J., Van Hooydonk, E., ... & Kelly, D.
(2014). An intervention for sensory difficulties in children with autism: A randomized
trial. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 44(7), 1493-1506.