An SIPT Therapist May be the Solution to Your Child’s Sensory Needs
What is Sensory Integration?
Think of all the sensations you experience while dressing, bathing, walking or riding a bike. The feeling of the cloth against your skin. The sound of the water splashing. The wind blowing against your face as you zoom down the street.
Sensory integration is how most of us understand our world; through the 5 senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. We also receive information from our body position sense (proprioception) and balance and movement (vestibular). Children are constantly taking in sensory information through these systems to learn, play, and interact with the world. Children with sensory integration issues do not process the information correctly and may benefit from occupational therapy to help the process along.
Some Possible Signs of Sensory Integration Issues:
1. Overly sensitive or under reactive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds in the environment
2. Unusually high or low activity level
3. Easily distracted, poor attention to tasks
4. Delays in speech, motor skills, or academic achievement
5. Coordination problems, appears clumsy or awkward
6. Poor body awareness
7. Difficulty with tasks that require using both hands at the same time
8. Difficulty learning new tasks or figuring out how to play with unfamiliar toys
9. Appears to be disorganized most of the time
10. Difficulty with transitions between activities or environments
11. Immature social skills
12. Impulsivity or lack of self-control
13. Difficulty calming self once “wound up”
What is SIPT certification?
SIPT stands for Sensory Integration Praxis Test. The SIPT is considered the “gold standard” for identifying sensory issues because it is the only sensory integration test to help us understand why some children have difficulty learning or behaving as we hope and expect. Occupational therapists can help children with sensory issues, but without being SIPT certified, they are missing out on revealing important behind the scenes information to truly pinpoint a child’s learning and behavior difficulties.
Specifically, The SIPT is a group of tests that can be administered in 2 hours. It identifies the child’s strengths and concerns across the different sensory systems. Any of the individual tests can be administered separately in about 10 minutes each. The SIPT can only be administered by a therapist who has certification in the protocol and who has received extensive training in sensory integration.
Get on Board!
Since I received my SIPT certification 2 years ago I have found incredible success in treating sensory disorders. For example, I worked with a girl who was absolutely terrified of riding in a car due to the associated sensory experiences. The SIPT helped me pinpoint specific issues and difficulties this young lady had with her sensory system. As a result, I was able to more effectively provide therapy to address her needs behind the scenes and she can now ride in the car without issues. Same can be said for a young man who had difficulty with the sensory experiences associated with wearing clothes. Through SIPT we were able to discover the underlying sensory causes, and now this child will wear sweatpants and loose shirts with no problem. Becoming SIPT certified has revolutionized my therapeutic approach. These are just two small successes in the line of victories that I have seen with my clients.– it is a very rewarding experience!
Parents, if your children are demonstrating sensory and behavior issues it’s time to talk to your pediatrician to schedule an appointment for an occupational therapy evaluation. I want to help your child be the very best that they can be! It is never too late! Click here to make an appointment.
