Sensory Processing Dysfunction

[pendragon]

Hi. My daughter and I saw a bit of a science fair project on the topic of Sensory Integration portrayed on the ABC series 'Brothers and Sisters' last season (presumably 6th grade, Episode 12, entitled "The Science Fair"). It was a very quick overview of this topic since one of the main characters is having difficulty in medical school, although he is very bright. My daughter is an international adoptee and she has experienced some of these sensory integration/dysfunction issues in her personal development. She is now an 8th grader and is interested in doing something with this topic for her science fair project. Her research has not turned up any type of information that might lead her toward a hypothesis for this topic that is within her realm of abilities to test.

The project on the television show was very colorful and used a hands-on approach; one would place a marble of a certain color into a hole representing one of the five senses, it then rolled through a tube of a similar color and ended up in the same color of a divided model of the brain. Sometimes the marble ended up going into an unrelated part of the brain, thus representing the dysfunction or processing disorder. There were obvious graphs and outcomes on the presentation board, but it was just too fast to determine what had been measured. Most of the information that my daughter has found with her research seem to be based on therapy outcome models.

She has searched sensory integration, sensory processing and sensory dysfunction but has been unable to find an appropriate approach to a test question/hypothesis. Any assistance to point her in a direction that might lead to an appropriate grade level test for this project would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much.
J & J

[deleted-71932]

Hello,

I am not sure of what you mean by the colored marbles rolling through a tube into a model of a brain. Are you thinking of doing an experiment with a similar model?

If not, you can ask a question that deals with how Sensory Integration Dysfunction affects a person's brain function. For example, you can compare the responses of someone with SID with someone who does not have SID. You may consider observing their responses to temperature, light, sound, taste, etc. This link (http://www.incrediblehorizons.com/senso ... ration.htm) provides a list of symptoms of DIS that may be helpful to test.

I hope this is what you are looking for. Good luck to your daughter on her project.

[deleted-71536]

Hi J & J,

I have not seen the TV episode to which you are referring, but your description of the project makes it sound more like a model used to illustrate the process rather than an experiment. You have already gotten some good advice regarding ways you can adapt this topic as an experiment - comparing someone with SID (your daughter) to someone without SID, in terms of sensory responses.

Something that might help is for your daughter to browse the sensory-related project ideas on the Science Buddies website.
Here is the link to all the Human Biology & Health Science topics: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ?ia=HumBio
Peripheral vision: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... Q&from=TSW
Senses of smell and taste: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... Q&from=TSW
Hearing thresholds: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... Q&from=TSW
Taste threshold: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... Q&from=TSW

I hope this helps you get started. Let us know if you have more questions!

Heather