Sensory processing, it's a bit of a buzz phrase going around the disabilty and parenthood spaces at the moment. What does it actually mean? We all know that we receive information daily through our senses, but in order to function day to day, our brain has to take that information and make sense of it. I like to explain sensory processing as a conveyor belt in our brain. It helps take all of the new information and discard what is not important and send the important stuff to the right part of our brain. It's an integral job our brain does every minute of every day in order to help us engage in everything we do (focusing on work, remembering to feed our babies, stay asleep etc.).
I will go into detail in a later post about what happens when processing is dysfunctional and how that may impact us, because it's too important to lump together with this post. What I want you to understand from this post is why it's important to understand our processing and how we can use that information to our advantage.
Take note of where you are right now. What can you hear? What can you see? Feel? Smell? All of this is being taken in by the brain and processed. For someone without neurodivergence or a diagnosis of a sensory processing disorder, there will be plenty more happening around you that you're not even aware of. Why? Because our brains are able to identify what's not necessarily important for us and will just push that off the conveyor belt. When was the last time you heard the fridge vibration, or the light bulbs hum? Probably not for a long time (if ever), unless something was wrong with it.
When we are having a good day, our brain has more resillience to do this job autonomously and we take that for granted. I'd encourage you to take more notice when you have a spare minute, to all of the information around you, that you might usually miss. Practicing this in a space when you're feeling safe and calm will be imperative for some of the harder work later on.
Processing is important, it's the essential foundation for understanding how the sensory system works and how to best optimise our sensory resillience. Stay tuned for the next post!
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