What is Sensory Efficiency

This resource will support listeners to:

• Recognise the impact of blindness or low vision on developing Sensory Efficiency.
• Understand why Sensory Efficiency is important now and in the future.
• Understand how Sensory Efficiency is linked to development in other Life Skill areas.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:03):
Welcome to Vision Australia's podcast series, designed to help children
and young people develop the skills they'll need to open
their future.

Rebecca (00:14):
Hello. My name is Rebecca and I'm a psychologist. I'm
here to talk to you today about sensory efficiency and
how supporting your child's development of sensory efficiency will help
them in all areas of their lives. But what on
earth is sensory efficiency? Sensory efficiency means using your senses
to interact well in everyday life, no matter the situation,

(00:36):
in a way that helps you to do things as
quickly and accurately as possible. This is particularly important for
people with low vision and blindness. But let's start with
an activity. I'm going to imagine I'm in a new
grocery store. I want to get a few items that
my local grocery store doesn't have. It's a Saturday morning

(00:58):
and it's pretty busy. How do I get information about
the store. The people around me, where I am and
where I need to go. I have visions, so when
I go there, I have my list that I wrote
down of the items I need to buy today. When
I enter the store, I can see that the cashiers
are on the right and aisles are to the left.
The cashier has a line up of people. Each aisle

(01:21):
has a sign with a number and lists the types
of items found there. To the left of the aisles
is the produce section, and at the back I can
see the coolers with dairy products. On my list are
tomatoes and salmon. On closer inspection, I notice the tomatoes
are looking a bit bruised, so I decide not to
buy them. The date on the fish says it's best

(01:42):
before date is today, so I decide to get chicken instead.
So far I'm using my vision a lot, aren't I
doing this without vision, you might say, is impossible, but
at the same time that I'm looking at signs and labels,
there's a wealth of other information around me. I'm not
in the habit of relying on that information, so it's

(02:04):
not the first thing I notice or pay attention to.
So let's think about the other things I might notice
if I was not focusing on what I could see.
There's the sound of the cashiers on the right so
I know where they're located as I walk through the store.
There are misters above the produce and the doors on
the freezers and coolers opening and closing tells me what

(02:26):
that section might be. I can hear lots of people
talking to each other, and the sound changes as I
walk into the cafe to grab a coffee, since there
are more people in a smaller space. What about smell?
I know I'm in the produce section because I can
smell potatoes and other fresh vegetables. The fresh bread tells
me I'm in the bakery and that fishy smell tells

(02:48):
me when I found the seafood. I love the smell
of bread and I can imagine tasting it. Thank goodness
there's a young man giving out samples as a promotion,
so I know that it's bread I'm going to like.
Another sense I use is touch. I feel how cold
it is in the store compared to outside, then colder
again as I move near the fresh meat or near

(03:10):
the fridges and freezers. When I pick up the tomato,
it's as big as my hand, but the skin is
a bit dented and soft in spots. Better to find
the smaller and firmer ones I think. I can feel
whether the trolley is moving smoothly or not. As I
push it, I can notice the difference between the smooth
sections of the floor and the mats that are put

(03:32):
in places that might get wet, like near those fresh
food misters or the deli counter. And a final sense
I can use is how my body is moving and
how it's positioned. Like how I can feel, how far
I have to reach to get items off the shelf,
and how I need to move to push the trolley
with my arms. So part of sensory efficiency is increasing

(03:56):
our awareness of the information we're getting from around us,
so we can use it to do all we need
to do. Another part is using our experience to recognise
what we're sensing, as this will help us anticipate what
is about to happen next and react appropriately. For example,
the difference between when you see someone coming down the
aisle ahead of you or when you suddenly have someone say,

(04:17):
excuse me from behind you. When we're unable to use
our vision to gather all the information we need, you
become more aware of the other senses because your vision
is not distracting or dominating. Your other senses don't suddenly
or automatically improve like hearing better, smelling more, having super senses.
Improvements are more likely related to specific training and experiences

(04:41):
that support this and promote brain development. Practice helps us
to become conscious of the things that may have been
more subconscious. Before. Playing games and practicing skills or techniques
with another person can reinforce what you're sensing, adding meaning
to what you're sensing, and building the library of information
that we talk about in compensatory access. A good example

(05:03):
is when a child starts to use echolocation or a
cane to detect obstacles ahead of them when they are
learning to find their way around. Without specific training, they
may not know what information is important to attend to
and what it might mean. Specific teaching and reinforcement is
essential to developing this. There is something else happening too.

(05:25):
Studies have shown that, particularly as a young child, your
brain development is impacted by the sensory input it receives.
So parts of the brain that would have otherwise been
used to process the information from vision is used to
process other sensory information instead. So it's not so much
that your ears hear better or your other senses are

(05:46):
more sensitive, but that more of your brain may be
dedicated to using that input. So let's break this down
by the different stages of development, starting with your child's
sensory learning during their early years. This is the main
time when children are learning to use their senses. Parents

(06:06):
and other adults have a pivotal role in setting up
opportunities for their child to have new, positive sensory experiences.
Remembering that every child experiences their senses differently from each
other and from you. Awareness of sensory input for babies
starts with how their body feels. Are they feeling hungry,
hot or cold? They then progress to noticing people and

(06:30):
objects they can hear or touch, followed by becoming aware
of and exploring things that are not directly touching them.
For example, they may start to make the connection between
the sound of their bedroom door opening with being picked
up and cuddled. Developing their senses to locate items and people,
and to understand the world around them may take a

(06:52):
bit longer to develop if they're not using sight to
help them learn this. Another very important sense your child
develops during their early years is body awareness and how
to use their body as they start to roll, reach
and then crawl, sit, stand and walk. They're developing their
body awareness and movement. As we've said before, every child

(07:14):
is different, and some children may like more sensory input
and actively explore everything and everyone around them. Others are
more cautious and would prefer to explore a little bit
at a time. This is where observing your child's reactions
can help you to determine how best to support them,
to explore and try new things without having a sense

(07:37):
of being overwhelmed. Your child may also like or dislike
certain types of sensory input. For instance, some children love
to be cuddled and some don't. By understanding your child's preferences,
you can find ways to continue to provide a variety
of experiences for your child to become more familiar with sensations,
without forcing experiences that can trigger a reaction to what

(08:00):
our brain sees as a threat. As you can tell,
the early years is such an important time in your
child's life to develop their senses, and the best way
to support their development is by providing rich sensory experiences
where your child can explore and experience as many new
things as possible. This can be as simple as turning

(08:21):
the television off to reduce background noise, or making sure
when they start to move around, there are toys and
objects close by for them to explore. This will help
to encourage them to be curious about the world and
want to learn more every day. If you want some
ideas on how to do this, check out the podcast episode,

(08:42):
How to discover your Child's Sensory Preferences and to develop
their sensory abilities, which goes into a lot more detail.
When your child is of primary school age, they're ready
to use their senses in more complex ways and environments.
At this age, you can talk to your child about
the logic and reasoning behind what they are experiencing so

(09:04):
they can apply it to other places. This will help
them start to adapt and react more independently. Think back
to the example I started with by taking your child
to the grocery store. They'll learn to go to the
freezer to get the ice cream. It will always be
there because it melts. They'll learn that the grocery store

(09:25):
is often busy and noisy. Knowing this will help them
feel more in control and comfortable when they're in a
busy shopping center, because they've experienced it before. Of course,
your child is still learning about their senses and how
to use them, but it becomes more a question of refining.
You'll see this with activities such as skipping, running, and writing.

(09:49):
Refinement also helps them to maintain attention and focus. Primary
school children are usually pretty good at telling you their
sensory preferences, what they like, and what they don't, but
they may still need help to figure out what to
do when they're in a situation where they would like
to have more of what they want, or avoid what
they don't like. Grown ups still have a role here

(10:12):
to help them work through this, so they're not limited
in their experience because of their preferences. For example, if
a child doesn't really want to participate in a meal
where chicken is served on the bone and other people
are eating with their hands, they may refuse to eat
the chicken until the grown up makes them aware that
chicken also can be cut up and eaten with a

(10:32):
knife and fork. Where there's no touching required. At this age,
it also becomes important that your child learns to explain
how they use their vision and other senses to get information.
By the time your child is in high school, they'll
know their sensory preferences and be able to clearly describe them.

(10:53):
Becoming more independent is a key focus at this age.
That means your child learning to problem solve, how to
use their senses in new and more challenging situations and
environments to do what they want to do. How can
they make sure they hear traffic and use that information
to cross the road safely. Step by step, they will
develop the self-awareness and strategies that will serve them well

(11:16):
as an adult. You'll be able to take a step
back as your child learns to do this with more
and more independence. So as your child goes from infancy
to adulthood, how they are able to use their senses
will change as their brain develops and through their experiences.
Each person is unique in how they perceive the world
through their senses. We all have likes and dislikes and

(11:39):
the ability to learn to use our senses to interpret
and understand the world around us. Consider this for your
child while teaching them how to do what they want
to do in life, we cannot presume that they will
get all the same information we do and interpret it
in the same way, particularly when they may use their
vision differently than we do. Before we finish, I'd love

(12:05):
to set you two challenges, one for yourself and one
for your child. The challenge for you is to become
more aware of how you use your senses. Take a
moment when you are in a familiar environment to identify
what you can hear, what you can feel, what you
can smell, and what you can taste. For each of

(12:28):
the sensations, ask yourself how are you using it to
make sense of where you are and what things mean?
How does this impact your behavior? Maybe you don't like
sticky things on your hands so you don't get your
child to do messy play. Or maybe this preference affects
the foods you choose to eat or prepare. The second

(12:48):
challenge is to think about how you present new experiences
for your child, and what the opportunities are to support
their development and curiosity. Observe your child to discover how
their behavior relates to what they see, hear, touch, smell,
taste and feel through their body. What do they notice
or not? Is there so much going on that they

(13:11):
retreat or not enough to keep them interested. Are there
certain things you do that help or hinder their exploration?
How can you encourage them to explore further and use
more of their senses? Are there places where there is
so much happening that they might feel overwhelmed? How do
they show you what they like or dislike? Thanks for

(13:36):
joining me. See you next time. If you enjoyed this podcast,
there are more where this came from. Talk to your
primary service provider for some recommendations. This podcast was written
using the research and ideas of Mildred Smith on sensory
efficiency in ECC essentials. Teaching the Expanded Core Curriculum to

(13:57):
students with visual impairments. Check out our other expanded core curriculum.
Sensory efficiency resources.

S3 (14:07):
Vision Australia. Blindness. Low vision. Opportunity.