What Does the Vestibular System Do and How Does it Impact Learning?

The Vestibular System, It’s Personal

“You had me at vestibular,” said possibly no one ever except perhaps sensory processing gurus the likes of Diana Henry and Carol Kranowitz, both friends of mine and authors of books, articles, and sensory processing checklists and measures.

However, those five words swirled around like semi-circular canals in my brain (only OTs will get that simile) when my daughter, Shalea, at age five was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, commonly shortened to SPD. Of course, I did what most parents do when facing a diagnosis for their child, crack open the laptop and experience the thrilling sensation of being sucked down the black hole of a Google search.

Typing in “sensory processing disorder”, a plethora of information appeared but one citation caught my attention. The title, Sensory Processing Disorder: Real or Myth? I clicked. Another saying came to mind, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

If a diagnosis is given and there’s no mention of it in the Merck Manual of medical information, does this malady truly exist? At the time, SPD wasn’t in the Merck Manual and as of today, SPD getting its own, neatly listed conditions and treatment section remains elusive and still controversial according to the Child Mind Institute. In the latest edition of the DSM-5 diagnostic manual, you’ll find SPD behaviors listed only under the autism diagnosis section.

But I knew SPD existed and was real for children who didn’t have autism after diving deeper into checklists and reading Carol Kranowitz’ iconic book, The Out-of-Sync Child because I was living through parenting hell, for lack of anything else to describe my day-to-day existence with Shalea.

I’d spend hours feeding her the nutritiously packed foods recommended by Shalea’s feeding team only to have it all thrown back up within minutes of getting it down. She couldn’t tolerate the texture.

The Great Melted Peanut Butter Cup Disaster

One day I was sitting on the edge of a decorative fountain outside of a grocery store enjoying a beautiful day with Shalea and her younger brother. I’d just bought my kidlets some peanut butter cups (don’t judge). This particular day was a hot one and before Shalea could get the candy into her mouth, it had melted slightly.

Image by pixel1 at Pixabay.com

While attempting to eat her treat, she got melted chocolate on her finger. I saw the tell-tale signs of disaster as she started gagging. I was able to grab her and push her away from the fountain so the contents of her stomach didn’t end up floating in the water (awful image, I know, but necessary to make my point!).

There I stood trying to figure out my next move, both of us a stinking mess. In the most serendipitous event ever, I looked over at a light pole and there was a couple feet of clean TP twirled around the pole (these were the days before the pandemic when TP was routinely wasted during TP’ing pranks).

It’s as if the sensory processing fairy stopped by to save the day. I was able to walk a few steps over to the pole grab the TP, clean us both up enough to enter the grocery store and continue the job in the bathroom so we could survive the ride home.

We now live in sunny AZ and a daily requirement is to lather on the sunscreen. In order to put sunscreen on Shalea, I have to give her pretzels and water to trick her sensory system into not registering the creamy sensation on her skin.

Image by AdoreBeautyNZ from Pixabay.com

The first time Shalea put her fingers into something gooey during her sensory processing therapy session, after weeks of cajoling by her therapist, I framed the colorful piece of art that, interesting enough, looked like a butterfly, one of Shalea’s favorite things (next to her beloved minions, of course).

Disneyland anyone? Nope. She was so dizzy and overwhelmed even on the It’s a Small World Ride that she looked at me and asked, “Will this day ever end?”

And on it goes. I could write volumes in an attempt to convince any reader that thinks SPD doesn’t exist, but let’s get down to the nitty-gritty for those wanting to learn more about the magical, mystical, marvelous, and sometimes menacing vestibular system.

Where is the Vestibular System?

The vestibular system is located in the inner ear and helps the body know where it is in space by fluid moving through semicircular canals in the ear. This system, when working properly, organizes incoming sensory information and routes the information to the appropriate areas of the brain.

In the game, Telegraph, someone whispers something to the person next to them. Then the next person passes it down and so forth. By the end of the person-to-person messaging, most likely the information changed quite a bit from the original message.

Image by Olya Adamovich from Pixabay.com

This is what it’s like for someone with a sensory processing disorder. The incoming sensory information that is supposed to be organized and routed to the correct areas of the brain is instead a static signal of mixed messages.

The vestibular system can be over-responsive like Shalea’s system, under-responsive, or lackluster about the amount of information coming in, ending up craving more input.

This is an example of the vestibular system when it isn’t working well. Messages coming in through sensory information from the environment aren’t processed correctly. The sensory processing system either doesn’t listen to the information, adds its own spin to the incoming information, or garbles the information so it doesn’t get sent to the correct areas of the brain. When there’s a sensory processing disorder, symptoms can range from mild to severe.

A Vestibular System Experiment

Right now, put your hand behind your back and make a fist. Make sure your hand isn’t touching your back. Now open and close your fist. How do you know if your hand is opened or closed? You can’t see it, so how does your brain know what your hand is up to behind your back?

There’s messengers built into your muscles and joints that send information from your body to the brain by way of the vestibular system that says, “Hey, my hand is behind my back, and currently, it’s open.” Imagine if you didn’t have these messengers at all. You’d never know where your body was in space. The proprioceptive sense is one of many senses that the vestibular system helps to monitor.

Image by Nathan Legakis from Pixabay.com

Both as a parent and a teacher, the vestibular system intrigues me, and I continue to be in awe of how much this system affects daily living at home and learning in the classroom (which may be at home for you right now).

Chloe, One of the First Students I Observed With SPD

Chloe, a first grade student, had to look at her legs in order to know they existed. How did I know she was having difficulties with her proprioceptive sense? To evaluate the proprioceptive sense, one of the activities I use is called Snow Angel Taps. I tap on the arm or leg and ask the child to move their limb away from their body as if they were making angels in the snow.

For Chloe, the input coming into her vestibular system wasn’t being routed to the correct parts of the brain. This left her mind-body system out of the loop with missing data so she couldn’t respond to the input appropriately. Chloe couldn’t move her limbs without looking at them. Her eyes told her brain where her body was in space, not her muscles and joints via the vestibular system which should have been organizing her tactile and proprioceptive senses.

Chloe was actually thought to have a severe cognitive deficit because she couldn’t write or do most academic tasks. As she completed proprioceptive activities and improved her proprioceptive sense, she eventually caught up with her peers. This is an extreme example, but children can have difficulties as severe as Chloe’s, and it’s good to be aware of this possibility.

The Sensory Processing Measure as an Important Tool in Your Toolbox

If you’re looking for a collaboration tool that hones in on all the different senses, consider using the Sensory Processing Measure, a thoroughly researched and norm referenced tool. Therapro sells the SPM at their website if you are already over there buying some cool stuff from them, check it out.

What I love about the SPM is that you can get the Quick Tips with it so you have great ideas for intervention right at your fingertips. This is really helpful after a long day of teaching and then having to head over to an IEP meeting and come up with ideas on your own.

The Vestibular System in Action: Twister Puzzle Memory Match Game

Okay so now you’ve had a quick introduction to the vestibular system and the proprioceptive sense. Now it’s time to observe your own child or children you work with to see how they navigate this activity I call Twister Puzzle Memory Match Game.

S’cool Moves Twister Puzzle Memory Match Game

Download and print two copies of the Twister Puzzle page. Cut out the squares and turn them so the activity is facing down and can’t be seen. Mix up the squares and have the child turn over the cards until they get a match. When they get a match, go down to the floor and do the twister puzzle move.

Observe how easy or hard it is for the child to complete the movement patterns. Motor planning is part of the vestibular system’s job. If you observe difficulties, this could be a clue that the child is experiencing some vestibular issues including motor planning, body awareness, and positioning in space.

Twister Puzzle memory matching game also helps with visual memory, an important skill for reading and spelling.

When the vestibular system is activated by activities like Twister Puzzles, children can actually learn faster according to current research.

I’ve provided you with a black and white version so children can color their own sets or a color version if you want sets that are ready to go.

Twister Puzzle Colors

When a body part is colored red, it means to move the right part of the body. Blue means to move the left side of the body. A circle represents the head. The knees are half circles and the elbows are leaf-like shapes.

Only the body part shown in the square is on the floor. The other body parts are off the floor. Some of the moves are challenging!

Remembering Liz

Liz was my first mentor and an incredibly gifted teacher and school counselor. The Twister Puzzle Activity comes from a course I took from Liz Davies over 30 years ago when half my biology students couldn’t read their textbooks. But that’s a story for another time.