Bolles Sensory Learning Method

For example, if a child demonstrated vision problems, working only with the modality involving visual stimulation was very difficult for the child and everyone else involved in the process.  The child became totally overwhelmed and spent his energy resisting the therapy. The senses need to work interdependently as the conscious brain cannot make sense of sensory messages until they are integrated.  Sensory messages come in as subconscious reflex transmissions.  Messages about sound and motion enter by way of the cochlear-vestibular nerve into a very primitive area of the brainstem called the medulla oblongata.  Ocular messages come into the brainstem to an area just above that called the pons.  These messages must become integrated before they come into conscious awareness in the cortex.  Without integration the conscious messages that are received are inaccurate and confusing.  They give rise to frustration, anxiety and distractibility.  They create perception problems such as not being able to think in sequence, not being able to understand verbal instructions or know where a sound is coming from.  Some children are so gravitationally insecure that they have difficulty walking on uneven ground or are afraid to ride on a piece of playground equipment that moves. Others are so sensitive auditorially that they always act startled as if in pain from the noise of a blender or hairdryer in their home. Some children have difficulty reading because the words “won’t hold still on the page.”    The successful integration of these messages gives rise to the emergence of sensory abilities or faculties we mostly take for granted because they occur largely subconsciously.  For individuals with an acquired brain injury, activities that were once routine like reading become difficult, and previously comfortable environments like restaurants become auditorially stressful and overwhelming.