🧠 Sensory Integration

Exercises, Activities &
Therapeutic Programmes

A system-by-system practical guide for children with Autism & ADHD — graded from beginner to advanced, backed by OT-informed frameworks.

🌀 Vestibular 💪 Proprioceptive 🤲 Tactile 👂 Auditory 👁 Visual 👃 Olfactory 💓 Interoceptive 🌟 Multi-Sensory

What is Sensory Integration?

Developed by Dr. A. Jean Ayres in the 1970s, Sensory Integration (SI) is the neurological process by which the brain receives, organises, and responds to sensory information from the body and environment. When disrupted — as it frequently is in ASD and ADHD — the brain either amplifies signals (hypersensitivity) or fails to register them (hyposensitivity), causing meltdowns, avoidance, sensory seeking, and emotional dysregulation.

The Ayres Integration Hierarchy
Level 1
FoundationTactile · Vestibular · Proprioceptive → body awareness, balance
Level 2
Body PerceptMotor planning, bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination
Level 3
Perceptual-MotorForm, space, auditory-language, visual-spatial skills
Level 4
Higher CorticalAcademic learning, emotional regulation, social participation

Choose a Sensory System

Each section contains graded activities, implementation tips, and safety notes.

🌀
Vestibular Integration
Movement, balance & spatial orientation. The most powerful regulatory system — slow linear movement calms, fast rotary alerts.
Spinning / Rocking Gravitational Insecurity
7 activities→
💪
Proprioceptive Integration
Body awareness through joints & muscles. Heavy work is the fastest calming input — reduces crashing, biting and body slamming.
Heavy Work Deep Pressure
7 activities→
🤲
Tactile Integration
Touch discrimination, texture tolerance and tactile defensiveness. Builds the skin's protective and discriminative sub-systems.
Tactile Defensiveness Texture Tolerance
6 activities→
👂
Auditory Integration
Sound filtering, discrimination and volume regulation. The auditory-vagal pathway (Polyvagal Theory) connects sound directly to regulation.
Sound Sensitivity Auditory Seeking
5 activities→
👁
Visual Integration
Light tolerance, visual tracking, figure-ground and spatial awareness. Overlaps with vestibular at Level 3 of the Ayres hierarchy.
Visual Stimming Photophobia
5 activities→
👃🫦
Olfactory & Gustatory
Smell & taste processing, oral-motor function and food acceptance. Olfaction connects directly to the limbic (emotional) brain.
Food Selectivity Oral Seeking
4 activities→
💓
Interoceptive Integration
The "eighth sense" — internal body signals: heartbeat, hunger, emotion. Central to emotional regulation and alexithymia in ASD.
Body Awareness Emotion Recognition
5 activities→
🌟
Multi-Sensory Integration
Cross-system programmes — sensory circuits, yoga, swimming, martial arts and storytelling. The highest level of the Ayres hierarchy.
Sensory Circuit Whole-Child Regulation
5 activities→
📝
Personalised Sensory Diet
Select your child's observed behaviours and receive a tailored daily sensory schedule, radar profile, and targeted exercises — generated in seconds.
Sensory Diet Builder Seeker & Avoider
30 behaviours→
⚠️

Always consult a qualified Occupational Therapist (OT) before starting a sensory integration programme, particularly for activities involving the vestibular system or deep-pressure techniques. This guide is a practical reference — not a replacement for individual clinical assessment.

💬 Not sure which exercises suit your child?
Tell Mitra which sensory systems are involved and she'll recommend specific exercises, explain the science, and build a daily sensory routine.
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