The Brain

Your Senses

and Behavior

Presented by:

Dr. Kerri Tomasello BCBA-D, COTA/L

Carolyn Whitworth MS, OTR/L

The Connection Between the Brain,

Behavior, and the Senses

• Behavior is defined as “the activity of living organisms: human behavior includes everything that people do” (Cooper, Heron & Heward 2007)

• Examples of human behavior include sleeping, taking a breath, talking, driving a car, reading this slide, having a tantrum, and crying

• The Brain is the control center for all behaviors, the information coming into the brain determines how we respond (behave)

• The Sensory System is the supplier of information to the brain

Facts about the Brain

• The adult human brain weighs about 3 lbs.

• The brain is about the size of a grapefruit and can fit in the palm of your hand

• The brain never stops working

• Every second, even while sleeping, the brain is still collecting tens of thousands of bits of information from the environment through our senses

“How the Brain Learns” Sousa, David (2011)

Electrical System of the Brain

• Sensory information comes into the brain as electrical impulses, not as sound or light waves

• Nerve cells called neurons transmit sensory information that is generated from internal sources of stimuli (within out bodies), and from external sources (environment)

• Neurons are part of the brain’s electrical system, conducting electrical impulses over nearly 1 million miles of nerve fibers

The Brain as a Super Highway

• Think of the brain as the center of a super highway with the electrical impulses representing the traffic flow coming and going to specific destinations in the brain

• Just as on a highway there can be traffic flow problems that cause the flow of traffic to slow down, be diverted, or cleared away to make way for high priority (emergency) information that must get to the brain quickly to generate a more immediate response (behavior). Similar to “lights” and “sirens” on a highway that indicate an emergency, information can come into the brain from the sensory system with a high priority for attention

Changing Brain

• The brain is more like plastic than cement. It will change with every experience that you have, continually reorganizing itself based on the information that is received from the senses

Screening Process

• Considering the amount of sensory information coming into the brain at any given second, a screening process is necessary to filter through incoming information in order to keep the brain from becoming continually overloaded

• Sensory impulses that are unimportant are dropped out of the processing system (this is how we can work in a noisy environment and tune out what otherwise would be distractions)

Screening Process

• The brain’s screening system is referred to as the sensory register, which includes the thalamus and the reticular activating system (RAS)

• Once information passes through the sensory register it is routed to areas in the brain referred to as the “thinking brain” or the “reactive brain”

• The destination is determined by the type of sensory information and the required response

Balance in the Sensory System

• The body works to maintain a balance in the sensory system, however

• Even with the processing system there are situations or conditions in which too much (over-stimulation) or too little (under-stimulation) sensory information is communicated to the brain or information does not reach the appropriate location in the brain; disrupting the expression of the desired behavioral response or producing an inappropriate behavioral response

• Possible causes for an in-balance include: situational factors (happening in the moment), fight or flight reaction, illness, or disabilities

Balance in the Sensory System

• The body’s ability to acquire and regulate a sufficient quality and quantity of sensory information is essential to being able to function effectively on a daily basis and meet the environmental demands of everyday life

• When the sensory system is out of balance there are self-regulating strategies that may be able to bring the sensory system back into balance

The Brain and Your Senses

Tactile

• Receptors located in the skin

• Two types

– Defensive system

– Discriminative system

Tactile

Over responsive

– Shying away from certain textures (glue, messy play such as shaving cream)

– Aversions to certain clothing

– Touch can feel like a threat

Under responsive

– Needing to touch everything

– Not aware of messy face/wet clothes

Gustatory (taste)

• Receptors are located in the mouth

• Allows us to taste salty, sweet, sour, spicy

• Tastes good = survival

Gustatory

Over responsive

• Picky eater, may only eat specific textures or temperatures or food

Under responsive

• Enjoys spicy or sour foods, likes chewy and crunchy

• Over stuffs mouth

Olfactory (smell)

• Receptors are located in the nose

• Allows us to smell

• What smells good often indicates safety

• Direct link to the limbic system

Olfactory

Over responsive

• May avoid certain individuals or attempt to hit due to perfume, scented lotion etc..

• May avoid certain places

Under responsive

• May need to smell everything

• May not notice or respond to strong smells.

Auditory (hearing)

• Receptors are located in the ear and the cochlear nerve

• Receptors share nerve fibers with the vestibular system (Cranial Nerve VIII vestibulocochlear)

Auditory

Over responsive

• Easily startled

• Child may have an “over reaction” to certain sounds (e.g. high pitch vs. low)

• Child may not tolerate loud noises (fire drill)

Under responsive

• Does not respond to noises

• May not realize how loud they are

• Making noises

Visual

• Receptors are located in the eyes

• Gives us information about color, shape, distance of objects as well as movement of other objects and people.

• Small muscles of the eyes are controlled by the vestibular system

Visual

Over responsive

• Child may be distracted by visual stimuli and have difficulty attending to the task at hand (especially items hanging from ceiling)

• Sensitivity to colors

• Florescent lights stressful

Under responsive

• Child may need more input to attend

Vestibular

• Receptors are located in the inner ear

• Where are you relative to the ground and other objects

• King of all senses

• Input can last up to 8 hours

• Linear rocking = calming

• Rotary or Spinning = alerting

Vestibular

Over responsive

• Fear of heights, refuses to go on playground equipment

• Avoids physical activities

Under responsive

• Constant movement in an attempt to get that input (e.g. constantly spinning)

Proprioception

• Receptors are located in the muscles and the joints

• Allows us to know where we are in space (body awareness)

Proprioception

• Child may demonstrate no body awareness (bull in a china shop)

• Child may need input from their environment in order to determine where their body is (e.g. bumping into the walls in the hallway when transitioning)

Interception

• Allows us to feel/internal regulation for:

• Hunger/thirst

• Respiration

• Hear Rate

• Bowel and Bladder

Interception

Over responsive

• Child may use the bathroom frequently

• May over eat (not realize when they are full)

Under responsive

• May not realize need to go to bathroom until it is too late resulting in accidents

• May not be in tune to body’s need for food/hunger

Self Regulation

• Self-regulation is the ability to attain and maintain arousal (alertness level) appropriately for a task or situation.

• It involves many neurological connections in the brain including the brain stem, reticular formation, hypothalmus, thalamus, autonomic nervous system, cerebellum, limbic system, all sensory systems and cortex.

The brain

• Reticular formation

• The limbic System

• Cortex

• Autonomic Nervous system

Pyramid of Learning

Self Regulation

• As adults we have all learned over time how to regulate our sensory system. What alerts you or puts you in an optimal state of arousal (ready to learn state) may not work for others.

• What did you do this morning that helped you to get up and get going?

Examples of Overstimulated by sensory input in the classroom

(high level of alertness) • Hyper

• Ants in the pants

• Motor Mouth

• Angry/scared/upset

Examples of Understimulated by sensory input in the classroom

(low state of alertness) • Lethargic

• Difficult to motivate

• Hand on head

Strategies

Under stimulated • Heavy work activities (That’s right heavy work

activities work to both help students who are over or under stimulated)

• Vision: increase the lights, yellow and red are alerting • Auditory: music: quick tempo, increase voice/tone • Olfactory: Peppermint: alerting • Oral Motor: chewy, crunchy, water bottles (again

heavy work activities for the mouth) • Tactile Fidgets

Strategies

Overstimulated: • Heavy work to get the wiggles out examples: Chair push

ups, wall push ups/outs, animal walks, chores that require lifting/pulling/pushing

• Vision: Reduce the clutter or provide a study carrel • Auditory: decrease sound : lower your voice/soft

classical music • Tactile: provide fidgets/ neutral warmth (heavy blanket) • Oral Motor: chewy/crunchy/suck water through a straw ,

breathing • Olfactory: lavender/vanilla : calming, limit the amount of

perfume or scented lotion you wear

The Brain, Your Senses and Behavior at

School

• Remember, the brain will change with every experience that you have, continually reorganizing itself based on the information that is received from the senses

• Experiences that the young brain has at home and in school shape the neural connections that determine how and what that brain will learn. Learning is a behavioral response to the processing of information

Behavior and Learning

• In relation to learning; not all senses contribute equally to the process. Sight, hearing, and touch (kinesthetic) experiences are the greatest contributors to the learning process

• People develop a preference for certain senses when gathering information from the environment, these preferences become part of a person’s learning profile or style

• There are three learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic

Visual

Visual Learners

*Happiest when they can see the information

*See the world through pictures or words

*Sit up straight to see

*Usually sit in the front of the class

*Appreciate charts, maps, graphs, handouts and

video clips

*Are often upset by clutter

*Are often visually organized

*Can see or get the picture in his or her mind

Auditory

Auditory Learner

*Talk as much as listen

*Looking at the teacher is not important to them

*Prefer oral reports to written reports

*Books on tape are sometimes helpful

*Are often good with dialects and accents

*May run off on tangents

*Need no eye contact

*Talks to self

*Distracted easily by noises

Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic (touch) Learners

*Kinesthetic learners probably have the most difficulties in

traditional classrooms

*Rows of chairs, sitting still, and being quiet do not allow these

students’ brains to become activated

*Hard time sitting still - wiggle and jiggle

*Prefer hands-on learning

*Are sometimes content with drawing

*Like movement and actions

*Bells and whistles on items are of interest

*May not hear what you say or see what you mean

*Movement turns on this brain

Behaviors in School

• Problematic behaviors that we may see in school when a student’s learning style does not fit with the style used to present a lesson include:

• Short attention span

• Difficulty staying focused

• Calling out

• Fidgeting

• Student appears unmotivated

• Not able to complete work

• Unorganized

Strategies to Support All Learning Styles

• Just as there are self-regulation strategies to maintain an optimal state of arousal there are also classroom strategies to support an optimal state of arousal for learning

• Visual Supports: charts graphs, pictures, handouts, illustrated books, multi-media (computers, iPads, videos, overhead projections), use bright colors to highlight key points of information

• Auditory Supports: class discussions, lecture, read aloud, speeches and student presentations, books on tape

• Kinesthetic Supports: movement within the classroom (change groups or center areas), take breaks, allow students to stand during lessons, hands-on lessons, use of manipulatives, have students come up to the board to show work or help with lessons

Review

• We have identified that information is conveyed to the brain from the sensory system and based on this information behavioral responses result

• We have discussed the various senses, the receptors for each sense and the type of information that each sense conveys to the brain

• We have discussed over stimulation and under stimulation of the sensory system, methods to self-regulate, learning styles and classroom strategies that can help regulate sensory responses in order to maintain an optimal state of arousal for learning, and the possibility for disruptions in the transmission of information to the brain that support appropriate behaviors

School Environment

•The school environment presents an abundance of sensory information at the cognitive, physical, and emotional levels that require students to attain and maintain an alertness level that is appropriate for the task at hand and support appropriate behavior

•A disruption in the processing of sensory information that leads to a level of alertness that is too high or too low for the task at hand can lead to problem behaviors

•Self-regulation strategies may not always be adequate to bring an over stimulated or under stimulated sensory system inline with the behavioral demands of a given situation

Stress and Anxiety

• Keeping a balance in the sensory system (optimal state of arousal) in order to be successful in the school setting can become challenging when students feel stress or anxiety

• Stress and anxiety create physiological changes in the body that send sensory information to the brain that can create interference or block the sensory information required to learn

• Keep in mind the first filter that information passes through in the screening process is the sensory register which sends information to the “thinking” brain or the “reactive” brain

• Sensory information generated by stress and anxiety is sent to the “reactive” brain which can signal a need for an immediate response (behavior) and interfere with the sending of information to the “thinking” brain where learning takes place

Mental Health

May is “National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Month”

• Being able to maintain a balance in your sensory system promotes a state of positive mental health

• Positive mental health is essential to a child’s healthy development, overall health, and supports a successful educational experience

Facts about Children’s Mental Health (CDC Report 2011)

1 out of 5 children experience a mental disorder in a given year

ADHD is the most prevalent diagnosis among children 3-17

ADHD (6.8%) Behavioral or conduct problems (3.5%)

Anxiety (3.0%) Depressions (2.1%)

Mental Health

•Information is available here for your review on mental health disorders, supports available to families, and strategies for maintaining positive mental health.

•On-line Resources:

•National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health

•www.ffcmh.org

•Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

•www.samhsa.gov

•Perform Care

•www.performcarenj.org/families