The oral sense is responsible for sending signals to our brain, organizing information, and receiving input. If you are anything like me you have already connected the Oral Sense with eating, biting, chewing and discriminating flavors in foods.ДЄs I mentioned before, it is so much more. I am going to attempt to explain it to the best of my ability and share stories from my life as an educator and as a mom, raising a child with sensory processing. NOTE: I want to be completely honest, and state that I am not completely clear on theВ oral systemВ and its affects on children.

This connection is key in helping our brains organize information, stay focused, and process the other information in our environment. The need to chew, bite, and suck come from the proprioceptive input that we receive from the pressure in our jaws. It wasnвЂ™t until recently that I learned how interconnected the oral system and proprioceptive system are. Little did I know it was so much more and responsible for so many more functions and processes.

All of these things have one thing in commonвЂ¦ TasteДЄs I mentioned before, I have always connected the oral sensory system to the sense of taste. We receive information from our oral system through our mouth, allowing us to experience textures, temperatures, and flavors in everyday life. It allows us to make important decisions about our surroundings, and is responsible for our ability to chew, swallow, and even communicate. In my attempts to define The Oral Systemwithout medical terms, I would describe it as ourВ ability to senseВ the world around us through our mouths. In fact, I never even knew the term Gustatory existed or that it was so interconnected to the other senses of the body.ДЇor the sake of this series, I am going to focus on the Oral Motor aspect of this sensory system, as it directly relates to how it will affect children and what you may or may not be seeing in the children you care for. However, I never connected this sense, the Gustatory Sense, to anything more than knowing the names of flavors, textures and foods. Learning about it meant we got to try yummy foods, learn about sweet versus salty, and test out different textures of foods. When I think of our вЂњ5 SensesвЂќ that I grew up learning about, Taste was always my favorite. I am, simply, an educatorВ who taught in Early Childhood Education for 12 years. I am, simply, a mom raising a child with sensory needs. My good friends, at The Inspired Treehouse, will bring you their take on the same topic, giving you a better understanding of Sensory Processing. I will not attempt to use medical terms, explain what I donвЂ™t understand myself, or pretend to be an expert. In this ongoing series, I will attempt to explain an aspect of Sensory ProcessingВ from my perspective. This month we are talking about Oral InputВ and its importance for growth and developmentВ in kids. In fact, it can be downright frustrating to wade through the information.В That is why I am excited to once again to join with my friends at The Inspired Treehouse, a group ofВ pediatric physical and occupational therapists,В for our seriesВ on all things Sensory Processing. From terms you may have never heard of to the spectrum of ways it effects all of us, it can be overwhelming. Sensory ProcessingВ can be such a confusing topic.

Chewing on plastic bottle caps