Touch Perception
Tactile sense development
Our body has two kinds of sense of touch:
1. Defense system: It forms our response to weight or unexpected touches.
2. Discriminatory system: It creates our response to environmental stimuli that enable us to have information or learn about them by touching the objects around us.
The skin is the largest sensory organ. Pressure, touch, pull, vibration, heat, etc. detects situations. Sensory receptors are found in different places on the skin with different frequencies.
The following examples can be given to the problems we encounter with the sense of touch:
Hypersensitivity symptoms, that is, being too “sensitive” to touch:
Do not be bothered by the touches,
Overreacting to sudden touches
Feeling uncomfortable being close to others
Discomfort in self-care skills such as combing hair and cutting hair,
Avoiding group environments (close contacts, sudden touches, etc.),
Discomfort with certain tissues,
Eating difficulties – Difficulty trying new foods
Don’t be too uncomfortable to lie on your face,
Not discovering toys by mouth (we expect this behavior since this is the oral period) etc.
Now let’s come to the hyposensitive symptoms, namely the state of being “insensitive” to touch:
Not being aware of light touches (but not feeling after tight contact),
Experiencing sleep problems – Difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep,
Experiencing extreme moodiness during diaper changes, bathing and changing clothes,
Self-scratching, biting and/or pinching
Negative actions such as pushing, pulling and hitting your friends while playing games,
Enjoying intense warning materials such as vibration, etc.
So, what kind of materials can we use to nurture and develop the sense of touch:
touch baskets,
touch pads,
touch cards,
touch books,
touch pools,
touch bags,
Different tactile balls are very good materials for developing the sense of touch. In connection with the cognitive and physical development of children, it is given in Kidokit videos at what ages, with what activities and how they can use these materials.
At the age of two, we expect your child to be able to touch any substance without having a negative reaction. For example, sand, mud, play dough, jelly, furry toys (texture discrimination games are our favourite). Again, at this age, clear and deep pressures/touches will relax your child (continue the pleasant massages!) In addition, we expect our children over the age of two to feel and detect when a part of their body is touched this year. You can also play such small games. Teaching the names of both tissue (and therefore sense:) and body parts will be beneficial for communication skills.
You can do this kind of sensory work with materials of different textures that you can give your child and feel exercises, and you can reinforce them with crawling, crawling and walking exercises on different textured floors. Of course, the most important tip here is that your child’s parts of contact with these substances should be bare so that he can feel the texture. Walking barefoot on the beach, on the stone or on the grass, drifting in the ball pool, lying together at the seaside and embracing the gentle waves, working on peeling and serving different vegetables and fruits in the kitchen, starting small art works with flour, play dough, kinetic dough, therapy dough or clay These ages are very enjoyable and favorable for them.