"Sensory and vestibular abnormalities... may be directly related to difficulties in cognitive, behavioural, linguistic, and motor realms"

Sensory processing refers to the neurological process that organizes sensations from one’s own body and from the environment.  Sensory processing makes it possible to use the body effectively in its environment.  Sensory processing relies on primary senses, such as sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.  It also uses the secondary senses of the vestibular, and proprioception systems.  These secondary systems along with the integration of sensory input from the environment guide and organize motor control. In this way movement and perception are closely linked making movement dependent on the stability of the sensory experiences and perceptual fields.  Without reliable information from one’s body it becomes very difficult to successfully perform even the most trivial actions.  In this way sensory and vestibular abnormalities seen in many individuals with autism may be related to difficulties in cognitive, behavioural, linguistic, and motor realms.  By working with your child to help normalize their sensory and vestibular systems through massage and manual therapy, improvements in their language abilities, behaviour, motor skills, and sensory processing capacity may also be seen.