For infants and toddlers demonstrating feeding problems, it is critical to find the basis for the problems to create more pleasurable mealtimes for the child, his or her family members, and caregivers. Feeding difficulties can affect general health, developmental gains, and emotional well-being. Understanding the cause of feeding problems and…

Background: The Snoezelen[R] is a multisensory intervention approach that has been implemented with various populations. Due to an almost complete absence of rigorous research in this field, the confirmation of this approach as an effective therapeutic intervention is warranted. Method: To evaluate the therapeutic influence of the…

Sensory processing refers to the way the brain takes incoming sensory messages, converts them into meaningful messages, then makes a response. If the responses are disorganized or inappropriate given the sensory input, sensory processing disorder (SPD) may co-exist with autism. If a child has an occasional atypical response to sensation, he or she…

It used to be thought that there were only five senses: touch, vision, hearing, smell, and taste. It is now known that a person has two additional senses. They are the proprioceptive sense, which allows individuals to know where their body parts are located in space, and the vestibular sense, which allows individuals to detect motion. However, in…

Recent reviews of synesthesia concentrate upon rare neurodevelopmental examples and exclude common olfactory-induced experiences with which they may profitably be compared. Like the neurodevelopmental synesthesias, odor-induced experiences involve different sensory modalities; are reliable, asymmetric (concurrents cannot induce), and automatic;…

Traditionally, people have used perspectives of space and time to define a sense of place and personal identity. Western cultures interpret place and time as static entities. In interactive multimedia computing, visual literacy defines new dimensions in communication that are reshaping traditional Western concepts of place and time. Experience…

The present study concerns the multimodal nature of music education. How children (aged 4-8 years) respond when faced with the challenge of talking about what they hear in pieces of music is studied. The semiotic tools children and their teachers use in these situations and how they transduce between modalities (verbal, sound, colours and…

In this article, the author responds to a teacher's request for an advice on how to help a 5-year-old child in her class who has difficulty moving from place to place. The author states that the child has a problem on processing information and sensations that have to do with what he sees. This is called "visual-spatial processing" or…

Three months after Karen's birth, her mother desperately tried to maintain her sanity. Karen's two brothers were fine, and Karen's twin slept, ate, and bonded with members of the family; Karen, on the other hand, was a screamer. "It was like someone was cutting her limbs off with a chain saw. It went on and on, and nothing we did comforted her;…

Research studies on sensory issues in autism, including those based on questionnaires, autobiographical accounts, retrospective video observations and early experimental approaches are reviewed in terms of their strengths and limitations. We present a cognitive neuroscience theoretical perspective on multisensory integration and propose that this…

The basic principle of synaesthesia (a sensation produced in one part of the body by a stimulus applied at another part) is described. (BD)

Exposing subjects to pleasant and unpleasant pictures and odors separately and simultaneously, evaluative meanings were compared and correlations were derived. Very modest support was obtained for extending consistency theory to a limited case of cross-modalities." (DB)

A study of 358 fine arts students at three large universities indicated that 23 percent experienced synesthesia in a spontaneous and consistent manner, and 49 percent reported no such experience. Results of comparative analysis are consistent with anecdotal reports that synesthetes are often successful in artistic fields, and possess high degrees…

As human beings, we can interact with our environment through the sense of touch, which helps us to build an understanding of objects and events. The implications of touch for cognition are recognized by many educators who advocate the use of "hands-on" instruction. But is it possible to know something more completely by touching it? Does touch…

Modality research is of major importance to the field of reading; it has directed attention to three factors: intersensory transfer, intersensory perceptual shifting, and modal preference. This paper provides a critical review of the most pertinent research relating each of these factors to reading achievement. No attempt is made to review studies…