How Sensory Experiences Can Enhance Learning in Children

What is a sensory experience?

A sensory experience is awareness that comes from stimulating the senses. The American Psychological Association defines sense experience as “awareness produced by stimulation of a sensory receptor,” and a sensation as the basic awareness of a sound, odor, color, shape or taste, or of temperature, pressure, pain, muscle tension, the position of the body or changes inside the body such as hunger and thirst.⁠^1,9 Watching rain, hearing a song, squeezing playdough, smelling bread, spinning on a swing and feeling hungry before lunch are all sensory experiences (experiencias sensoriales, in Spanish).⁠⁹

Children take in the world through touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste, movement (vestibular), or body awareness (proprioception), and through interoception, the sense of the body’s internal condition. Sensory processing frameworks count all eight.⁠²

What is the difference between sensation and perception?

Sensation is the raw input: the APA calls it an “irreducible unit of experience” produced when a sensory receptor is stimulated. Perception is what the brain does with it: becoming aware of objects, relationships and events through the senses by recognizing, observing and discriminating, so that stimuli are organized into meaningful knowledge and coordinated action.⁠^9,10 A child who hears a bark has a sensation; a child who knows the neighbor’s dog is at the gate has a perception.⁠¹⁰

What is sensory play?

Sensory play is play that engages one or more of the senses: digging in sand, splashing water, banging a pot, sniffing herbs, swinging or pushing a heavy box. The American Academy of Pediatrics describes play as a singular opportunity to promote the social-emotional, cognitive, language and self-regulation skills that build executive function, and says play enhances brain structure and function.⁠¹⁹

It does not need special materials. The Center on the Developing Child’s play handouts for toddlers use cups, small toys, colored paper, laundry, rocks, stairs and crackers, and advise adults to follow the child’s lead and let the child decide how long to play.⁠^20,21

What are the types of sensory play?

Sensory play is usually grouped by the sense it works. Seven types match the senses most often named in sensory play, and sensory processing frameworks add an eighth, interoception, for the body’s inner state.⁠²

Why are sensory experiences important to brain development?

Because the brain is built from the bottom up, and the senses come first. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University reports that more than 1 million new neural connections form every second in the first few years of life, that sensory pathways for basic vision and hearing are the first to develop, and that early language skills and higher cognitive functions are built on top of them.⁠^7,11

Experience shapes how strong those circuits become. Genes provide the blueprint, but repeated use strengthens the circuits a child uses most, unused connections are pruned, and the brain’s capacity to change declines with age.⁠^7,11 By the first year, for example, the parts of the brain that tell sounds apart are specializing in the language the baby hears.⁠⁷

The clearest evidence comes from children deprived of early visual experience by dense cataracts. Studies of these children show multiple sensitive periods in visual development, with different time courses for acuity, peripheral vision and motion perception.⁠¹² That is different from claiming critical windows for school learning, an idea education researchers list among common neuromyths.⁠¹⁵

What typical development depends on is ordinary, responsive experience rather than special equipment. The Center describes serve-and-return exchanges with caregivers, a baby babbles or gestures and an adult responds, as essential, and says that without them the brain’s architecture does not develop as expected.⁠^7,11

How does sensory play support child development?

Through the skills play builds and the relationships it happens in. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2018 clinical report on play says play promotes executive function, the process of learning rather than its content, which lets children pursue goals and ignore distractions, and that the shared joy and attunement of play with parents helps regulate a child’s stress response.⁠¹⁹

How does play build thinking, language and self-control?

• Attention, memory and self-control. Pretend play, songs and matching games teach toddlers to focus attention, use working memory and practice basic self-control.⁠²⁰
• Language. Narrating a child’s play helps them learn the words for their actions.⁠²¹
• Word learning through exploration. In a study of 110 sixteen-month-olds, toddlers tested in a highchair, the place they usually meet nonsolid foods, showed better understanding of how nonsolid substances are named, and the way they explored in that setting drove the difference.⁠²²
• Reaching and looking. Three-month-olds who wore “sticky mittens” to pick up toys themselves advanced in reaching and explored objects and people differently; babies who only watched a parent handle toys did not change.⁠²³
• Self-control through movement. Songs that make children start and stop, such as Freeze Dance, help build self-control.⁠²¹

What does research say about learning through more than one sense?

That the senses work best together. Five-month-old infants who heard and saw a rhythm in sync learned to tell it apart from a new rhythm; infants who only heard it or only saw it did not, and the sight and sound had to be synchronized for the learning to happen.⁠³

The same holds later in life. A review of perceptual learning argued that the brain likely evolved to learn and operate best in multisensory environments, and that training with several senses approximates natural settings and is more effective than single-sense training.⁠⁴ In one experiment, adults who learned voices paired with faces were later better at recognizing those voices by sound alone than voices paired with written names.⁠²⁴

What is multisensory learning, and does it work?

Multisensory learning presents the same information through more than one sense at once, such as seeing and hearing a word while forming it by hand. The evidence for it is real but uneven: strong in perception research, promising for gesture and handwriting, and weaker for branded multisensory reading programs.⁠^4,5,8,14

How do movement and gesture help children learn?

In a study of third graders learning math equivalence problems, moving objects, miming that action and making an abstract gesture all helped children solve the problems they were taught, but only gesture helped them generalize to new kinds of problems.⁠⁵ In college physics, a brief physical experience of the forces in angular momentum improved quiz scores, and the improvement was explained by activity in sensorimotor brain areas when students later reasoned about the concept.⁠¹³

Physical activity in general has a mixed record. A systematic review found that fitness, single bouts of activity and activity programs benefit children’s cognitive functioning, and that physically active lessons generally improved academic achievement while adding physical education time did not, though the findings across studies were inconsistent.⁠²⁵

Does handwriting help children learn letters?

Brain imaging suggests it does. Preliterate 4- and 5-year-olds printed, typed or traced letters, then viewed them in an MRI scanner: a reading circuit known from earlier research was recruited only after handwriting, not after typing or tracing.⁠¹⁴ That study had 15 children, so it is an early finding.⁠¹⁴ In 36 university students, EEG showed far more elaborate brain connectivity during handwriting than during typing, in patterns linked to memory and encoding.⁠²⁶

Does multisensory reading instruction like Orton-Gillingham work?

The evidence is weaker than its popularity. Orton-Gillingham is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured and sequential approach to reading, and many states with dyslexia laws mandate it. A 2021 meta-analysis found it did not significantly improve phonological awareness, phonics, fluency or spelling (effect size 0.22) or vocabulary and comprehension (0.14) for students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities, although the average effect favored it, and the authors called for larger, more rigorous studies.⁠⁸ More on dyslexia.

Are learning styles real?

People do have preferences, but teaching to them has not been shown to help. A review in Psychological Science in the Public Interest tested the “meshing hypothesis,” the idea that a visual learner learns best from visual instruction. It found ample evidence that people express preferences and differ in specific aptitudes, but virtually no evidence for the pattern that would validate learning-styles teaching, and several well-designed studies flatly contradicted it. The authors concluded there is no adequate evidence base for using learning-styles assessments in general education.⁠⁶

Belief in learning styles is still widespread. In a survey of 242 teachers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, 93% and 96% agreed that individuals learn better in their preferred learning style, one of the most widely believed of 15 neuromyths.⁠¹⁵ Among 426 undergraduate anatomy students, most did not study in ways that matched their VARK learning style, and course grades were not related to any VARK category.⁠²⁷

What is the difference between multisensory learning and learning styles?

They point in opposite directions. Learning styles narrow instruction to one preferred channel per child; multisensory learning widens it to several channels for every child.⁠^4,6 The learning-styles myth rests on a real finding, that visual, auditory and kinesthetic information is processed in different brain areas, but those areas are highly interconnected, with extensive cross-modal transfer between the senses.⁠¹⁵

What is the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ)?

The Sensory Experiences Questionnaire is a caregiver-report tool developed by Grace Baranek and colleagues to describe how young children respond to sensory experiences in daily life, particularly children with autism and developmental delays. In the first published study, caregivers of 258 children aged 5 to 80 months in five diagnostic groups completed it; 69% of the autism group had sensory symptoms, and the autism group showed a distinct pattern of hyporesponsiveness in social and nonsocial situations.⁠²⁸

It has gone through several versions. Version 1 showed internal consistency of 0.80 across 358 caregiver questionnaires and test-retest reliability of 0.92.⁠²⁹ Versions 1.0 and 2.1 preceded the SEQ-3.0, a 105-item parent report for children 2 to 12 years that measures four response patterns: hyporesponsiveness, hyperresponsiveness, sensory interests, repetitions and seeking behaviors, and enhanced perception.⁠³⁰

What happens when sensory experiences are hard to process?

For some children, everyday sensory experiences are overwhelming or barely register. Parent-report screening studies estimate that 5 to 16% of children show marked sensory differences, often described as sensory processing disorder (SPD): 5.3% of one district’s kindergarten enrollment met screening criteria, and in a representative sample of 7- to 11-year-olds, 16% of parents said at least four touch or sound sensations bothered their child.⁠^16,17 These are screening estimates, not diagnoses. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes there is no universally accepted framework for diagnosing SPD, says it generally should not be diagnosed, and says other developmental and behavioral conditions must always be considered.⁠¹⁸

• Hypersensitivity: a tendency to respond more intensely, quicker or longer to sensory input, such as reacting strongly to loud noises or bright lights.⁠^31,32
• Hyposensitivity: a tendency to respond less intensely or after a delay, so a child may seem unaware of input; some children instead seek out more intense sensory experiences.⁠^31,32

Sensory processing differences can affect one sense or several, and they vary in severity. Cleveland Clinic says SPD commonly occurs with autism and ADHD but can also occur on its own.⁠³²

How can sensory processing differences affect learning?

Sensory over-responsivity to touch and sound can affect children’s participation in academic and social activities. In the 925-child study, parents of children with elevated over-responsivity reported more internalizing, externalizing and dysregulation problems and fewer adaptive social behaviors.⁠¹⁷ More on supporting a child with SPD and ADHD at school.

How can sensory activities be adapted for a child with SPD?

Start with an assessment rather than a guess. For a child with suspected SPD, a pediatrician may refer the family to an occupational therapist, who assesses sensory processing by watching how the child responds to sensory experiences and asking about symptoms, behavior and history.⁠³² The therapist’s recommendations are customized to the child; for school-age children they may include routine sensory activities at home and school, headphones to block background noise during work, and a designated break to walk, spin or swing.⁠³²

Weigh the evidence. Cleveland Clinic describes sensory integration therapy as the most common and effective therapy for SPD; the American Academy of Pediatrics is more cautious, saying occupational therapy with sensory-based therapies may be acceptable as one part of a comprehensive treatment plan but that research on its effectiveness is limited and inconclusive.⁠^18,32

• Follow the child’s lead on what to play and how long to keep going.⁠²⁰
• Write down what you see: which sensations bother or attract your child, and where. Occupational therapists ask about symptoms and behavior when they assess.⁠³²
• Agree on how to judge progress before starting a therapy; the AAP suggests a trial period and teaching families how to evaluate whether a therapy works.⁠¹⁸

What do PTs, OTs and speech therapists do for sensory and learning needs?

Three professions often work with children whose sensory, motor or communication development affects learning: pediatric physical therapists [PTs], occupational therapists [OTs] and speech-language pathologists [SLPs]. Pediatric physical therapists work with children from birth to 21 in homes, schools, clinics and hospitals; occupational therapy practitioners work with children from birth to young adulthood; and speech-language pathologists treat speech, language, social communication and swallowing disorders.⁠^33,34,35

To find one near you, search for a PT, OT, or SLP by city and state. A pediatrician can refer you to an occupational therapist, and in many cases you can see a physical therapist without a referral, though insurance may still require one; you can also find a qualified PT, OT, or SLP directly.⁠^32,33

Which diagnoses can PT, OT and speech therapy help?

Therapies such as Physical Therapy (PT), Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) are used across many diagnoses. For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the CDC lists speech and language therapy as the most common developmental therapy, occupational therapy for everyday skills such as dressing, eating and relating to people, sensory integration therapy for responses to sensory input that are restrictive or overwhelming, and physical therapy for fine and larger movements.⁠³⁶

• Cerebral palsy: the CDC lists occupational, physical and speech therapy among treatments, available through early intervention and school services under federal special education law.⁠³⁷
• Developmental delay, Down syndrome and other genetic conditions: among the conditions the American Physical Therapy Association says pediatric physical therapists help manage.⁠³³
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): the first-line treatments are behavioral. For children under 6, the AAP recommends parent training in behavior management first; from age 6, medication together with behavior therapy, plus classroom interventions and school supports.⁠³⁸
• Sensory processing differences: occupational therapists assess and treat sensory processing disorder, with the evidence caveats the AAP describes.⁠^18,32
• Speech and language disorders: speech-language pathologists evaluate and treat them, and provide alternative communication systems for children with severe expressive or comprehension disorders.⁠³⁵
• learning disabilities: federal special education law defines a specific learning disability as a disorder in the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using spoken or written language, including dyslexia, and lists speech-language pathology, physical therapy and occupational therapy among the related services a child in special education can receive.⁠^39,40

How can parents use sensory experiences to help a child learn at home?

The research points to ordinary, interactive play rather than special equipment.⁠^11,19

• Talk back. Respond to babbling, faces and gestures; serve-and-return interaction is how the brain’s architecture gets built.⁠^7,11
• Let babies act, not just watch. Infants who handled toys themselves advanced in reaching; infants who only watched did not.⁠²³
• Let toddlers explore food. Exploring in the highchair helped 16-month-olds learn how nonsolid substances are named.⁠²²
• Play memory and sorting games. Hide a toy under one of three cups, sort objects onto matching colored paper, or sort rocks into small, medium and large piles.⁠^20,21
• Count everyday things, such as blocks, stairs, berries and crackers.⁠²¹
• Sing songs with movements. Finger plays and active songs teach toddlers to copy motions and remember sequences.⁠^20,21
• Make chores playful. Sweeping, putting away toys and tossing clothes into a laundry basket are practice for new skills.⁠²⁰
• Write by hand. Let preschoolers print letters, not only trace or type them.⁠¹⁴
• Use your hands for math. Gesturing helped third graders apply a strategy to new problems.⁠⁵

More ideas: sensory play at home with everyday objects and enhancing child development through sensory play.

How do teachers use sensory experiences in the classroom?

The evidence supports a few specific practices more than a general sensory label.⁠^5,6,25

• Gesture while teaching math. Gesture helped children generalize a math strategy beyond the problems they practiced.⁠⁵
• Let students feel the concept. Across lab studies and a randomized field experiment in a college physics class, a brief physical experience of angular momentum improved quiz scores.⁠¹³
• Keep handwriting in early literacy. Handwriting, not typing or tracing, recruited the reading circuit in preliterate children.⁠¹⁴
• Use physically active lessons. Active lessons generally improved academic achievement in a systematic review; extra physical education time did not.⁠²⁵
• Skip learning-style sorting. There is no adequate evidence base for matching instruction to learning styles.⁠⁶
• Protect play. The AAP notes pressure on early childhood programs to add more didactic teaching and less playful learning, and urges a balanced curriculum that includes playful learning.⁠¹⁹

Sources

1. American Psychological Association. Sense experience. APA Dictionary of Psychology, updated April 19, 2018. The entry: “awareness produced by stimulation of a sensory receptor.” Checked October 11, 2026.
2. STAR Institute for Sensory Processing. Your 8 Senses. Sensoryhealth.org, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   The page lists “The five basic sensory systems” (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile), “The three sensory systems Ayres focused on in describing sensory integration dysfunction” (tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive) and “The most recently discussed set of sensations related to internal organs” (interoception). Visual: “Types of visual information include: color, shape, orientation, and motion.” Tactile: “the somatosensory cortex is the part of the nervous system that integrates touch, pressure, temperature, and pain.” Vestibular: “The vestibular system contributes to balance and orientation in space. It is the leading system informing us about movement and position of head relative to gravity.” Proprioception: “senses the position, location, orientation, and movement of the body muscles and joints. Proprioception provides us with the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body and effort used to move body parts.” Interoception: “Interoception refers to sensations related to the physiological/physical condition of the body. Interoceptors are internal sensors that provide a sense of what our internal organs are feeling. Hunger and thirst are examples of interoception.”
3. Bahrick LE, Lickliter R. Intersensory redundancy guides attentional selectivity and perceptual learning in infancy. Developmental Psychology. 2000;36(2):190–201. PMID 10749076. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   From the article: “Five-month-old infants’ sensitivity to the amodal property of rhythm was examined in 3 experiments. Results revealed that habituation to a bimodal (auditory and visual) rhythm resulted in discrimination of a novel rhythm, whereas habituation to the same rhythm presented unimodally (auditory or visual) resulted in no evidence of discrimination. Also, temporal synchrony between the bimodal auditory and visual information was necessary for rhythm discrimination.”
4. Shams L, Seitz AR. Benefits of multisensory learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2008;12(11):411–417. PMID 18805039. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   The abstract: “it is likely that the human brain has evolved to develop, learn and operate optimally in multisensory environments. We suggest that training protocols that employ unisensory stimulus regimes do not engage multisensory learning mechanisms and, therefore, might not be optimal for learning. However, multisensory-training protocols can better approximate natural settings and are more effective for learning.”
5. Novack MA, Congdon EL, Hemani-Lopez N, Goldin-Meadow S. From action to abstraction: using the hands to learn math. Psychological Science. 2014;25(4):903–910. PMID 24503873. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   From the article: “we taught third-grade children a strategy for solving mathematical equivalence problems that was instantiated in one of three ways: (1) in the physical action children performed on objects, (2) in a concrete gesture miming that action, or (3) in an abstract gesture. All three types of hand movements helped children learn how to solve the problems on which they were trained. However, only gesture led to success on problems that required generalizing the knowledge gained.”
6. Pashler H, McDaniel M, Rohrer D, Bjork R. Learning styles: concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 2008;9(3):105–119. PMID 26162104. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   The abstract: “The most common, but not the only, hypothesis about the instructional relevance of learning styles is the meshing hypothesis, according to which instruction is best provided in a format that matches the preferences of the learner (e.g., for a ‘visual learner,’ emphasizing visual presentation of information).” “Our review of the literature disclosed ample evidence that children and adults will, if asked, express preferences about how they prefer information to be presented to them. There is also plentiful evidence arguing that people differ in the degree to which they have some fairly specific aptitudes”; “we found virtually no evidence for the interaction pattern mentioned above”; “several found results that flatly contradict the popular meshing hypothesis. We conclude therefore, that at present, there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning-styles assessments into general educational practice.”
7. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development. PDF, Developingchild.harvard.edu, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   “In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second.” “Sensory pathways like those for basic vision and hearing are the first to develop, followed by early language skills and higher cognitive functions.” “The timing is genetic, but early experiences determine whether the circuits are strong or weak.” “The brain’s capacity for change decreases with age.” “by the first year, the parts of the brain that differentiate sound are becoming specialized to the language the baby has been exposed to”. “In the absence of such responses, or if the responses are unreliable or inappropriate, the brain’s architecture does not form as expected”.
8. Stevens EA, Austin C, Moore C, Scammacca N, Boucher AN, Vaughn S. Current state of the evidence: examining the effects of Orton-Gillingham reading interventions for students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities. Exceptional Children. 2021;87(4):397–417. PMID 34629488. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   From the article: “Over the past decade, parent advocacy groups led a grassroots movement resulting in most states adopting dyslexia-specific legislation, with many states mandating the use of the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading instruction. Orton-Gillingham is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive approach to reading”. “Findings suggested Orton-Gillingham reading interventions do not statistically significantly improve foundational skill outcomes (i.e., phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, spelling; effect size [ES] = 0.22; p = .40), although the mean ES was positive in favor of Orton-Gillingham-based approaches. Similarly, there were not significant differences for vocabulary and comprehension outcomes (ES = 0.14; p = .59)”; “More high-quality, rigorous research with larger samples of students with WLRD is needed”.
9. American Psychological Association. Sensation. APA Dictionary of Psychology, updated April 19, 2018. Checked October 11, 2026.
   Show the passageHide the passage

   “an irreducible unit of experience produced by stimulation of a sensory receptor and the resultant activation of a specific brain center, producing basic awareness of a sound, odor, color, shape, or taste or of temperature, pressure, pain, muscular tension, position of the body, or change in the internal organs associated with such processes as hunger, thirst, nausea, and sexual excitement.”
10. American Psychological Association. Perception. APA Dictionary of Psychology, updated April 19, 2018. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “the process or result of becoming aware of objects, relationships, and events by means of the senses, which includes such activities as recognizing, observing, and discriminating. These activities enable organisms to organize and interpret the stimuli received into meaningful knowledge and to act in a coordinated manner.”
11. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Brain Architecture. Key concept page, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “More than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second in the first few years of life.” “While genes provide the blueprint for the formation of brain circuits, repeated use strengthens the circuits that are used most often, based on a child’s experiences.” “After a period of especially rapid growth in the first few years, the brain refines itself through a process called pruning, making its circuits more efficient.” “Reciprocal serve and return interactions are essential, without them, the brain’s architecture does not develop as expected”. “The brain’s ability to adapt, known as brain plasticity, declines as we age.”
12. Lewis TL, Maurer D. Multiple sensitive periods in human visual development: evidence from visually deprived children. Developmental Psychobiology. 2005;46(3):163–183. PMID 15772974. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “Psychophysical studies of children deprived of early visual experience by dense cataracts indicate that there are multiple sensitive periods during which experience can influence visual development.” “there are different sensitive periods for different aspects of vision. Relative to the period of visually driven normal development, the sensitive period for damage is surprisingly long for acuity, peripheral vision, and asymmetry of optokinetic nystagmus, but surprisingly short for global motion.”
13. Kontra C, Lyons DJ, Fischer SM, Beilock SL. Physical experience enhances science learning. Psychological Science. 2015;26(6):737–749. PMID 25911125. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “Three laboratory experiments involving students’ behavior and brain imaging and one randomized field experiment in a college physics class explored the importance of physical experience in science learning.” “The physical experience, a brief exposure to forces associated with angular momentum, significantly improved quiz scores. Moreover, improved performance was explained by activation of sensorimotor brain regions when students later reasoned about angular momentum.”
14. James KH, Engelhardt L. The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education. 2012;1(1):32–42. PMID 25541600. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “Preliterate, five-year old children printed, typed, or traced letters and shapes, then were shown images of these stimuli while undergoing functional MRI scanning. A previously documented ‘reading circuit’ was recruited during letter perception only after handwriting, not after typing or tracing experience.” “Fifteen children (8 females; ages 4 years 2 months to 5 years 0 months)” took part.
15. Dekker S, Lee NC, Howard-Jones P, Jolles J. Neuromyths in education: prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers. Frontiers in Psychology. 2012;3:429. PMID 23087664. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “The sample comprised 242 primary and secondary school teachers” in the UK and the Netherlands; the statement “Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic)” was answered incorrectly, that is, believed, by 93% of UK and 96% of Dutch teachers, and it was the first of the “most prevalent” myths: “More than 80% of the teachers believed these myths.” “This misconception is based on a valid research finding, namely that visual, auditory, and kinesthetic information is processed in different parts of the brain. However, these separate structures in the brain are highly interconnected and there is profound cross-modal activation and transfer of information between sensory modalities”. Listed neuromyths include “there are critical periods for learning”.
16. Ahn RR, Miller LJ, Milberger S, McIntosh DN. Prevalence of parents’ perceptions of sensory processing disorders among kindergarten children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2004;58(3):287–293. PMID 15202626. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “Of the 703 children represented by the surveys, 96 children (13.7% of 703) met criteria for sensory processing disorders based upon parental perceptions.” “This cautious estimate suggests that based on parents’ perceptions, 5.3% (96 of 1796) of the kindergarten enrollment met screening criteria for sensory processing disorders.”
17. Ben-Sasson A, Carter AS, Briggs-Gowan MJ. Sensory over-responsivity in elementary school: prevalence and social-emotional correlates. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2009;37(5):705–716. PMID 19153827. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) towards tactile and auditory input can impact children’s participation in academic and social activities”; “a representative sample of elementary school-aged children (n=925, 50% boys, ages 7–11 years)”; “Sixteen percent of parents reported that at least four tactile or auditory sensations bothered their children.” “Parents of children with versus without elevated SOR in school-age reported higher frequencies of early and co-occurring internalizing, externalizing, and dysregulation problems, and lower levels of concurrent adaptive social behaviors.”
18. Section on Complementary and Integrative Medicine; Council on Children with Disabilities; American Academy of Pediatrics; Zimmer M, Desch L. Sensory integration therapies for children with developmental and behavioral disorders. Pediatrics. 2012;129(6):1186–1189. PMID 22641765. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “Because there is no universally accepted framework for diagnosis, sensory processing disorder generally should not be diagnosed. Other developmental and behavioral disorders must always be considered, and a thorough evaluation should be completed.” “Occupational therapy with the use of sensory-based therapies may be acceptable as one of the components of a comprehensive treatment plan. However, parents should be informed that the amount of research regarding the effectiveness of sensory integration therapy is limited and inconclusive.” Clinicians may talk “with families about a trial period of sensory integration therapy, and teaching families how to evaluate the effectiveness of a therapy.”
19. Yogman M, Garner A, Hutchinson J, Hirsh-Pasek K, Golinkoff RM; Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health; Council on Communications and Media. The power of play: a pediatric role in enhancing development in young children. Pediatrics. 2018;142(3):e20182058. PMID 30126932. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “developmentally appropriate play with parents and peers is a singular opportunity to promote the social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that build executive function and a prosocial brain.” “Play is not frivolous: it enhances brain structure and function and promotes executive function (ie, the process of learning, rather than the content), which allow us to pursue goals and ignore distractions.” “The mutual joy and shared communication and attunement (harmonious serve and return interactions) that parents and children can experience during play regulate the body’s stress response.” “At a time when early childhood programs are pressured to add more didactic components and less playful learning, pediatricians can play an important role in emphasizing the role of a balanced curriculum that includes the importance of playful learning”.
20. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. 5 Games to Play with Toddlers (18 Months). Brain-Building Through Play handout, PDF, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “Pretend play, songs, and matching games, like the ones below, teach them to focus attention, use working memory, and practice basic self-control.” “follow their lead! ... let them determine how long to play and when to move on to something else.” Memory game: “Find three cups and three small objects that you can hide underneath”. Matching: “Place different colored pieces of paper on the floor, give the toddler some colored objects, and ask them to place the objects on the piece of paper with the same color.” Finger plays: “With practice, they can copy motions and remember sequences.” Chores: “Simple activities like sweeping the floor, putting away toys or books, or putting clothes into a laundry basket are all great for practicing new skills.”
21. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. 6 Games to Play with Toddlers (2-3 Years). Brain-Building Through Play handout, PDF, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “Active songs; imitation, matching, sorting, and counting games; and puzzles all teach older toddlers to focus attention, use working memory, and practice basic self-control.” “Songs that require children to start and stop or slow down and speed up, such as Freeze Dance/Musical Statues or Ring Around the Rosie, help build self-control.” “you could sort rocks into piles of small, medium, and large sizes.” “You can count blocks, stairs, berries, crackers, anything you use or see every day.” “Narrate a child’s play to help them learn the words to describe their actions.”
22. Perry LK, Samuelson LK, Burdinie JB. Highchair philosophers: the impact of seating context-dependent exploration on children’s naming biases. Developmental Science. 2014;17(5):757–765. PMID 24289734. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “most nonsolids toddlers are familiar with are foods and thus, typically experienced when sitting in a highchair. We asked whether 16-month-old children’s naming of nonsolids would improve if they were tested in that typical context. Children tested in the highchair demonstrated better understanding of how nonsolids are named. Furthermore, context-based differences in exploration drove differences in the properties attended to in real-time.” “One-hundred and ten typically-developing monolingual English-learning 16-month-olds participated.”
23. Libertus K, Needham A. Teach to reach: the effects of active vs. passive reaching experiences on action and perception. Vision Research. 2010;50(24):2750–2757. PMID 20828580. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “the present study tested three-month-old infants who were not able to reach for objects on their own yet.” “Using ‘Sticky Mittens’, one group was enabled to independently pick up objects whereas the other group only passively observed their parent’s actions on objects.” “only infants who experienced independent object apprehension advanced in their reaching behavior, and showed changes in their visual exploration of agents and objects in a live setting. Passive observation was not sufficient to change infants’ behavior.”
24. von Kriegstein K, Giraud AL. Implicit multisensory associations influence voice recognition. PLoS Biology. 2006;4(10):e326. PMID 17002519. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “After learning, participants were better at recognizing unimodal auditory voices that had been paired with faces than those paired with written names, and association of voices with faces resulted in an increased functional coupling between voice and face areas.”
25. Donnelly JE, Hillman CH, Castelli D, Etnier JL, Lee S, Tomporowski P, Lambourne K, Szabo-Reed AN. Physical activity, fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children: a systematic review. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2016;48(6):1197–1222. PMID 27182986. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “A majority of the research supports the view that physical fitness, single bouts of PA, and PA interventions benefit children’s cognitive functioning.” “Delivery of physically active lessons generally results in improvements in academic achievement while attempts to increase activity in PE do not.” “The literature suggests that PA and PE have a neutral effect on academic achievement.” “the findings are inconsistent”.
26. Van der Weel FRR, Van der Meer ALH. Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom. Frontiers in Psychology. 2023;14:1219945. PMID 38343894. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “Brain electrical activity was recorded in 36 university students as they were handwriting visually presented words using a digital pen and typewriting the words on a keyboard.” “When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard”; “connectivity patterns in these brain areas and at such frequencies are crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information”.
27. Husmann PR, O’Loughlin VD. Another nail in the coffin for learning styles? Disparities among undergraduate anatomy students’ study strategies, class performance, and reported VARK learning styles. Anatomical Sciences Education. 2019;12(1):6–19. PMID 29533532. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “A total of 426 anatomy students from the 2015 and 2016 Fall semesters completed a study strategies survey and an online VARK questionnaire. Results demonstrated that most students did not report study strategies that correlated with their VARK assessment, and that student performance in anatomy was not correlated with their score in any VARK categories.”
28. Baranek GT, David FJ, Poe MD, Stone WL, Watson LR. Sensory Experiences Questionnaire: discriminating sensory features in young children with autism, developmental delays, and typical development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2006;47(6):591–601. PMID 16712636. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    The abstract: “This study describes a new caregiver-report assessment, the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ)”; “Caregivers of 258 children in five diagnostic groups (Autism, PDD, DD/MR, Other DD, Typical) ages 5-80 months completed the SEQ.” “Prevalence of overall sensory symptoms for the Autism group was 69%.” “The Autism group had significantly higher symptoms than either the Typical or DD groups and presented with a unique pattern of response to sensory stimuli, hyporesponsiveness in both social and nonsocial contexts.”
29. Little LM, Freuler AC, Houser MB, Guckian L, Carbine K, David FJ, Baranek GT. Psychometric validation of the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2011;65(2):207–210. PMID 21476368. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (Version 1; Baranek, David, Poe, Stone, & Watson 2006), a brief caregiver questionnaire for young children with autism and developmental delays used to identify sensory processing patterns in the context of daily activities.” “Caregiver questionnaires (N = 358) were analyzed”; internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was .80, and “Test-retest reliability for the total score was excellent, with ICC = .92.”
30. Ausderau K, Sideris J, Furlong M, Little LM, Bulluck J, Baranek GT. National survey of sensory features in children with ASD: factor structure of the sensory experience questionnaire (3.0). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2014;44(4):915–925. PMID 24097141. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    From the article: “The Sensory Experiences Questionnaire Version 3.0 (SEQ-3.0; Baranek, 2009) is a 105 item parent report tool designed specifically to measure behavioral responses to naturally occurring sensory stimuli in the context of everyday situations in children with ASD, ages 2 to 12 years. Previous research on earlier versions of the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (Version 1.0, Version 2.1) has demonstrated the tool’s reliability and validity”; it is “a caregiver report instrument designed to characterize sensory features in children ages 2–12 years with ASD and/or DD in social and non-social contexts”; the four patterns are hyporesponsiveness, hyperresponsiveness, “sensory interests, repetitions and seeking behaviors (SIRS)” and “enhanced perception (EP)”.
31. STAR Institute for Sensory Processing. Patterns or Subtypes of Differences in Sensory Integration and Processing. Sensoryhealth.org, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    Sensory Over-Responsive: “Predisposition to respond more intensely, quicker, and/or longer to sensory stimuli.” Sensory Under-Responsive: “Predisposition to respond less intensely to sensory stimuli, to have a delay before responding, and/or responses are muted.” Sensory modulation: “Some may be overly sensitive to stimuli, leading to feelings of overwhelm, while others may seek out more intense sensory experiences.”
32. Cleveland Clinic. Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Health Library, last updated March 20, 2025. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “Currently, SPD isn’t an official medical diagnosis.” “SPD commonly affects people with neurodevelopmental and neurodivergent conditions, like autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But you can also have SPD without any other condition.” Over-responsivity: “You may respond too much, too soon or for too long to sensory information that most people can tolerate.” Under-responsivity: “You may be unaware of sensory information and/or have a delay before responding”. Sensory craving: “you need and seek out sensory information for stimulation.” Symptoms include “Reacting to sudden movements, touches, loud noises and/or bright lights”; “Sensory processing disorder can affect one of your senses or multiple senses. They can also vary in severity or intensity.” “your child’s pediatrician may refer you to an occupational therapist. These professionals can assess your child for SPD by watching them interact with certain sensory experiences. They’ll also ask about your child’s symptoms, behavior and medical history”. Sensory integration therapy “is the most common and effective type of therapy for SPD.” “your child’s occupational therapist may recommend incorporating routine sensory activities and tools at home and school”; “They’re customized to your child’s unique needs.” Examples: “Access to headphones to block out background noises while they work” and “A designated break to do a sensory activity, like walking, spinning or swinging”.
33. American Physical Therapy Association. What Is Pediatric Physical Therapy? ChoosePT.com, July 9, 2024. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “Pediatric physical therapists provide care and treatment for children of all abilities (from birth to 21 years) and those with traumatic, developmental, and systemic disorders. They work with children and their families to promote a child’s ability to function independently and participate actively in home, school, and community environments. These services are provided in homes, schools, communities, hospitals, and clinics.” Benefits include “Helping children reach developmental milestones and promoting mobility.” Conditions listed include “Developmental delay”, “Cerebral palsy”, “Down syndrome and other genetic disorders” and “Autism spectrum disorders”. “You can see a physical therapist without a physician’s referral for evaluation and treatment.”
34. American Occupational Therapy Association. Ask for OT. AOTA.org, undated. “OT practitioners work with children and families from birth to young adulthood in the community, schools, clinics, and hospitals.” “OT practitioners use evidence-based interventions to help people do the things they want and need to do.” Checked October 11, 2026.
35. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Speech-Language Pathologists. ASHA.org, undated. “Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults.” SLPs “Provide augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for individuals with severe expressive and/or language comprehension disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder”. Checked October 11, 2026.
36. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment and Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorder. CDC.gov, May 16, 2024. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “The most common developmental therapy for people with ASD is speech and language therapy.” “Occupational therapy teaches skills that help the person live as independently as possible. Skills may include dressing, eating, bathing, and relating to people. Occupational therapy can also include” “Sensory integration therapy to help improve responses to sensory input that may be restrictive or overwhelming.” “Physical therapy can help improve physical skills, such as fine movements of the fingers or larger movements of the trunk and body.”
37. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment and Intervention for Cerebral Palsy. CDC.gov, undated. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    Treatments listed include “Occupational, physical, or speech therapy”; school services under IDEA include “Related services such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy”. “Both early intervention and school-aged services are available through our nation’s special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).”
38. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment of ADHD. CDC.gov, July 30, 2026. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “For children with ADHD younger than 6 years of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends parent training in behavior management as the first line of treatment, before medication is tried.” “For children 6 years of age and older, the recommendations include medication and behavior therapy together”; “AAP recommendations also include adding behavioral classroom intervention and school supports.”
39. U.S. Department of Education. 34 CFR 300.8 Child with a disability. IDEA regulations, sites.ed.gov, last modified May 25, 2018. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    (c)(1)(i): “Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.” (c)(9): “Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli”, due to health problems “such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”. (c)(10)(i): “Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.”
40. U.S. Department of Education. 34 CFR 300.34 Related services. IDEA regulations, sites.ed.gov, last modified May 2, 2017. Checked October 11, 2026.
    Show the passageHide the passage

    “Related services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech-language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy”.

Medical disclaimer. This page is for general educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider about your child.