Moving
Beyond the
5
Senses
How the
HIDDEN Senses
Affect Attention and Learning at School
BY ZOE MAILLOUX, OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA
W
hen we teach children about their senses, there is not
usually much emphasis on the important role that the
sensory systems play in learning. Without our senses, we
would have no way of taking in and processing any type of infor-
mation from the world around us, thus all that we know and do is
based on some initial sensory experience. In addition, most class-
room lessons on the senses focus on only five senses: sight, sound,
touch, taste and smell. However, there are two additional senses
that are equally important and foundational to our experiences in
the world: the position sense and the sense of movement. In this
article, we will discuss the ways in which these lesser known sens-
es impact children in classrooms.
The Position Sense
(The Sense of Proprioceptive)
This sense tells us about the position
of our whole body and how much force
we are using during tasks. Through
receptors in the muscles, tendons and
joints, this sense works “behind the
scenes,” helping us to make automatic
adjustments that put our bodies in the
best position for the task. In a single
task we can see a myriad of ways this
sense helps us to be efficient and
comfortable. For example, we use the
position sense to know how close or far
we should be away from our desk, how
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