2019 · Page 4 of 10 · Sensory Intelligence Consulting

At Sensory Intelligence^® Consulting, we have always had a special interest in promoting effective learning in schools, improving wellness and productivity in corporate businesses & call centres and helping individuals to live a balanced, healthy life. And now Tiger Woods – winning his 5^th Master’s title – has shown that Sensory Intelligence^®is just as important in sport as well.

Our founder and CEO, Dr Annemarie Lombard, has been talking about the benefits of chewing gum for a very long time. She might be the only person who highly recommends that school children should be chewing gum in class – with the necessary rules in place of course! And her reason for this is based on neuroscience – a field she is passionate about.

Annemarie did a PhD through the University of Cape Town, focusing on how we are affected by our direct environment. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines environment as “the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded”. We experience everything in our environment through our senses. And becoming Sensory Intelligent^®means understanding how our senses affect the way we work, learn, live and play. Everyone is familiar with the 5 senses of hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling and tasting. But there are 2 additional senses – the proprioceptive and vestibular senses. By chewing gum, the brain receives proprioceptive messages which are known to regulate (organise) the brain.

This brings about the following benefits:

It improves cognitive functions like focus, concentration and reaction times
It promotes alertness – and even better if you chew a mint-flavoured gum to give your senses an additional boost
It helps to decrease stress levels by decreasing cortisol levels, the stress hormone
Another sensory benefit is that it freshens your breath and can help fight bacteria
Some research has shown that it might even prevent ear infections. What we do know is that it can reduce ear pain during flights.

How does this work?

It’s all neuroscience, aka brain stuff. The brain is the most complex object in the universe – we understand parts of it but research into its complexity is ongoing. Two insights regarding the brain and self-regulation:

The mouth is a primary self-regulation tool to calm and organise the brain. We use the mouth to eat, chew, crunch, blow, suck, spit and smoke to gain personal composure on a totally unconscious level. These mouth actions utilise the muscles in the mouth, tongue and jaw area. When muscles move, the brain receives proprioceptive messages which are known to regulate the brain. Babies understand this intuitively at birth and will suck to calm and feed. These are automatic, reflexive loops built into the brain for survival.
Proprioception is our universal modulator. Any movement of the body against resistance will activate muscles and joints to process information and send it to the brain for use, and in the case of proprioception will be to organise and regulate.

So there you have it – gum is a wonderful self-regulation tool – it combines the mouth and proprioception – a match made in heaven!

*Disclaimer – we hate any gum anywhere else. It should be in your mouth, or in the trash can. Not on sidewalks or underneath tables, please?

Happy chewing!

To find out more about your sensory world, do our free Sensory Quiz™.

I have been working as an occupational therapist in a clinical setting for the past 20 years. Although the hands-on part of my work involves individual therapy with children, I have learnt over the years that a child cannot be treated in isolation. The importance of family members and dynamics must always be taken into consideration.

If I may add to John Donne’s words: “No man… nor child… is an island”.

Most families consist of vast diversities in terms of personalities, preferences, moods, habits and sensory assesss. Just because you share some DNA, does not automatically mean you will enjoy the same food, clothing, music, smells, colours, sports, activities and friends. We are all unique and different – thank goodness – and we all enjoy different types and amounts of input from our environments.

When considering diversity from a sensory perspective, children (actually all people) are either sensory seekers, sensory neutrals or sensory avoiders.

Sensory seekers

-have high thresholds for sensory input
-they need MORE input from their environment to function at
their best

Sensory neutrals

-have medium thresholds for sensory input

-they are not severely affected by sensory input and is able to
respond to important stimuli and ignore unimportant stimuli

Sensory avoiders

-have low thresholds for sensory input
-they need LESS input from their environment to function
optimally

Knowing your children’s sensory assesss is half the battle won when it comes to healthy family dynamics.
Knowing your OWN sensory assess is the other half of that same battle.

Let’s consider some examples of family dynamics:

A sensory seeking child and sensory seeking parent will have lots of fun together. They have loads of energy and a lust for life. These two will understand each other’s need for MORE and will enjoy an active lifestyle filled with activities. However, they may not always know when to stop and can be an exhausting pair for the rest of the family. They may also be restless and struggle to focus on one task at a time, especially when they are together.

A sensory avoiding child and sensory avoiding parent will not demand too much from each other, as they both understand that LESS works best for them. They can spend the whole day in each other’s company, without a word… and be perfectly content. This pair might intuitively know what the other one needs. For the rest of the family, they may appear boring, slow and uninteresting, lacking “oomph”. They might need a ‘sensory seeker’ to get them up and going!

A sensory seeking child and sensory avoiding parent can potentially experience lots of conflict due to a difference in sensory needs. The seeking child might demand more affection and attention than the avoiding parent is able to give. This child will typically be perceived as a fidgety, busy, on-the-go child by an overwhelmed sensitive parent. For the seeking child, the avoiding parent might mistakenly seem uninterested and closed-off.

A sensory avoiding child and sensory seeking parent can often be seen in shopping malls on a Saturday afternoon. This sensitive child often experiences sensory overload and reacts by a flight/fright/fight reaction, i.e. “a meltdown”. The seeking parent might seem oblivious to the child’s reasons for this reaction as they’re actively engaging in activities with the intention of creating fun for all. An avoiding child might experience a seeking parent as overwhelming and too much.

As you can see, each pair has strengths and hurdles to overcome.

The fact remain that families are made up of ALL of its members. And to be completely honest, life would be pretty dull without all of these assesss.

In family-life, self-understanding, acceptance of others and Sensory Intelligence® is key to creating a harmonious safe haven for the WHOLE family to enjoy.

To discover your and your family’s sensory thresholds, take our basic FREE Sensory Quiz™ or for a more detailed report, do a Sensory Matrix™ (from 12-year-olds).

Year: 2019

Did chewing gum help Tiger Woods win his 5th Master’s title?

This brings about the following benefits:

How does this work?

Why parents need Sensory Intelligence®

Who has benefited