Ayres's Journey

Jean Ayres first introduced the world to Sensory Integration (what later would be referred to as Sensory Processing Disorder) in the year 1972 through her five basic postulates. The first of these postulates proposed by Ayres was that a human’s brain could change and develop even past childhood, what we now know as neuroplasticity. Next she explained that in order for senses to properly integrate there must be an interaction between the cortical and subcortical structures of the brain. Higher order areas of the brain, according to Ayres, rely on the lower order regions to properly inhibit or facilitate sensory messages. Additionally she determined that every processed sensation would require the brain to facilitate some input and inhibit another. The next postulate she suggested was that our brains follow a sequential development that is orderly and results in our ability to learn. Based off this learned ability we make adaptive responses to changes and challenges in their environment. These responses help change our actions and behaviors resulting in learning. Finally she stated that all of us have a desire to master a challenge and this is what pushes an

Dunn described four different categories of poor sensory processing: poor registration, sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity, and sensory avoiding. She also wrote that people could have a high neurological threshold, which requires more intense sensation for a longer duration to elicit a response, or low threshold, which requires very little sensation to elicit a response. Dunn also believed that an individual could have either an active or passive response to a sensation. A person who had a passive response would do nothing to change the intensity of the sensation, as opposed to a person with an active response who would actively seek or avoid the sensation (Lane, Roley, & Champagne, 2014, pp.