How the Arousal Level of Your Child Affects Learning

By Shaun Hanrahan, OTR/L at Children's Therapy Works, reprinted from the Sept/Oct newsletter of the Autism Society of Greater Georgia

Some children differ from others in the levels of activity that they engage in. Those children that are seen to be lethargic, sedentary or minimally responsive are often referred to as children with "Low Arousal". Other children can be seen as constantly on the move and stay focused for a very short time on any given activity. These children are referred to as children with "High Arousal"

What is our understanding of the commonly used term "arousal" in relation to children with sensory integration problems? The term arousal can be described as the state of alertness of an individual's neurological system in analyzing processing and responding to sensory stimuli. Children with sensory integration problems have difficulty processing sensory information. The reticular formation in the brain stem is the part of the central nervous system that is responsible for accepting incoming stimuli and sending it to other parts of the brain that make sense of the stimuli and maintain a person in a state of alertness to respond appropriately to sensory stimuli.

When the reticular formation is not functioning normally as in Sensory Integration Dysfunction, the child may have varying levels of alertness. Children with a low level of arousal may appear inattentive and lethargic. They may appear to have lack of motivation, to participate in activities. Other children may prefer sedentary activities over active ones and appear to daydream or fall asleep. Children with a high level of arousal may have trouble sitting still to complete a task, exhibit volatile emotions and impulsive behaviors, act out of control or run around the room.

Sensory integration can provide children with various sensory experiences that can impact their mood and behavior. The various kinds of sensory stimuli can have either a facilitating or inhibiting effect on arousal and may cause a change in the arousal level of a child. The activities have to be carefully selected for each individual for whom the desired effect is sought. Through careful observation of how different sensory inputs impact a child's behavior, it is possible to arrive at what combination of activities best influence the child's arousal level. It is then important to determine how much, how often and for how long these selected sensory inputs are needed to bring the child to an optimum level of arousal.

The importance of functioning within a normal range of arousal or optimum level of arousal is to sustain a meaningful interaction with the world around us and adapt accordingly. With this information at hand it can be applied to various settings to optimize a child's arousal level. For example, at home, at school or at play. Information about movement is processed in the reticular activating system and this can have a profound effect on arousal. Activities such as running, jumping, bouncing and fast swinging can bring about a high level of arousal. Activities such as slow rocking and slow, monotonous rhythms can help lower the level of arousal. Other sensory inputs such as dimming or brightening lights can help decrease or increase the level of arousal. Soft, soothing music or loud music may decrease or increase arousal as desired.

The combination of inputs through other sensory systems may also bring about the desired changes in the level of arousal. We have recognized that during an optimal range of arousal, appropriate adaptive responses can be elicited and purposeful activity can be performed for example, remaining seated while completing a fine motor task.