asking for directions

Mapping, the art of knowing where you are, where you are going and where you have been.  I am fascinated with Google Maps, the photo sharing is the best feature.  I’ve been planning a family trip in Europe for months now, I’ve nearly committed our route to memory. Once we are there I am sure being on the road will not look familiar, not to mention the road signs will be in a completely different alphabet!

When the Super G Olympic skiers visualized the run in their minds before taking to the snow, they were increasing their visual map in their minds.  Visual Mapping is something we are born with, we practice it in our mothers when we turn and rotate.  Each arm or leg movement contributes to our earliest maps giving our brain some idea where our body parts are once we are out of our first cramped space.

Our visual maps we start with are enhanced and expanded with each movement, and repetition of those movements creates a tracing that makes future movement automatic.  Take sitting for an example.  We are not born able to sit, yet, on average it takes about 6 months to begin to master it.  Each time we lift our heads, our visual senses (the feedback from our environment as to what is up or down), the nerves in our joints (proprioception) and the balance center in our ears (vestibular) all produce parts  the map in our brain.  Without that, we’d never master holding our heads upright.

Physical development’s map is north to south, head to toe.  Master head control, move on to abdominal control, soon to master standing and walking.  Where we perceive our body to be in space (the space we occupy) helps us determine motor control of our bodies.  The first attempts at sitting, the mapping is weak, hard to follow, no key, only a compass rose to keep us heading in the right direction.  The information we have from our environment and our body tell us where we are going, hopefully a soft landing.

“Perception is essential to action, just as action is essential to perception” as noted in Motor Control by Shumway-Cook, Woollacott.  We need to add meaning to our maps, not just random information. We need connecting and alternate routes, hopefully avoiding dead ends.  Each trip down the same route we commit it to memory, we know where the bends are, what intersections to slow down at and about how long the trip should take us.  When you think about those commonly traveled roads, if you were to see it in your minds’ eye, you would be re-enforcing your visual map.

How can it be that some maps are chaotic, roads leading to nowhere, travel times are off and directions are misplaced?  SPD is the map of wrong turns.  A large part of the map is fine, but there is too much color and interference that it is too hard to write the map, much less read.

Visual mapping is used in therapy for those recovering from brain trauma.  The study of how to teach those with impaired ability can give great insight into how visual mapping, motor control and sensory integration are regained.  Children with SPD are still learning and occupational therapy helps to make the correct routing, practice that creates logical and definable visual maps for our bodies.  Fluid, smooth connections between our mind’s eye and movement creates the perfect map.  Visual mapping can be used for young and old, those learning and re-learning.

Since we do not rely on one sense at a time for processing information, therapy should involve all of those senses to retrace our visual maps.  A calm swing, attention getting music, strong taste of sour and recognizable sights bring all our senses into play.  We don’t just want our senses stimulated, we want to wake them up, all at attention.  By giving them brightness, the maps they create separately can be coordinated, later able to be recalled together, because they belong together.  Just one sense not working in sync can change the perception and make the destination unobtainable.

Occupational therapy for SPD is a lot of construction now for easy automatic actions later.  First we must hold our head up before we can sit and enjoy the ride.