Infant Brain Activation with Sensory Stimulation

It is well established and accepted that sensory stimulation is critical to both cognitive and motor development in children.   With the advent of Jean Ayes work and rise in sensory spectrum children much attention has been direct towards techniques to increase sensory input and social engagement of children.   

 As a Human Movement Specialist and Founder of Naboso Technology I have a great appreciation for the role the hands and feet have in sensory processing and brain mapping.  Research is now being done in infants to validate the power of hand and foot stimulation in brain : body orientation.   

One such study by Meltzoff et al. used EEG to assess somatosensory activation in 7 month old babies who had their hands and feet stimulated by touch.   There was a clear cortical activation following tactile stimulation which supported the role of early sensory stimulation.   

 The same study by Meltzoff et al. also assessed the brain activation of the infant observing someone else’s hand being stimulated.  An interesting finding was that the same somatosensory areas that were stimulated by their hand being touch were also activated by the observation of someone else’s hands being touched!   

Research suggest that this supports the role of sensory and touch is important not only in cognitive and motor development but also in social engagement and the understanding of one’s self from others.   

How can you use this information?    

At Naboso Technology we have been integrating our neuro textured material in schools and Autism  programs to increase the tactile stimulation for young children.   You can read more about the association between sensory & Autism in our recent blog post!

 We have seen creative integration of our Naboso Mats in children’s play rooms as well as put under a child’s desk for when they are studying.    To learn more about our Mind Body Mat and Children’s Insoles please visit www.nabosotechnology.com