Description:

The Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests (SIPT) help us to understand why some children have difficulty learning or behaving as we expected. The SIPT do not measure intelligence in the usual sense of the word, but they do evaluate some important abilities needed to get along in the world. They do not measure language development, academic achievement, or social behavior, but they assess certain aspects of sensory processing or perception that are related to those functions. They also evaluate praxis or the child’s ability to cope with the tangible, physical, two- and three-dimensional world.

Sensory integration is that neurological process by which sensations (such as from the skin, eyes, joints, gravity, and movement sensory receptors) are organized for use. Praxis is that ability by which we figure out how to use our hands and body in skilled tasks like playing with toys, using a pencil or fork, building a structure, straightening up a room, or engaging in many occupations. Practice ability includes knowing what to do as well as how to do it. Practice skill is one of the essential aptitudes that enables us “to do” in the world. “Dysfunction” means “difficult” or “disordered”. Sensory integrative dysfunction may result in difficulty with visual perception tasks or in inefficiency in the interpretation of sensations from the body. A dyspraxic child has difficulty using his or her body, including relating to some objects in the environment. A dyspraxic child often has trouble with simply organizing his or her own behavior.

There are 17 SIPT tests. They fall, roughly, into four overlapping types: (1) motor-free visual perception, (2) somatosensory, (3) praxis, and (4) sensorimotor.

Patients to treat:

• Autism
• Learning difficulties
• Behavioral difficulties
• Sensory disorder
• ADHA: attention deficits and hyperactivity disorder
• Developmental Delay