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The Gustatory System

Did you know some people can taste words?

While it is normal for children to have taste preferences picky eaters are defined by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods or to try new foods, as well as strong food preferences. Picky eating can not only lead to nutrient deficiencies, it is also a huge source of stress for families.

If you are struggling with meal times consider the following:
- expose children to varied food often. This can look like seeing food on the table, smelling, licking or eating food
- get your child involved. Add fun to feeding by having children help to cut up, cook and serve meals.
- Set a good example. Make comment when you try new foods or are not sure about a flavour, talk it out with your child and build good habits together.
- Try dessert with dinner. Serving dessert with dinner can help to decrease obsessiveness with sweets.

And finally, give yourself a break. Feeding journeys for all families can be stressful, especially with a picky eater. While keeping a healthy and varied diet is important it is ok if that means serving tomato sauce on every meal.

The Auditory System

Did you know that your ear helps you taste?

A group of nerves run from your taste-buds to the brain go through the middle ear. This means that if you damage your ear you may affect your ability to recognise flavour!

While we think of the auditory system as hearing, it actually entails a lot more including hearing, understanding and responding.

Children with typically developing auditory systems are able to respond to sounds naturally, looking when their names are called or turning their heads toward a sound. They are able to follow verbal directions and filter out sounds that are not important. They are neither distracted nor overwhelmed by common sounds and have a healthy awareness of their environment. BUT even typically developing children can find it hard to listen.

This is because for EVERYONE, the auditory system is one of the first systems to be impaired when stressed. This means that in times of high stress or high emotion it is important to limit your words when talking with your kids. Try using hand signals and body movements with simple commands to help you get the point across.

The Olfactory System

Did you know without smell, apples and onions taste the same?

The sense of smell is developing before we are even born and babies can recognise their mothers by smell before they can see them. Smell is the only sense that is linked to the emotional center of the brain. For this reason smells can be useful to help calm and soothe babies. For example, by having a much loved blanket or diffusing lavender.

As children get older, try to involve different smells in play and continue to describe them. Not only will this help build vocabulary, it will also get your child used to going in to new environments with different smells.

The Visual System

Did you know that newborn babies can only focus on objects up to 30cm away?

The visual system helps us understand what is happening around us. To do this, our eye and brain work together to take in information and make sense of it.

The visual system is developing throughout childhood. To help with development make sure babies have plenty of time to play and explore on the floor and provide opportunities to develop hand-eye coordination through reach and grab toys.

For older children lookout for signs of difficulty such as:
- Squinting.
- Frequently rubbing eyes.
- Short attention span.
- Eyes that turn do not move together.
- Sensitivity to light.
- Difficulty colouring in or with ball skills.

Most very young children have their eyesight assessed as part of their routine developmental checks. However if you have further concerns make sure to contact a professional.

Introducing the 8 senses!

We all remember the 5 senses from school (touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing). But we would like to introduce to you the 3 other senses of your body -->

Vestibular - our body's sense of movement, gravity and balance, this system helps us move smoothly.

Proprioception - our body's ability to know where different body parts are, how they move and how much strength our muscles need to use.

Interoception - our body's inner feelings. Feeling tired, hungry, thirsty, or full? That's your interoceptive sense.

The Sensory Systems
Remember the 5 senses? Did you know we are now considered to have 8 senses. over the next 8 weeks we are going to be exploring each of these senses!

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