Pediatric Occupational Therapy in Charlotte

First, what is the vestibular system? This is the system that, generally speaking, tells you when you’re moving. How is it impacted? It is stimulated by giving input to the inner ear. There are three semi-circular canals inside of each of your ears that sense which direction you’re moving. For example, they let your brain know if your body is moving around in a circle, forward, or side to side.

I have no significant sensitivity to vestibular input that I’m aware of. The visual and vestibular systems are closely connected because typically you are not only aware that you’re moving by how your body feels, but also by what you see moving passed you as you move within your environment. Those two inputs typically work closely together to tell you about your movement. My visual sensitivity results at times in my feeling as if I’m moving even though I’m stationary, for example if I’m watching a camera pan around a room or down a mountain it can make me feel like I’m moving with it. 

I am able to feel motion sick due to visual input, but not vestibular. This means that if I feel motion sick, all I have to do is close my eyes (to shut out that visual input) and it will go away. Children who are hypersensitive to vestibular input, on the other hand, would not be able to just close their eyes and be okay. They may actually be more comfortable if they are able to see some steady object to use as an anchor of sorts, and closing their eyes would make everything feel more intense as it would deny them that visual anchor that allows them to feel more stabilized.