Our Seven Senses

Alright, you say. I thought we only have five - -

Well, yes you are right. But we also have a couple more.

Proprioception

"When this sense is working effectively the brain, at all times, has an awareness of where the various body parts are in space, if they are moving or not, and how fast and in what direction they are moving...We talk about this sense enabling us to ‘feel’ where our body parts are, but this does not mean ‘feeling’ like ‘touching’ one body part with another – it is an entirely internal sensation". 

David Brown, Education Specialist with Deaf-Blind Services in CA.

Vestibular

The New York Times has a short piece about the importance of this sense saying:

"it isn’t a high-profile, elitist sense like the famed five of vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. It’s more of a Joe Sixth-Sense, laboring in anonymity and frequently misunderstood". 

Simply put, the Vestibular sense helps us balance and have spacial orientation. No mean feat. 

My son has Sensory Processing Disorder and so he struggles to regulate his senses in many situations. Learning about the last two senses has given me more empathy in the challenges he faces every day. It has also informed my understanding of how we feed our senses and how we can unknowingly hinder their developement.