ABC’s of SPD: I is for Integration

Welcome to this week’s Blogging Through the Alphabet! I have been Blogging through the Alphabet with Ben and Me and many other bloggers who are offering a wide variety of topics. I am sharing a new topic related to Sensory Processing Disorder each week as we blog through the alphabet.

I is for Integration

ABC's of SPD Integration

One of the more frequent questions I get from others (including medical professionals) is “Is Sensory Processing Disorder the same as Sensory Integration Dysfunction?” The easy answer is “yes.” Some professionals still use “Sensory Integration Dysfunction” instead of “Sensory Processing Disorder,” though the term was updated to SPD. Changing medical terms can be confusing, but as they learn more about them, they discover some terms are more accurate or describe it better.

With the SPD vs. SID confusion, there also comes just the descriptions themselves. In addition to the professional definition, just the terms “sensory processing,” and “sensory integration” get confused or intertwined. The definitions are still the same, though. Both mean how a person’s nervous system receives signals from the senses and turns them into the appropriate motor or behavioral responses. Someone with SPD doesn’t have sensory signals that are always organized into appropriate responses.

Many people (children and adults alike) have *some* sensory concerns. It is classified as SPD when it presents challenges that interfere with every day tasks. It affects our lives on an every day basis.

To be honest, when a medical professional asks me if SID and SPD are the same, I instantly feel like they don’t fully know about and comprehend SPD since the term had officially changed. Of course, that’s always a challenge those with SPD face. All we can do is continue to learn more about it ourselves and spread the word!

ABC Blogging


Ben and Me


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