And we teachers felt that we were failing them. We knew we could do better. After all, since the 1970's, we had been mainstreaming into our regular school program a number of chil-dren with identified special needs. We were extremely successful with these children. We wanted an answer.
Few people recognize the term.
The late A. Jean Ayres, PhD, an occupational therapist, was the first to describe it as a dysfunction resulting from inefficient neurological processing. In the 1950s and '60s, she formulated a theory of sensory integration dysfunction and led other occupational therapists in developing intervention strategies. Her book, Sensory Integration and The Child , presents a thorough explanation of this misunderstood problem and is required reading for anyone interested in grasping the technicalities of the subject. It is important to recognize that sensory integration dysfunction, or SI dysfunction, is not a new problem. It is a new definition of an old problem.