What does it really mean for sensory integration to be a developmental theorym and how does that change the way we see the children in front of us?
In this episode, we pick up right where Episode 33 left off. Tracy opens with a powerful quote from the Sensory Integration Theory and Praxis textbook that bridges sensory discrimination and executive functioning, and the conversation takes off from there.
We explore how Praxis doesn't arrive all at once but interacts with a child's changing developmental competence, from the six-month-old reaching for a toy, all the way to the basketball player executing a perfect shot. Tracy shares a rich clinical story of a little boy with Fragile X syndrome whose play shifted dramatically, not because he was taught new skills, but because his motivational system was met exactly where it was. And we get into genuinely fascinating territory around sensory surplus, neurodivergence, and what it means when a child needs to spend far longer making sense of perceptual qualities before they can move into representational play.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction & recap of Episode 33
01:43 Tracy's quote from Sensory Integration Theory and Praxis (2nd ed., 2002)
03:00 Sensory integration as a developmental theory — the spiralling continuum
07:17 What does \"developmental theory\" really mean here?
08:14 The embodied experience of a six-month-old becoming a reacher
10:34 Praxis elaborating from affordances — the basketball example
12:33 The interrupted development of Episode 33's little cherub
14:22 \"Praxis interacts with the changing developmental competence of the child\"
18:00 Connecting to executive functioning — planning and inhibitory control
20:06 Sledging, dysregulation, and the autonomic nervous system
20:33 Affect is the glue — Stanley Greenspan
21:48 Clinical story: the boy with Fragile X and the red cars
26:33 Attunement, pacing, and knowing when to stretch
29:00 How you find the affect inside a child's category interest
30:03 Sensory discrimination as the foundation of executive function shifting
31:20 Executive functions are embodied before they are cognitive
33:27 Visual discrimination and cognitive flexibility
35:00 Stuck in developmental stages — integration dependency
37:26 From concrete/literal to representational thinking
38:42 The million repetitions problem — and why play partners get tired
41:00 Filling the perceptual cup
42:04 Wired to Feel — autism as a condition of sensory surplus
44:00 Motivational bias, executive function, and the \"not done yet\" feeling
45:26 Affect as the glue in pathway building
47:12 Meeting children exactly where they are
49:14 DIR, honeypots, and what it means to really be with a child in play
49:55 Did affect unlock self-other connection?
53:15 Pulling it together for parents — the relief of knowing this is the work
54:52 We don't teach shoe-tying to 2-year-olds — developmental readiness
Resources mentioned:
Sensory Integration Theory and Praxis, 2nd ed. (2002) — Anzaloni & Murray
Children Adapt — Gilfoyle, Grady & Moore
Wired to Feel: Autism as a Condition of Sensory Surplus — Sweezy & Bergenfeld (2025)
DIR/Floortime — Stanley Greenspan
Early Start Denver Model — Sally Rogers
SPIRIT Model — Tracy Stackhouse, Developmental FX
The Felt Sense Polyvagal Model — Jan Winhall
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