What Are Vestibular and Proprioceptive Input?
Most people learn about five senses growing up: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But there are more senses than that, and two of the most important for understanding behavior and regulation aren't part of the usual list.
The vestibular sense lives in the inner ear and responds to movement. It tells the body where it is in space, whether it's right side up or tilted, and how fast it's moving. Rhythmic, predictable movement tends to soothe. Irregular, unexpected movement tends to alert.
Proprioception is felt deeper in the body, in the muscles, joints, and bones. It's often called the universal regulator because bodies instinctively reach for it when they need to settle down, wake up, or get organized for whatever is coming next.
Why Specific Language Changes What You Can Do
A child who can't sit still, crashes into everything, flops across furniture, or chews the end off every pencil is giving information about what their nervous system is looking for. But without the language to name what kind of input they're seeking, it's easy to reach for interventions that don't actually meet the need.
A weighted lap pad works beautifully for a child who needs pressure. For a child who needs to jump, crash, and use their muscles, it's going to miss the mark entirely. Knowing the difference between vestibular and proprioceptive input, and between the subtypes of proprioception, changes what you try next and how well it works.
This course gives you the framework to see sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding behavior with more precision, so the strategies you reach for actually match what the body is asking for.
Big Talks, Little Talks
Understanding How Kids Think, Feel, and Behave — One Talk at a Time
Moving & Soothing: The Power of Proprioceptive & Vestibular Input is one of eight modules in Big Talks, Little Talks, a video course series by Kelsie Mick Olds covering key topics in neurodiversity and child development. Modules can be purchased individually or as a complete bundle.
Every module in the series includes two videos:
The professional development component. Kelsie walks through the topic in depth, giving you the knowledge and language to understand what's happening and how to respond. Big Talks run approximately one hour and qualify for continuing education credit.
A kid-friendly video that gives children accessible language to understand what's going on in their own bodies and brains. You can show it directly to a child, break it into shorter chunks across multiple sessions, or watch it yourself to pick up language you can use in your own conversations.
Who Is This Course For?
This course is designed for therapists, parents, caregivers, educators, early childhood educators, and anyone who works with or lives with children whose sensory-seeking or sensory-avoiding behavior can be hard to read in the moment.
Whether you're trying to understand a specific child, looking to deepen your knowledge of proprioceptive and vestibular regulation, or searching for strategies you can actually use across home, school, and therapy settings, this course gives you a practical, well-grounded starting point.