Your child melts down at the dinner table, bolts across the waiting room, can’t sit still during homework, or throws themselves dramatically onto the couch for the tenth time before noon. You’ve tried the gentle reminders, the consequences, the deep breaths — and nothing seems to stick.

Before you question your parenting, or your child’s character, our Fort Myers occupational therapists would encourage you to consider that what looks like defiance, impulsivity, or emotional dysregulation may actually be your child’s nervous system crying out for something very specific — movement.

As Fort Myers occupational therapists who work with children every day, we see this pattern constantly. And the good news is, once you understand what’s really happening beneath the surface, the path forward becomes much clearer.

The Hidden Sense You’ve Never Thought About

Most of us learned about five senses in school: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. But your child actually has eight sensory systems — and one of the most powerful and least understood is the vestibular system.

Located in the inner ear, the vestibular system detects movement, gravity, and changes in head position. It tells your child’s brain where their body is in space, whether they’re moving or still, and helps regulate their overall level of alertness and arousal. Think of it as the body’s internal GPS — but one that also controls how calm or wound-up your child feels at any given moment.

Here’s what the research tells us: children with vestibular processing differences don’t just struggle with balance. They can experience profound difficulties with attention, emotional regulation, behavioral control, and the ability to stay calm in everyday situations (Ayres, 1972; Schaaf & Mailloux, 2015).

When that system isn’t getting the input it needs — or when it’s overwhelmed by too much input — children often can’t articulate what’s wrong. They don’t say, “Mom, my vestibular system is under-stimulated.” Instead, they act out.

What Vestibular Seeking Looks Like (and Why It’s Mistaken for Bad Behavior)

Dr. A. Jean Ayres, the occupational therapist and neuroscientist who pioneered Sensory Integration theory, described children who are vestibular seekers — kids whose nervous systems are essentially starving for movement input. Their brains compulsively look for ways to get it (Ayres, 1979).

Does your child:

• Spin in circles and never seem to get dizzy?
• Constantly rock, sway, or bounce — even while sitting?
• Crash into furniture, walls, or siblings (seemingly on purpose)?
• Run instead of walk everywhere they go?
• Hang upside down off couches or beds?
• Fidget so intensely they can’t stay seated during meals or schoolwork?
• Have explosive meltdowns that seem to come out of nowhere — especially during transitions or periods of prolonged sitting?

These behaviors are often labeled as “hyperactive,” “impulsive,” “defiant,” or “attention-seeking.” And while those labels aren’t always wrong, they miss the underlying driver: a nervous system that is desperately trying to regulate itself through movement.

A landmark study published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy found that children with sensory processing difficulties — including vestibular dysfunction — showed significantly higher rates of behavioral and emotional problems compared to typically developing peers, and that these behaviors decreased meaningfully with sensory-based occupational therapy intervention (Schaaf et al., 2014).

The Brain-Body Connection: Why Movement Is Not Optional

When your child spins, swings, or rolls, they’re not just “goofing around.” They are engaging one of the brain’s most powerful regulatory systems.

The vestibular system has direct connections to the reticular activating system — the brain region responsible for regulating arousal, attention, and the sleep-wake cycle (Brodal, 1981). When a child’s vestibular system gets the input it needs, it literally helps the brain shift into a more organized, calm, and focused state. This is neuroscience, not wishful thinking.

Research by Dr. Lucy Jane Miller at the STAR Institute for Sensory Processing has documented that children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) — many of whom have vestibular components — show measurable differences in neurological processing compared to typically developing children, detectable on electroencephalography (EEG) and other physiological measures (Miller et al., 2007). These are real, biological differences — not the result of poor parenting or willful misbehavior.

This matters enormously for how we interpret our children’s behavior. As the Journal of Attention Disorders has noted, sensory processing difficulties and ADHD frequently overlap, and sensory-based interventions can play a meaningful complementary role in supporting attention and behavioral regulation (Koziol et al., 2011).

“But My Child Just Needs to Learn to Behave”

Our Fort Myers occupational therapists hear this, and we understand it. The instinct to address behavior head-on — with consequences, routines, and accountability — is natural and not wrong. Structure and expectations absolutely matter.

But here’s the key insight our Fort Myers occupational therapists want every parent to hold onto: you cannot discipline a nervous system into regulation.

If your child’s brain is in a state of sensory disorganization, the prefrontal cortex — the part responsible for impulse control, emotional regulation, and rational decision-making — simply cannot function optimally. As Dr. Stuart Shanker, one of the world’s leading experts in self-regulation, explains: a dysregulated child is not a misbehaving child. They are a child in physiological distress (Shanker, 2016).

Think of it this way: if someone put you on a ship in a storm with no way to get your sea legs, and then asked you to solve complex math problems calmly, you’d struggle — not because you’re bad at math, but because your nervous system is consumed with trying to cope with an overwhelming sensory environment.

Our children are no different.

Signs It Might Be Time to Call Fort Myers Occupational Therapists

Not every active or energetic child has a vestibular processing difference. But if you’re noticing a consistent pattern, an occupational therapy evaluation can provide enormous clarity. Consider reaching out if your child:

• Seeks intense movement constantly, beyond what seems typical for their age — spinning, crashing, jumping from heights, rocking compulsively.
• Avoids certain movements with strong fear or distress — like swings, elevators, or having their feet off the ground — which can signal vestibular hypersensitivity (over-responsivity) rather than seeking.
• Struggles significantly to sit still for age-appropriate tasks like meals, circle time, or homework, despite repeated reminders and consistent expectations.
• Has frequent, intense emotional meltdowns that seem disproportionate to the trigger, especially after periods of prolonged sitting or during transitions.
• Shows delays in motor skills like balance, coordination, or learning to ride a bike.
• Has difficulty with attention or focus in ways that have not responded well to behavioral interventions alone.

A comprehensive sensory processing evaluation by a pediatric occupational therapist can identify whether vestibular processing — or other sensory systems like proprioception, the tactile system, or auditory processing — may be contributing to what you’re seeing at home and school.

What Occupational Therapy for Vestibular Differences Actually Looks Like

When families come to our FOCUS Fort Myers clinic, they’re often relieved to find that treatment is not about drilling children through exercises they find miserable. Sensory Integration therapy, the evidence-based OT approach developed by Ayres and refined over decades of research, is fundamentally child-led and play-based.

Therapy might involve swinging on specialized suspended equipment, rolling down ramps, spinning in a platform swing, or engaging in obstacle courses that challenge the child’s balance and body-in-space awareness — all within a carefully designed sensory environment. The goal is to give the nervous system the organized, “just right” vestibular input it’s been craving, so the brain can reorganize itself toward better regulation.

A 2012 randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy — one of the most rigorous studies ever conducted on sensory integration therapy — found statistically significant improvements in sensory processing, motor skills, and daily living skills in children with autism and sensory challenges who received Ayres Sensory Integration therapy compared to a control group (Pfeiffer et al., 2011). Further research by Schaaf et al. (2014) replicated and expanded these findings with a larger randomized controlled trial, showing significant gains in goal attainment, daily functioning, and caregiver-reported outcomes.

Beyond the clinic, our therapists work with families to build a “sensory diet” — a personalized plan of movement activities woven throughout the child’s day. This might include jumping on a trampoline before homework, a swinging break at recess, or a spinning chair at the kitchen table. These aren’t tricks or rewards — they are physiological tools that help the child’s brain stay organized enough to learn, connect, and cooperate.

A Note to the Exhausted Parent

If you’ve been told your child is defiant, manipulative, attention-seeking, or just “a handful” — and it’s never quite felt like the full picture — please trust that instinct.

You know your child. You’ve seen them in moments of pure joy, deep connection, genuine effort. The child who falls apart isn’t doing it at you. They’re doing it because of something happening inside them that they don’t have words for yet.

Understanding the vestibular system won’t solve every challenge overnight. But it can transform the lens through which you see your child — and that shift alone can change everything about how you respond in those hard moments.

Our team of Fort Myers occupational therapists, speech therapists, and child development specialists is here to partner with you. We don’t just treat symptoms — we look for root causes, and we help families understand the why behind the behavior so they can move forward with compassion, clarity, and effective strategies.

Ready to Learn More?

If this post resonated with you, we’d love to connect. Our Fort Myers occupational therapists offer comprehensive pediatric evaluations for sensory processing differences, motor delays, and behavioral challenges rooted in neurological differences.

FOCUS Therapy is a comprehensive pediatric therapy clinic in Fort Myers, FL, offering ABA therapy, ADOS testing, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, and behavior consulting for parents.

Additional Resources:

Koziol, L. F., Budding, D. E., & Chidekel, D. (2011). Sensory integration, sensory processing, and sensory modulation disorders: Putative functional neuroanatomic underpinnings. The Cerebellum, 10(4), 770–792. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-011-0288-8