Lesson Four:

Touch
By Kimberly Quintero
Note: This storyboard will contain graphics,
and audio on slides. The outline will change
when imported to Rise 360.

Lesson 4 Storyboard
Table of Contents
Lesson Description: The sense of touch will be covered in this lesson. We will discuss
the three types of touch, how we perceive touch, and learn examples.

● Introduction
● Case Study
● Perceiving Touch
● Light Touch
● Discriminative Touch
● Pressure Touch
● Examples
● Content Review
● Assessment
● Summary
Introduction
When we show up to the present moment with all of our senses, we invite the world to fill us with joy. The pains of the past
are behind us. The future has yet to unfold. But the now is full of beauty simply waiting for our attention.

Learning Objectives

1. In this lesson, learners will be able to identify the correlation of touch sensory play in children's developmental stages
with a score greater than 90% on the module's exam.
2. Given the content material on the sense of touch, learners will be able to identify the brain and body connections that
help children improve their sensory sensitivity with 100% accuracy.
3. Finally, from this lesson, learners will be able to explain sensory activities that engage the sense of touch to parents
with satisfactory responses in less than 5 minutes.
Case Study
Lucas' Story

Lucas is a two-year-old boy who lacks social skills. He is the youngest of three siblings. When the family dog approaches
him, he walks away. His parents believe he is shy. Additionally, he does not assist his mother in digging holes in the garden
for planting flowers. Lucas tends to stare at his family and others without engaging in social interactions. His family wishes
for him to be more outgoing and develop stronger social skills. They want to help him understand that the dog will not bite
him and that the dirt from the garden will not harm him. Lucas' family is concerned that his shyness and withdrawal may
prevent him from experiencing the joys of childhood. They are seeking ways to help Lucas overcome his shyness, become
more social, and feel secure in his environment.

Let's look for solutions!

Lucas' behavior is probably something common that you've seen before. What comes to your mind when you hear similar
stories? Next, we will learn more about the sense of touch and further explore solutions that could help Lucas' case.
Perceiving Touch
How Do We Feel Touch?
The sense of touch allows us to interact with the world by providing our brain with the information needed to make the right
decisions. Children perceive this world as their new environment and are naturally inclined to touch things with different
textures and appearances. Our sense of touch helps us keep ourselves safe. For instance, babies instinctively remove their
hands from something hot or sharp, regardless of whether they understand the concepts of "hot"or "sharp". Our body
naturally responds to a fight or flight situation to keep us safe.

To gain a better understanding of how our body processes the sense of touch, let's watch this video.

Title of video and link: Sense of touch.

Touch is initiated when an external stimulus comes into contact with the Dermis, the bottom-most layer of our skin. This layer
contains millions of tiny nerve endings that translate sensory information to our brain. The Dermis relays this information to
the spinal cord through electrical impulses carried by neurotransmitters, allowing us to perceive sensations. There are four
primary types of touch receptors: heat, cold, pain, and pressure. Certain areas of our body have a higher concentration of
nerve endings, making them more sensitive to touch. For instance, the tongue has an abundance of taste receptors but fewer
heat and cold receptors.
Light Touch
First Type of Touch

Light touch is one of the three types of touch. The sensation light touch provokes tends to be alerting. It’s that soft
touch that warns us about our safety. Perhaps, you’ve been sitting in the park reading a book and you get an
awareness of something crawling on your feet. You look down and it’s an ant. What has alerted you about this? Light
touch!

This type of touch is responsible for moving your hand out of something that feels unpleasant. It will respond
immediately to any tactile information that your body senses. Even when we feel a light touch, we might not be able to
identify what it is. However, it will keep us alert to do something about it.
Discriminative Touch
Second Type of Touch

The second type of touch we will discuss is discriminatory touch. It allows us to detect physical details about what our
body has come into contact with, such as whether something is cold/hot, sticky, bumpy, soft, wet, or dry. Our brain
associates tactile information with memories and can recognize that when we touch something that is cold and square,
it’s a cube of ice without having to see it or read a label. This type of touch gives us precise and accurate information
that helps develop our fine motor skills.

Just like light touch, the awareness of discriminative touch keeps us safe by helping us process our environment and
respond appropriately to cues. Discriminative touch also involves perceiving pain, vibration/movement, itch, and
pressure.
Touch Pressure
Third Type of Touch

Lastly, there is touch pressure, also called deep touch pressure. It works together with discriminative touch. For
example, when you put on your shoes, you can feel the softness of your socks as you slide your feet into your shoes.
When you feel the shoe tight or loose, you can decide whether to change your shoes or wear thin socks instead.

Touch pressure can evoke sensations and create lasting memories of things we like or dislike. It helps us understand
how to perform certain tasks, such as how much pressure to apply on the brakes or how tightly we should shake
someone’s hand. It alerts us when something feels right or wrong and whether there’s enough pressure or if we need
to take action.
Sense of Touch Activities
Learn Through Touch
Following are five examples about stimulating the sense of touch to encourage and promote learning.

1. Manipulate different materials- Play with the children with balls of different materials, like tennis ball, golf ball, basketball ball, squish
ball, and a soccer ball. Using different texture balls, will develop children's muscle strength and grasp different textures to learn what
ball is used for what sport.

2. Build muscle strength- Stimulating the sense of touch can be done by playing with a sensory play mat. This will encourage the
children to interact with the different objects in the mat. An alternative, is to walk along the beach and pick up shells or build sand castles
with different tools to stimulate crawling and hand-eye coordination.

3. Explore textures- An activity that will ensure that children will feel different textures is making contrasting sensory bins. Using different
texture toys with smooth or rough surfaces can help children discrimimnate from one another. For example, to learn temperature
differentiation, children can fill different bins with cold and warm water and play with plastic toy fish.
4. Practice identification- Play with children to identify objects with their eyes close, they will use their touch memory to name the
objects. You can use everyday objects or new objects to challenge them!

5. Practice drawing- Finally, you can help children develop their sense of touch by drawing shapes they recognize with your finger on
the back of the hand. For example, you can draw a circle and ask them what you drew. You can take turns to improve their social skills
as well.
Content Review (pt. 1)
Let's review this lesson before taking a ten-multiple choice assessment.

Perceiving Touch- The sense of touch is vital for decision-making and safety. Children like to explore the world through
touch. With our sense of touch we can also detect pain and respond to such cues. Touch originates from the Dermis layer of
our skin, which contains millions of nerve endings. These endings transmit electrical impulses to the spinal cord, allowing us
to perceive sensations such as heat, cold, pain, and pressure. Some parts of our body are more sensitive to touch due to
varying nerve endings.

Light Touch- Light touch is one of the three types of touch that our body can sense. It's a soft touch that alerts us about our
safety. This type of touch is responsible for moving your hand out of something that feels unpleasant and responds
immediately to any tactile information that your body senses. Even when we feel a light touch, we might not be able to
identify what it is, but it will keep us alert.
Content Review (pt. 2)
Discriminative Touch- Discriminative touch is the second type of touch that our body can sense. It allows us to detect
physical details about what our body has come into contact with, like if it is cold/hot, sticky, bumpy, soft, wet, or dry. Our
brains associate tactile information with memories and let us identify objects in our environment. This type of touch gives us
precise and accurate information that helps develop our fine motor skills. Discriminative touch is also involved in perceiving
pain, itches, vibrations and movement

Touch Pressure- Touch pressure is the third type of touch that our body can sense. It works together with discriminative
touch . It works with discriminative touch to help us understand how tight or loose things are. Like when you put on a shoe
and tie your shoelaces. Touch pressure can evoke sensations and create lasting memories of things we like or dislike. It
helps us understand how to perform certain tasks, such as how much pressure to apply on a handshake. It alerts us when
something feels right or wrong and whether there’s enough pressure or if we need to take action.

Touch Examples- We review the following examples about the sense of touch: 1. Manipulate different materials 2. Build
muscle strength 3. Explore textures 4. Practice identification 5. Practice drawing
Assessment - Question 1
1. What kind of touch can indicate that you've injured your leg?

A. Discriminative touch

B. Light touch

C. Pressure touch

D. Deep touch pressure

Assessment - Question 2
2. During your glasses adjustment what type of touch helped you tell the doctor the glasses felt comfortable?

A. Light touch

B. Deep touch pressure

C. Discriminative touch

D. Pressure touch
Assessment - Question 3
3. Which type of touch helps identify when something is hot or cold?

A. Pressure touch

B. Light touch

C. Discriminative touch

D. Deep pressure touch

Assessment - Question 4
4. Where does the dermis skin layer sends the information to?

A. Frontal lobe

B. Spinal cord

C. Parietal lobe

D. Occipital lobe
Assessment - Question 5
5. What type of touch made you aware of something crawling on your left hand during your morning jog?

A. Deep pressure touch

B. Pressure touch

C. Discriminative touch

D. Light touch
Assessment - Question 6
6. What type of touch will tell you that a pair of boots fit well?

A. Light touch

B. Pressure touch

C. Deep pressure touch

D. Discriminative touch
Assessment - Question 7
7. What type of touch will help you identify that you have hurt yourself while playing soccer?

A. Light touch

B. Discriminative touch

C. Pressure touch

D. Deep pressure touch

Assessment - Question 8
8. Which of the following activities will expand Lucas’ touch sensitivity?

A. Explore textures with contrasting sensory bins

B. Wait for him to come out of his shell on his own

C. Remove all of his toys and replace them with Legos

D. Encourage Lucas' to smell all of his mother's flowers to differentiate between scents
Assessment - Question 9
9. What activities can Lucas’ parents do to encourage him be more social with their dog instead of walking away from it?

A. Lucas' parents can demonstrate how to play with the dog and bring Luca along so he feels comfortable around
the dog

B. Lucas' parents can buy dog toys to encourage him to play with the dog

C. Lucas' parents can bring the dog closer to him to see if they'll play

D. Lucas' parents can buy a family cat instead

Assessment - Question 10
10. What are some strategies that Luca’s mom can use to help him plant flowers with her?

A. Lucas' mom can take him to the store to help her pick flower seeds

B. Lucas' mom can celebrate his small steps and reward him when he helps her

C. Lucas' mom can help him plant flowers by giving verbal instructions

D. Lucas' mom can watch YouTube videos about how to plant flowers besides him
Summary
Concluding the Sense of Touch

The sense of touch is vital for decision-making and safety. Children like to explore the world through touch. With our sense
of touch we can also detect pain and respond to those cues accurately. Touch originates from the Dermis layer of our skin,
which contains millions of nerve endings. These endings transmit electrical impulses to the spinal cord, allowing us to
perceive sensations such as heat, cold, pain, and pressure.

Light touch is a soft touch that alerts us about our safety. It is responsible for moving your hand out of something that feels
unpleasant and responds immediately to any tactile information that your body senses. Even when we feel a light touch, we
might not be able to identify what it is, but it will keep us alert. Discriminative touch allows us to detect physical details about
what our body has come into contact with, like if it is cold/hot, sticky, bumpy, soft, wet, or dry. Our brain associates tactile
information with memories and let us identify objects in our environment. This type of touch gives us precise and accurate
information that helps develop our fine motor skills. Discriminative touch is also involved in perceiving pain, itches,
vibrations and movement. Touch pressure works together with discriminative touch to help us understand how tight or loose
things are. It helps us understand how to perform certain tasks, such as how much pressure to apply on a handshake.
Touch pressure can evoke sensations and create memories of things we like or dislike.

Thank you for participating!