The Sense of Taste

There are two main ways we take in the world - through the sense of taste (food) and through the impressions of our senses of the outside world.   All eating is a communion.   Through the sense of taste we differentiate between the different kinds of tastes and in one sense, commune with the life giving properties of life - food!  The sense of taste depends on the liquid element (saliva)  as all food must first be partially dissolved before we can taste it.   Our sense of taste goes deep into the very core of matter as our taste buds warn us if something is not consumable.   We develop a sense of what tastes good and edible.   The quality of our life will vary according to what kind of food we eat - how developed our taste buds are for health.

In the same way  we develop a “taste” for what is beautiful and good in life.   The sense of taste is connected to our feeling life and how we meet the outside world.   The sense of taste occurs on a physical level as we distinguish the characteristics of what we eat (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami) and an emotional level in the defining of experiences ( “how sweet!” or “that was a bitter pill to swallow,”  “the memory makes me puke,”  “my day was so delicious!”). 

The sense of taste helps us to nourish and give our bodies health.  I think about how babies put everything into their mouths. They explore and discover life not only through touch but also through their sense of taste.   Perhaps they are developing a “taste” for life! 

We have almost 10,000 taste buds inside our mouths including the roofs of our mouths.   Each taste bud is made up of receptor cells that live for only a few weeks and then are replaced by new receptors cells.  While each receptor in a taste bud will respond best to one of the five basic tastes - it can respond to the other tastes.    

The tongue is an organ of the liver and does not want to eat/taste what it does not know.   Introduce new food flavors and textures to your children gently.  

Bitter-  The bitter taste performs on a protective level.  It’s unpleasant taste helps to prevent the ingeston of toxic substances.
Salty- The salty taste intensifies the eating experience. Salt suppresses bitterness.
Sour - The sour taste buds are another protective receptors.  It can prevent the ingestion of harmful substances.  Sour can be agreeable in small doses.
Sweetness - The sweet taste is a emotionally bonding taste.  Stimulates consumption.
Umami is described as a savory or meaty taste -sensitive to amino acids

The next installment on the Twelve Senses will not be until March 20th as I will be on Spring Break and traveling! 

The Sense of Smell

It is through the sense of smell that we gather messages about the environment around us.  We are attuned to our environment with every breath we take by the automatic function of smell that detects dangers, food, and other people.   (Think about common phrases we use - "I smell trouble in the air!"  "Did you get wind of that?"  "She is a breathe of fresh air."  "It stinks that we can't have the day off")  Our noses are like little radars that can detect odors from a distance (which can give us advanced warning of spoiled food, broken sewer lines, baking pies, and so forth).   Our sense of smell plays a powerful role in the way we recognise each other, are attracted to mates, recall memories and even warnings about the environment around us.  

There are studies that assert that physical attraction itself may literally be based on smell.  The importance of scent-communication is often underestimated because it occurs on such a unconscious level. The sense of smell affects such things as the ability to taste and the proper functioning of a human's immune system.  Steiner asserted that things around us reveal themselves and their nature through smell.  Whereas the lower four senses tell give us information about our own body, the middle four senses give us information about another’s body and surrounding environment.

I love looking at the science of the senses.  The organ of the sense of smell is the olfactory mucosa at the root of the nose. The sense of smell is considered a chemcial sense become of the chemical nature of what we experience through the nose. The human nose uses millions of cells to detect nearly 10,000 odors (which is much less than many animals). In fact, the function of smelling is carried out by two tiny odor-detecting patches that are made up of almost five or six million yellowish cells.  However, we have nothing on hound dogs!  A dog has  220 million of these olfactory receptors and a rabbit has 100 million!

The recognition of smell is immediate.  The sense of smell is intimately connected to the parts of the brain that process emotion and associative learning.   The sense of smell is a shared reality that we can talk about - such as the smell of bread baking or smoke from a fire. It is interesting to note that we are only able to smell because odor is carried by the element of air. Steiner said every odor held a truth about its originating source.  

Smell is the gateway to cellular and body memory.  Smells can release memories - in order to identify an odor, we must remember it.  We cry with our eyes and nose.  Smell is strongly bound to the awareness of body.  It can stimulate sympathy or antipathy.  Some researchers are looking into the role of olfactory deficits and dysfunctions and its role in depression, migraines, schizophrenics and even eating disorders. 

Implications in education:

• be very aware of the quality and “truth” of smells in your classroom environment
• purchase pure essential oils vs. artificial scents
• choose oils to purify the air and support the immune system - lemon, mandarin, tangerine
• oils to support the sense of life - thyme, wintergreen, balsam fir, cedarwood
• be mindful that some children will have allergic reactions to artificial scents
• use any scent sparingly!  use lamp rings or a nebulizing diffuser system to prevent skin contact with students, keep oils out of reach of children at all times
• mark the seasons with smells through nature’s natural gifts - flowers and herbs
• as you prepare your environment, be aware of the smell and it’s impact
• keep a notebook of how specific smells impact the dispositions of the children
• begin to notice how your sense of smell tells you of the health and well-being of the children in your care - it is amazing how much we smell illness and upset!

I have researched specific essential oils to help certain students in my classroom.  I use a diffuser in these cases.  This kind of "nose" treatment is always extremely subtle in its application.  


One final thought - often in my classroom I am alerted to trouble brewing by my sense of smell.  Steiner said that the sense of smell was connected to the sense of touch.  I sometimes wonder - how is it that I do "smell" trouble?  Something is in the air that touches my awareness.  I think teachers and mothers don't have eyes in the back of their heads - they just have a keen sense of smell!  Interesting stuff!

Saturday Senses - The Sense of Balance

The lower four senses are probably the most important in the development of the young child.  The sense of balance is perhaps the most intense to try and write in a short article!   My personal notes on this sense is well over fifteen pages and I have struggled for several days trying to condense the information.  Alas, time has demanded I just click "publish"!  

Balance only occurs in relationship to something else.   It is a perception of position.  It gives us the possibility to take our place, so to speak,  without losing our balance.   It is also called sense of orientation. There is a specific location in the body that is the primary sense organ of balance - the three semi-circular canals of the ear.  This formation allows us to have a relationship to the three dimensions of space: 

• right/left: main access -arms

• front/behind: main access - limbs    

• above/below: main access - spine - determines up-down direction

The vestibular system is connected to spatial orientation within and around us.  It is the central regulator of the sense world.  It integrates all of the other systems including vision and helps us organize everything we do.  The vestibular is the “grand knitter” that makes pathways between systems. When a child spins they are stimulating the vestibular.  How many times have you watched a child turning until they can not stand?   They are testing gravity. 
 
The semicircular canals are in each of these three planes.  Each tube is filled with gellatenous substance with little  crystals or otoliths.  These crystals sweep past the cilia (hair-like nerves) to send a message to the brain from the inner ear regarding the pull of gravity.  It is important to note that some diets and experiences inhibit the formation of these crystals (i.e. those highly processed "white" powder diets).  Bilirubin lights destroy the inner ear crystals.  Studies have been conducted that looking at the light emitted by television that is similar to bilirubin lights and the possible destructive implications.  Antibiotics interrupt the chemical processes to develop the otoliths.  It is also important to note that fatty acids are necessary for the little hairs in the tubes which are important as well. 

On the simplest of terms a child with vestibular dysfunction does not integrate or process the information about movement, gravity, balance and space very effectively.   Our eye movements are connected to the vestibular system and reading problems may arise if child hasn’t developed the brain function necessary for coordinating left to right eye movements.  Vestibular dysfunction can contribute to difficulty processing language and some children could have problems learning to communicate, read, and write as a result.

Let’s look at four facets of vestibular dysfunction.

Vestibular Hypersensitivity -  This is when movement or the possibility of being moved, will cause a child to become overexcited, emotional, or react negatively in some way.  For this child, riding in an automobile (especially in the backseat) can cause car sickness, will avoid riding a bike, sliding or swinging.  Rotary movement can be even more upsetting.  This child can easily get dizzy and nauseated in tire swing, fair rides, in airplanes for example.

Gravitational Insecurity -being connected to the earth is a basic need for survival and the vestibular system gives us our relationship to the ground.  We have this deep trust that we are, indeed,  attached to the earth and we call this gravitational security.  Normally, a child will experiment with gravity by jumping, swinging, and things like somersaults. Gravitational insecurity is manifested by extreme upset, fear, and anxiety to falling or the possibility of falling.  It is a primal fear.  Movement for this child is not fun - it is scary and they typically will respond with fight or flight response.  As an educator, I see a large number of behavior issues related to a child’s sense of balance.

• fight response plays out as negative, defiant, behavior particularly when passively moved - may resist being picked up, rocked or pushed in stroller as an infant and as a young child fight back when pushed to move against their will.

• flight response plays out as extreme caution or avoidance of movement.  This child will prefer keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground and will avoid riding bike, sliding, and swinging.  Child with this fear can become inflexible and controlling and can have social and emotional problems.

Vestibular Hyposensitivity This child’s brain has an increased tolerance for movement and needs a lot of activity.  To get vestibular stimulation, this child will seek ways to resist gravity such as hanging up side down or bouncing high on trampolines. Child can become a bumper/crasher and seek intense movement sensations, such as jumping from the top of playground equipment or running super fast.  This child will crave linear movement such as rocking or swinging,  and rotary movement such as twirling in circles.  They will always be seeking new thrills, and race from one activity to another.   These children can have a short attention.

Bilateral Coordination - bilateral coordination means that we can use both sides of the body to cooperate as a team.  In a well-regulated vestibular system, both sides of our body are integrated.  By age three or four, a child should have mastered a bilateral skill called crossing the midline.  This is the ability to move one hand (foot, or eye) into the space of the other hand (foot or eye).  We cross the midline when we scratch an elbow, cross our ankles, and read left to right.

For the child who avoids crossing the midline -coordinating both body sides may be difficult.  When watercolor painting this child can switch the brush from one hand to the other at the midway point separating the right and left side.  They also can have difficulty establishing hand dominance.  They will have trouble jumping with both feet or catching a ball with two hands.  We also see these children have difficulty managing scissors.

Ways to foster healthy development of sense of balance:
Look to providing two main kinds of movement:

• Linear movement (back and forth, side to side, up and down) is most soothing (child being rocked)
• Jump rope
  walking the balance beam
  hopping
  skipping
  walking on tippy toes

• Rotary movement - moving in circles which stimulates vestibular system (children twirling, circle games, folk dancing).
• spinning

Again, this points to the critical importance of a play based environment and active, engaged learning for young children.

Saturday Senses - The Sense of Movement

I am amazed as I sit down to write about each sense how much there is to say.  I could write an entire book on each sense!!  The science of this sense could fill a week of posts.  There was no way to put everything in but I encourage you to google sense of movement to educate yourself on more of the science.   It is truly fascinating!  Here are a few tidbits.

The sense of movement is a huge part of our existence.  This sense is so important to the way we relate to the outside world.  It is also related to our experience of time.  Let’s define what is the sense of movement:

• Clearly, the sense of movement gives us an awareness of our muscles and joints when we move and a sense of orientation in space.  It helps us know where we are. 

• It is all motor activity - standing, sitting, walking, running, jumping, skipping, writing, chopping, digging, carving, hammering, sewing, building - to name a few.

• Developing this sense a child learns to: sit, push, crawl, stand, the ability to walk upright and speak the mother tongue. The development of thinking is interwoven in motor development. 

• The organ for the sense of movement is the motor nerve system of the spinal cord and the central part of the brain.  There are twenty pairs of nerves that emerge from each side of the spine that give us the sense of movement. 

• It also includes the movement of the eyes, head, neck and upper trunk.  

• It is kinesthesis, proprioception, muscle sense; the extension and tension in the body and the information communicated through the receptors in the joints to know where one’s body parts are in space.  (this is a huge field of study in and of itself!)

• It is posture stability (tonic labyrinthine reflex).  Proprioception gives us emotional security as we feel safe when we can trust our bodies.  This sense gives us the ability to move into a situation - tactfulness.

On a deeper level the sense of movement is connected to rhythm.  The rhythmic movement of contraction and relaxation, shortening and lengthening of muscles.  The movement from one activity to the next.  The cycle of how we move through our days.  The movement from one place to another.  It is rising to meet the day and the resting as we fall asleep.  Rhythm is taking space and turning it into time.

It is in the sense of movement that the act of writing and reading arise. 

It is in the unfolding of the motor abilities and skills that the soul finds aliveness!  The creation of sculpture, painting, drawing, writing, building, weaving, sewing, spinning - the list goes on!  It gives us the ability to be self-expressed!

It has been said that the sense of movement is the mother of joy.  “That moved me deeply” “I was moved to tears.”   Think of a very joyful kindergartener.  What do they do naturally?  They skip! 

Impact on the Classroom:
The sense of movement is at risk in early childhood  Children need lots of outdoor time to run, jump, climb, dig in the dirt and all those movement activities that get developed in outside play.   There is research that points to the importance of large motor play for cognitive development (read the book Smart Moves: Why Learning is Not All in Your Head by Carla Hannaford).  Building the body’s capacity for movement is a developmental progression that begins with the infant ability to sit and continues to progresses to the ability to write and beyond. 

Children are spending more time watching television, using computers, and using a whole host electronic devices and less time outside.  Children need large amounts of time to play freely inside and outside.  A rule of thumb is that children should not sit at one time longer than the doubling of their age.  In otherwords, a five year old needs some kind of large motor movement after sitting for 10 minutes. We build their ability to sit and focus slowly.

Think of movement as an inbreath and outbreath.   The inbreath is stillness or little movement and the outbreath is the active and lots of movement.   Think of your day as a breathing process:  
      
        Arrival to School = Outbreath
        Morning Meeting = Inbreath
        Centers = Outbreath
        Storytime = Inbreath
        And so forth.
Create your children’s day to be a process of inbreaths and outbreaths.  If you see fidgeting and the difficulty paying attention (inbreath) - give the children large motor movement (outbreath).  This is one of the most important classroom management tools.  You can reduce a huge number of behaviorial issues by simply paying attention to the rhythm of movement in the school and how the children are doing.

A child who has difficulty imitating and pretend playing needs more large motor time outside.  The capacity to imitate is found in the sense of movement. 

A teacher recommendation for preparing for your day in my Waldorf teacher training was to walk every morning.  This brings clarity and vitality to your thinking.  Some Waldorf kindergartens go for a walk the first thing in the morning.

This is just a beginning of the Sense of Movement.  I hope it gives you a feeling for what it is about and how it impacts the young child.  It is a very indepth sense that has much to tell us about children and their ability to learn.  It is so pivotal to early childhood.  I highly recommend as a teacher, to study this sense further.   I am currently writing an e-course that will touch more deeply on this sense as well, so stay tuned.

Saturday Senses - The Sense of Touch

We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth

—Virginia Satir

On the most basic level, the sense of touch (the tactile sense) helps us to define what is self and not self.  It is a picture of boundaries.  Through touch we find our separateness and our relatedness.  Think about touching an object.  Your sense of touch tells you something about the object you are touching - its physical qualities.  It also tells you something about your own boundaries such as - is this something you welcome?  The sense of touch could be called the sense of “trust.”   It is in the sense of touch that we learn to trust (or not) the world. 

When you really think about it - touch is two-fold: separating and connecting. Touch is one of the most important components of bonding with another person. Positive touch from others is necessary for an individual’s healthy development.

The sensory organ for touch is the skin.  Our skin is the largest organ of the body with thousands of sensory cells (nerve endings) that detect pressure/weight, temperature, and pain. Your sense of touch allows you to tell the difference between rough and smooth, soft and hard, and wet and dry, sticky and smooth etc.  Your finger tips, lips, and tongue have the most concentration of these nerve endings.

The sense of touch develops before all other senses in embryos and in labor and delivery.  It is a primal sense - moving through birth canal - beginning life by touching our mother (canal/breast).  It is the fundamental way in which infants learn about their environment and bond with other people.  Think of how infants calm down when swaddled and wrapped.   The experience of being held and stroked as an infant is critical to growing up with a strong sense of self.  The sense of touch gives us a deep feeling of certainty.

It is so interesting that the sense of touch happens through out the entire surface of the skin - like when you sit, lie down, etc - and gives you the quality of that experience; hard, soft, warm, cool and so forth.  Researchers have begun to look at how these concepts have given us meanings of relatedness.  A child says “I can’t do it, it’s too hard” to say something is difficult.   We talk about thin-skinned people, being “tough,”  being “touched” by an experience - we use these specific qualities of the sense of touch to describe our relationships. 


Through touching, children can feel a loving connection to their environment.  It has been said that the fingers are the “ten hearts” and that the heart is the 11th finger.  This points to the powerful impact of what touches our children.  It is so deeply connected to the function of love.  When a child experiences the world with touch - they are experiencing the world with love.  It is also interestingly to consider the “trigger” finger and how we say “no” to the young child’s exploration of the environment by shaking our finger or spanking.  This points to the value of redirection vs. saying “no” to the young child.

It is important to educate children in a way that provides them with a secure sense of touch.  Healthy touch gives the growing child a sense of security and builds self-esteem.  It is important to touch every child every day in the way they need it (being mindful of tactile defensive children).

The experience of touch in the classroom - the subtle experiences such as wood vs. plastic.   Providing as natural as possible an environment give children a rich palette of touch.  It is important to have real cotton, silks, wood, bees wax, handmade items in the classroom.  This truth of materials (wood over plastic) educates a child’s sense of awe and respect. 

• Find natural and healthy points of meaningful touch in the classroom.  I stand at the door each morning to greet each student.  I give them a pat or hug depending on their lead.  I always let the child chose the hug. The most important thing is that they receive a loving, joyful touch of welcome.  “I rejoice that you are here!”

• When we wash our hands or use sanitzer, I gentle hold their hands as I give them the soap.  It is these small gestures that provide a deep sense of safety. 

• Children do not have many opportunities to learn how to touch appropriately.  We are living in a touch-fear society.  We can help this by doing circle games, dancing, and other activities that require hand holding.

• When a child hurts another child - it is deeply healing for them to hug or touch lovingly the child who has been hurt. This is far more powerful than the standard “I am sorry.”

• I strive to provide a wide range of textures and surfaces in our classroom - for centers, art projects, and exploration.  These help inform the ever deeping sense of touch.  I feel it will give children a deep sense of comfort about the process of learning.  This is a gift for life.

• Children with tactile problems can be touch sensitive (avoid touch) or hyposensitive (seek touch).  A rich touch environment can help these children. 

• It is important not to touch the back space of children who are tactile defensive. 

• Children who are nervous need to be held tightly to feel the boundary of self.

• Touch releases the hormone Oxytocin which is calming.  Rhythmical touch reduces anxiety and depression (think hand clapping games that children love to play).

There is so much to say about the sense of touch.  It is a foundational sense to being a healthy human being.  I think that the current wave of pushing down the academics and the heavy use of worksheets frightens me when we consider it in terms of touch.   There is a reason that early childhood is play-based.  It is touch-based.  Children love the world through touch - they learn the world through touch. 

Saturday Senses - The Sense of Life

Welcome to the first installment of a twelve week series on Rudolf Steiner's model of the twelve senses.  Interestingly, the skills children need to succeed in school are formed by the four lower senses - the sense of life, the sense of touch, the sense of movement and the sense of balance.  The focus of development of these four senses is between 0 - 7 years old.  This week's sense:

The Sense of Life or The Sense of Well-Being 
 

On the most basic level, the sense of life lets you know if you feel okay or not.  It is that part of you that lets you know if you are tired, thirsty, hungry.  It is also that place inside of yourself that has the ability to know “time”  - like experiencing when it is time for lunch.  It is that sense of pain that young children experience when they are hungry or thristy that teaches them what their bodies need.

Typically, people are aware of their sense of life when they are not feeling well.  It is that inner sense that our well-being is “off.”  It is the inner radar that forewarns you that you are getting sick. 

One of the things that I found so powerful in my Waldorf Training was that we can impact a child’s sense of life.  In fact, a child’s sense of life can be measured by their habit body - the daily rhythms and routines such as bedtime, waking, eating, etc.  If you are a parent or teacher - you can probably relate to having known a child that has no daily rhythm (thus no habit body) and the impact on their vitality and sense of well-being. If you have a child at home or in class that has great difficulty recognizing their own hunger or thirst cues, their own need for rest or sleep - a rhythm can be a great therapeutic help.

Here are some of the keys to building a strong and vital sense of life in a child:

• The best way to boost this sense is to provide a daily rhythm while the child is developing their sense of life.

• Sleeping and waking have a great impact on the sense of life.   It is the fundamental rhythm of life. When you put your child to bed at the same general time every night - your child will begin to feel drowsy as you get them ready for bed.  The way in which a child is put to bed is important.  I had nightly little tasks that we did as I prepared the children for bed.  For example - just think of how powerful the gesture of tucking a child into bed is or saying prayers!   The amount of sleep one has impacts the sense of life.  There is a kind of "digestion" of the day, if you will, in sleep.

• There is a rhythm to the digestive system.  Giving children meals three times a day at regular times builds the sense of life.  If lunch is at a regular time each day, your child’s digestive juices will begin to flow as lunchtime approaches!  We are not nourished by food alone but also by the rhythms.  Children who have family meals together on regular basis become more socially capable and interesting adults.   It is not unusual in children with stress-related disorders and problems with social interactions that they are connected to irregular or solitary meals.

• The little things in the day that have their regular place are important:  getting-up, washing, brushing teeth, brushing hair, sitting down to eat, and so forth.   These are small but powerful rhythms. Individuals who do not have this rhythm suffer at some level psychologically - think about the homeless. 

• Many times the ADHD child has not been able to develop the sense of life fully.  These children can not step into the rhythm of our days.  Often this makes them difficult children to teach.   Children with nervous anxiety can have this undeveloped sense of life.  Look and see the sense of life in children with behavior issues - what does their daily rhythms look like?  How does their sleeping/waking occur? 

We are working with the sense of life in the kindergarten.  Most of the work in the kindergarten is the cultivation of the life of habit.  We support this by having a rhythmic repetition of certain activities.   In terms of the sense of life - it is at the most basic level - food, sleep and nurturance of the physical body.  And it is the rhythms that hold life - rising and setting of the sun, seven days a week, the cycle of the moon, the twelve months in a year - that we build our rhythms upon.  Children require rhythm and actually long for it!  The more rhythmical the life of a child, the healthier that child. 

The Twelve Senses

Welcome to Saturday Senses! For the next twelve Saturdays I will feature one of the twelve senses.  I am absolutely passionate about this model and what it provides in understanding how we process life.  Actually, it is incredible to me that at the turn of the last century, Rudolf Steiner had realized we had more than the traditional five senses.  He asserted we had twelve senses.  Today, researchers have found from ten to nineteen senses in the human being - just google it and you will see the recent findings! 

What is so powerful about Steiner's 12 senses model is the implications on teaching.  It provides profound insights into what might be missing in a child's unfolding physical, emotional, spiritual and cognitive development.   I have spent the last decade returning to this model over and over again in my teaching practice.  

Today, I want to give you a quick tour and overview.  Next Saturday, I will focus on the Sense of Life and look more deeply into how this sense shows up in a child's growth and development. Steiner held the twelve senses in a three-fold model.  There are three spheres of senses:

The Lower Senses - "Sensation" Senses - The Physical Senses
The lower senses give us a certain consciousness of our body.
Focus of development of these senses is 0-7 years of age.

• Sense of Life - This sense allows us to experience our own constitution, whether we feel well or not (editic).
• Sense of Touch - This sense tells you something about the object you are touching and your sense of boundary (tactile).
• Sense of Movement - Gives us a sense of our joints and muscles when we move.  It is development from sitting, crawling, walking (proprioception).
• Sense of Balance - Gives us our relationship to the three dimensions of space; above/below, right/left and front/back (vestibular)(orientation).

The Feeling Senses -  "Perception" Senses - Soul Senses
These senses give us an experience of the world around us.
Focus of development for these senses is during 7-14 years of age.

• Sense of Sight - Through this sense we experience light, darkness, and colors.
• Sense of Smell - Through this sense we experience the quality of things (odors, scents, aromas, etc) and our relationship to them.  Smelling is related to memory.
• Sense of Taste - Digestion begins in the mouth.  Ideally, our sense of taste should teach us what is good for us.  Tongue distinguishes different qualities of food.
• Sense of Warmth - This a two-fold sense, a temperature sense of hot and cold.  We experience physical temperatures as well as soul warmth and coldness.

The Cognitive Senses - "Concept" Senses
These senses give us access to communicating our thoughts and feelings to others.  Also called the social senses.
Focus of development is during 14 - 21 years of age.

• Sense of Hearing - Our ear has three main parts - the outer, middle and inner ear.  Our sense of hearing allows us to differentiate sounds.
• Sense of Word (Speech) - Allows us to be aware of the language another human being uses to communicate with us.  Allows us to grasp how language is used.
• Sense of Thought - The sense that gives one the capacity to understand, comprehend, and picture what another's thoughts convey.
• Sense of Ego - The sense that gives one the ability to be sensitive to someone's individuality.