What are sensory modalities?

Sensory modalities are the different ways we can feel or notice things around us using our body.

Imagine you have a toy box full of different toys, some bumpy, some smooth, some loud, and some quiet. Each time you pick up a toy, your body tells you what it's like, that’s sensory modalities in action!

You probably know about the big ones:

• Touch, when you feel something rough or soft (like a blanket or a rock),
• Hearing, when you listen to music or your friend calling you,
• Sight, when you look at colorful pictures or watch a cartoon.

But there are more! Like taste, when you eat chocolate and it feels sweet, and smell, like when you walk by a bakery and it smells like fresh bread. Each of these is a different sensory modality, helping you know what's going on around you, just like your toy box helps you pick the right toy to play with!