They experience sights, sounds, tastes, smells and/or textures more intensely. They may become afraid of public bathrooms because the flusher is too jarring and loud. They may reject foods that have strong tastes and smells. They may throw a huge fit if their favorite, comfy sweatpants aren't available.
Highly sensitive children are wired to process and react to their experiences in the world more deeply than other children. A highly sensitive child is very attuned to their environment, experiences, relationships, and expectations. A child's high sensitivity is about their temperament.
They are often deeply empathic, intuitive, and good at reading others. They are highly observant, thoughtful, and intentional. They think about, process, and feel things deeply. Highly sensitive children also may become overstimulated by their environment or by having a busy schedule.
Many gifted children are highly sensitive individuals. 1 They may take things personally and become upset by words and deeds that other children may easily ignore or get over quickly.
Gifted people are usually also highly sensitive and intense. They are more aware of subtleties; their brain processes information and reflects on it more deeply. At their best, they can be exceptionally perceptive, intuitive, and keenly observant of the subtleties of the environment.
The sensitive period for order begins at birth, peaks in the second year of development, and continues through to around age five. This period of development teaches how to develop their reasoning skills, organise information, and understand their environment.
Being highly sensitive isn't a disorder or mental health problem, it's just a personality trait. It's also more common than you might think! Dr. Aron estimates that around 15-20% of people qualify as highly sensitive.
While highly sensitive individuals tend to experience hyper-reactivity to sensory information, autistic individuals may have either a hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory information, a combination of both, or neither.
Blood tests.
Your blood may be tested if your diagnosis isn't clear based on your signs and symptoms.
“In the majority of people, sensory issues resolve on their own, or become significantly milder and less interfering as a child grows,” explains Wendy Nash, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.
A highly sensitive person (HSP) or, in the case of children, a highly sensitive child (HSC) is: "...a term coined by clinical psychologist Elaine Aron. According to Aron's theory, HSPs are a subset of the population who are high in a personality trait known as sensory-processing sensitivity, or SPS.
Differences Between HSPs and ADHD
HSPs tend to think before they act, while people with ADHD tend to be a little more impulsive and can act before thinking things through. In calm environments, HSPs can be well-focused. Those with ADHD can have trouble focusing and may even appear bored in calm environments.
A child with ADHD, for example, may display impulsivity in response to an overwhelming environment, but a sensitive child would more likely pause and reflect before taking action. Brain activity also delineates the difference between the two.
Hypersensitivity, also known as being a “highly sensitive person” (HSP), is not a disorder. It is an attribute common in people with ADHD.
Every stage of parenting has its challenges, but one poll reveals what age most parents feel they struggled with the most.
If your child tends to overreact, it may be helpful to provide him or her with feedback about what a socially appropriate reaction would look like. Identifying problems as small, medium, or large can help guide a child in choosing an acceptable response and moving on from the event in a timely manner.
HSPs are typically highly intelligent, and seek out opportunities to do deep work.
If your mind is a high spec processor, you probably learned to do with fewer filters on your sensory data that your average person. You can handle more sense data, so you sense more than average: you're sensitive. You process more, and more quickly, so you're able to sense more.
Sensitivity is a gift, not a curse. The ability to tune into the world around you with heightened senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and feeling others' emotions, experiences, and moods can be overwhelming. But, if harnessed these sensibilities can be powerful for the individual, family and surrounding community.
Giftedness has an emotional as well as intellectual component. Intellectual complexity goes hand in hand with emotional depth. Just as gifted children's thinking is more complex and has more depth than other children's, so too are their emotions more complex and more intense.