Due to sensory sensitivities, someone with autism might: display unusual sensory seeking behaviour such as sniffing objects or staring intently at moving objects. display unusual sensory avoidance behaviours including evasion of everyday sounds and textures such as hair dryers, clothing tags, vacuum cleaners and sand.
About sensory sensitivities and autism
Autistic children are sometimes oversensitive or undersensitive to sensory information. This means their senses take in either too much or too little information from the environment around them. Not all autistic children have sensory sensitivities, but some might have several.
Traits of Autism May Include Sensory Challenges
Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).
Oversensitive sensory processing can look like:
Clothes are too itchy. Touch is too hard. Afraid of play. Food texture feels gross.
Sensory details include sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.
Those senses are sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. We see with our eyes, we smell with our noses, we listen with our ears, we taste with our tongue, and we touch with our skin. Our brain receives signals from each of these organs, and interprets them to give us a sense of what's happening around us.
Sensory processing disorder can make it difficult for people to function if they become overwhelmed by senses including touch or hearing. The condition is known to be closely related to autism, but research shows that sensory overload and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can also go hand in hand.
Many autistic people experience hypersensitivity to bright lights or certain light wavelengths (e.g., LED or fluorescent lights). Certain sounds, smells, textures and tastes can also be overwhelming. This can result in sensory avoidance – trying to get away from stimuli that most people can easily tune out.
Kids with sensory issues might avoid bright lights or loud noises, run around crashing into things, throw tantrums, or appear clumsy.
What is a sensory meltdown? Sensory meltdowns are what I consider to be extreme temper tantrums that have a sensory trigger to them. These typically involve extreme aggressive behaviors (head banging, hand biting, scratching or pushing others), and require a lot of assistance to recover.
Signs your child may have SPD
Oversensitivity to pain, temperature, and touch; experiencing strong reactions when feeling touched. Difficulty transitioning from one activity to another. Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Easily distracted by continuous, loud sounds.
Due to sensory sensitivities, someone with autism might: display unusual sensory seeking behaviour such as sniffing objects or staring intently at moving objects. display unusual sensory avoidance behaviours including evasion of everyday sounds and textures such as hair dryers, clothing tags, vacuum cleaners and sand.
Although they sound similar, sensory processing difficulties can be present without autism. Often children or adults with other neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions such as Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability, Anxiety, ADHD, or mood disorders can also exhibit Sensory Processing Disorder.
In these cases, sensory toys act as an enjoyable introduction to sensations that children dislike with the goal of making the sense more tolerable in the future. Toys and tools can help with sensory integration of textures, sounds, brightness, balance and movement to improve daily life.
Additionally, some people with autism may experience sensory overload as they get older. This can make it difficult to tolerate loud noises, bright lights, or crowded spaces. They may also become more sensitive to certain textures or smells.
While many children with autism feel averse to hugging, some children with autism like to be hugged. Some children can swing the opposite way and want so many hugs that they feel hug deprived when they aren't getting enough.
Sensory modulation disorder is the most common form of SPD. It indicates trouble regulating responses to stimulation. People with it are under or over responsive, since the nervous system does not know when to pay attention to or ignore stimuli. It leads to abnormal sensory seeking, or hiding from stimulation.
There are the four patterns of sensory processing: low registration, sensation seeking, sensory sensitive and sensation avoiding.
Signs of autism in young children include: not responding to their name. avoiding eye contact. not smiling when you smile at them.
Sensory play is any activity that stimulates our senses – touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. It helps children interact with and make sense of the world that surrounds them.
The spinal cord conducts sensory information (information from the body) from the peripheral nervous system to the brain.