Hi everyone, I'm Amythest, and welcome to ask an Autistic.
(Upbeat music)
Today I'm going to be talking about Sensory Processing Disorder.
Sensory Processing Disorder is a neurological condition in which the brain
does not interpret sensory input from the environment correctly.
A person with Sensory Processing Disorder may be over or under sensitive to input
from their environment, such as lights, colors, noises, music, people talking,
smells, textures, and tastes.
Every autistic person will have some kind of Sensory Integration Issues.
This is just part of our neurotype and part of what makes us autistic.
But, Sensory Processing Disorder, as a neurological diagnosis can exist
on its own, in non-autistic children.
Sensory Processing Disorder really can affect and encompass all of the senses.
Now, human beings actually have more than five senses, we have something like
eighteen to twenty-two, depending on who you ask.
But, I think that there are the seven basic senses that are important
to know about to understand Sensory Processing Disorder.
So you have the basic five, which I think everybody has heard of.
That's taste, touch, smell, sight, sound. Yeah, I think I got that right.
And then there are two senses that most people haven't heard of.
And that is the Proprioception Sense and the Vestibular Sense.
Proprioceptive Sense is the sense of where your body is in space.
It allows for you to know where your limbs are, how much force you're
exerting on things.
And also, where you are spatially in your environment, and how to interact
with objects in your environment.
The Vestibular Sense is the sense that is all about motion and movement.
It is a sense that tells you if you are in motion or standing still.
If you are up or down, swinging, spinning, upside down,
all of that is informed by the Vestibular Sense.
So, as I'm sure you can imagine, when a person is under or over sensitive
to any of the sensory input they may receive from their environment,
their experience is going to be a lot different than a typical person's.
And their life is going to be very different because of the things they
have to deal with.
For example, a child who is undersensitive to proprioceptive input may have trouble
knowing where his body is in space, he may have trouble knowing how much
pressure to exert on things.
So he may either be too gentle, and be consistently dropping small objects.
Or, he may be too rough in play, and be constantly seeking out really rough
activities to give him a lot of deep pressure input on his joints.
Like wrestling, jumping around, jumping on a trampoline.
A person with sensory integration issues who is very sensitive to noise may have
a lot of trouble with auditory processing issues when they're in a space where there
is background music or a lot of people talking, like in a restaurant.
So while they can hear the person who is sitting across from them and speaking,
they may not be able to interpret what the person is saying.
They know they're speaking, their brain just can't filter out all of the auditory
information.
So like I said, sensory processing issues can encompass and incorporate all of the
senses. And everybody who has sensory integration
issues, autistic or non-autistic will have their own set of triggers,
negative sensory input that causes them discomfort or pain.
And many people who have sensory integration issues, will have
some sensory input that they actively seek out and they crave, often because they are
undersensitive to it.
So, an autistic person who seeks out Vestibular input because they are
under-sensitive to vestibular input may really enjoy activities like
swinging on a swing, or spinning on a tire swing, or on a computer chair.
Something that comes up a lot, and I get questions about this a lot, comes down to
Sensory Defensiveness and food.
Many autistic people have a very limited diet. And this is both due to
their routine and resistant to change, but also to sensory defensiveness.
Sadly, children who are struggling with sensory integration issues may have their
sensory defensiveness toward a certain texture or taste of food, interpreted
by their parents as just picky eating or even outward defiance.
This isn't the case. When you have sensory integration issues,
you know that you're different, and you wish you weren't.
Sensory integration issues and Sensory Processing Disorder can cause
a lot of grief in our daily life, because this world isn't really built for us.
It is so loud, and so fast, and so bright, and all the clothes are too tight,
and everything's too itchy and it can be exhausting just trying to get some sleep
at night with all these sounds all around.
Sensory integration issues can be really hard to deal with, and it's
important to remember if you're having a showdown with your kid over dinner,
they're not trying to be defiant to you, they're not just being a picky eater
if they have sensory processing issues.
That is a real neurological condition and a valid disability.
And a child with sensory processing issues doesn't need to be shamed in any situation
and they don't need to be coerced to do things that cause them pain.
Because, really, sensory processing disorder, when you have a negative sensory
input as a trigger, it isn't just uncomfortable or a little annoying.
It's often very painful, and it is important to remember that there are some
children who are just picky. But when it comes to children with
with sensory integration issues, they have a disability. And so accommodation and
understanding can go a long way.
When you have a neurological or developmental disability, you start off
with less brain energy, call it, in the morning than typical people do.
And then, throughout the day, as a person with sensory processing issues
is triggered again and again, that takes up more and more of their
brain energy that they would be otherwise