Sensory starts with the
senses. Hearing, Seeing, Touching, Tasting and Smelling.
For most people those
traditional 5 senses help you in your everyday life and often go unnoticed.
(Most of us are familiar
with the 5 senses, but we also have 2 other senses that are less well known:
these are the sense of movement (vestibular sense) and the sense of body
awareness (proprioception). I’ll have to write a separate post about those, or I’ll
end up writing a book! But I encourage you to google and check them out if
you’re unfamiliar!)
Some things you may not
really notice are things like the fan in the corner of the room, the light
above your head, the tag on the inside of your shirt, the gum you're chewing or
the candle your burning in the other room. You know they’re there… but they are
JUST there. They don’t bother you or disrupt your daily life.
Then they can also be so
much more than that. A single smell can take you to a specific memory. A single
taste can make you reminiscent of old times. A single song can send a tingle up
your spine… And a single picture can make your heart break or swell with love.
For people on the autism
spectrum… these senses can be much, much more intense. Both in a good way and
in a not so good way.
My three boys and I have
sensory issues. There are generally two types… “sensory seekers” and “sensory avoiders.”
People don’t have to be one or the other, either, you can be both in different
areas. Seeking smells but shying away from noises, etc.
I LOVE compressions… I
actually like people laying on me. Weird, I know. I love the feeling of
pressure on me. When I was a kid we had that game called “dog pile”. I loved
that game. I loved the feeling of the all over pressure on my body (back then I
didn’t know why… it wasn’t until this past year that I’ve realized I’m on the
spectrum). My boys are the same way. They love tight bear hugs and weighted
blankets. So that would be a “sensory seeking” behavior.
I HATE certain fruits and
vegetables. My boys are the same way. We tend to love crunch carbs (all three
of us). So, the crunchy aspect would be a sensory seeking behavior and then not
liking the fruits and veggies would be a sensory avoiding behavior. I don’t
like the insides of pickles or cucumbers. I don’t like tomatoes… I can’t stand
the consistency of them. It literally makes my skin crawl! Jaxson and Tyler
seem to be the same way, where Justin is a little more accepting of different
textures as far as food goes. Clothing: Tyler and I HATE the feeling of wearing
clothes when we’re hot and sweaty. It doesn't bother Justin at all. I cannot
STAND the feeling of saltwater on my body… I feel sticky and gross, but it
doesn’t seem to bother the kids. So just because someone has an issue with one
texture, doesn’t mean it’s all textures or all people on the spectrum.
Sensory also can be a HUGE
contributing factor in behaviors like meltdowns. The way I like to look at
meltdowns are like building blocks… the higher the blocks go, the closer they
are to falling over. So we start with one block: the lights above your head can
seem much brighter to those on the spectrum and might make them squint or hurt
their heads. Two blocks: the noise level around them can seem much louder, so
they can’t concentrate or hear you over the noise. It also might hurt their
head/ears. Three blocks: the perfume or cologne someone is wearing can seem way
too strong. I can’t even walk through the perfume area in a store; I have to
walk around or hold my breath. It’s like I can smell ALL of them way too much
and it’s overwhelming. Some people may even gag (like if you took a big ol’
whiff of your garbage). Four blocks: if the temperature is too hot or too cold…
you might not need a jacket but to someone on the spectrum it feels like
they’re freezing. Or you might only need to wear shorts to help with the slight
rise in temperature where someone on the spectrum feels like it’s scorching.
Five blocks: the tag on the inside of their shirt or the seam on the inside of
their socks feels like its rubbing their skin raw. Six blocks: maybe their
blood sugar is low because they didn’t eat breakfast…and now they feel like
they're going to pass out when you might just feel like you’re hungry. Seven
blocks: maybe they’re nonverbal or “pre-verbal” and still can’t communicate
their wants and needs… so the language barrier makes it hard to explain how
they feel.
Depending on the severity
of any of those (or others)... or any frustrations beforehand could make the
tower topple.
Sometimes sensory seekers
just enjoy certain things… One of my boys LOVES the feel of silk. So if I leave
my bra out, I’ve caught him rubbing it on his cheek. Or his weighted blanket
has a minky side… he’ll just run his hands up and down the blanket for half an
hour. Tyler loves sand (the one who has the BIGGEST issues with food
textures)... he will sit and play in sand for HOURS. Tyler also seeks noise… we
went to an Autism Awareness event where they had those HUGE speakers, and he
practically ran over and put his ear on it while it was playing music!
But sometimes sensory seekers’
brains or bodies tell them that they’re not getting enough of something, which
makes them crave certain things, or might end up in behaviors. There’s a common
phrase passed around the autism community and it’s absolutely true: “Every
behavior has a reason.” Some people have problems sitting still. I can sit
through a whole movie that I’m really into with no problems at all… but then I
went to a Wright’s Law Conference and after about 45 minutes I was jiggling my
leg, flicking my hands, tapping my pencil… anything I could do to help my body
calm down. As soon as I was able to stand up (we had a break), I bounced on my
toes a bit, shoot out my arms and I was totally fine again. I sat down feeling
“normal.” But after another 45 minutes my skin began to crawl again. And it
wasn’t like I wasn’t interested in what the speaker was saying! I LOVED it! I
wanted to hear everything, which is why I didn’t just stand up and take a
break. For some reason my body told me I needed to get up and move. I explain
it like you have to use the bathroom. If you drink a big ol’ drink… and really
really REALLY need to go; then you’re dancing around, twisting your legs,
NEEDING to go to the bathroom, but you have to wait… when you FINALLY get to go
it’s one of those “ahhhhh” moments. Everything is okay again. That ahhhh moment
for us is being able to get up and walk around again… to move. Make sense?
Sometimes I wonder how well I communicate sometimes, if people get what I’m saying.
So when I see Tyler (and
even Justin gets that way, though he’s not as “bad”) start bouncing around like
crazy or climbing or getting angry and upset I try to find ways to help his
body and his brain get back to “normal”. Each kid is different, and each
technique won’t work on everyone. Some things I use with my kids are joint
compressions, bear hugs (but some kids don’t like to be restrained, so short
hugs for a second or two over and over can be better than squeezing them for a
longer period of time), brushing, weighted objects like blankets, toys, lap
pads. Trampolines are AWESOME, we have a mini one that is kept in our living
room. Therapy swings can help… tickle monster (until you think they might wet
their pants!!). Swimming. Climbing… Depending on the circumstance and area
you’re in some of these can be more discreet than others to help in classrooms.
There is just SO much of
our lives that is affected by sensory, ESPECIALLY in the autism community that
I could go on and on and on. And believe me… I really could, I tend to be a bit
wordy. But one of the main things you need to do is figure out where you or your
kids or grandkids or students are either sensory seeking or sensory avoiding
and help them either avoid or get the input that they need in order to FEEL
“normal,” so that they can do what they need to do. It’s not always easy, but
once you figure it out, it can make things like trips to the store easier. You’ll
know—okay the lights are too bright—they can wear sunglasses. The people and
noise are just way too much for them; we can buy noise cancelling headphones.
They are CLIMBING the walls and won’t sit down to do this puzzle with me; let's
do 10 minutes on the trampoline first so that they’ll be able to focus. You
can’t sit at your desk and do… whatever you do for longer than 45 minutes, let
your boss know what’s going on… take a 3-5 minute break, go to the bathroom
jump like crazy and then go sit back down.
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