6 Common Sensory Issues in Kids Suffering from Autism
4 min readLiving with autism could be extremely difficult especially whenever it comes to the world of sensory issues. Sensory issues are one of the common perspectives of autism that can affect any part of life ranging from work, school, and social situations. So, in such cases, you constantly have to remain in touch with the paediatric neurologist Vijayawada because they will be monitoring the conditions simultaneously and will be exploring the daily life of the individuals so that they can help them to overcome the challenges. The following are the common sensory issues in children with autism:
- Difficulty in filtering out the unnecessary and necessary information: Children suffering from autism will commonly have a very difficult scenario of filtering out the necessary stimuli from the environment and they can easily manifest the things in a significant variety of ways. Usually, they will be facing the problem of hypersensitivity to the sound, light, and textures and even there will be hyposensitivity to the temperature or some of the other situations. All of these conditions will eventually lead to stress as well as anxiety which is the main reason that parents should be always at the forefront in terms of supporting the kids to cope with the environment and proceed with things with proper planning.
- Very high or low responsiveness to the pain: Children with autism are also experiencing very high or low responsiveness to the pain and this will be especially true for anybody who is on the severe end of the spectrum of autism. Kids who are facing the problem of very high pain sensitivity will be experiencing extreme discomfort from the day-to-day experiences for example being touched, wearing clothes, and being in a certain environment. On the other hand, those who have very low sensitivity to the pain will not be feeding anything even if they get injured. So, remaining aware of such sensitivity is important for kids so that parents can provide them with appropriate care and support at all times, and understanding such sensory issues will be important to make the kids feel comfortable. Remaining in touch with the neuro paediatrician in Vijayawada in such cases is important so that parents can help the kids to cope with things very successfully.
- The extreme level of sensitive sense of smell: Children who are suffering from autism will experience very high sensations, particularly with smell. This could be extremely distressing in the cases of kids because they will be over by strong smells in everyday environments for example food or perfume. They might feel very much uncomfortable in the busy restaurant because of multiple smells. To help the kids manage such situations parents need to create a sensory-safe environment which will be further helpful in coping with the mechanism for the kids further wearing the masks or using distraction techniques is a great idea in such cases. If the children are particularly sensitive to us specific category of smell, then providing them with the sensory toys is important because it will reduce their discomfort. With the right support children with autism will be able to learn about how to manage and regulate their sense of smell very easily.
- Very sensitive hearing: Many children with autism will be experiencing very high sensitivity to certain sounds and noises which is the main reason that the entire situation could be very much overwhelming as well as exhausting for the kids. Usually, the kids in such cases will be unable to block and ignore these sounds and further will be highly uncomfortable in the whole process. In such situations things can even become worse when the things will be based on extreme reaction to the noises which will be covering the years, making loud noises of their own and expecting the meltdown. It is important to understand the condition in such cases so that children will be provided with comfortable accommodation in multiple settings and strategies like using noise-cancellation headphones is important to prevent background noises. This will help create a very quiet space for the kids so that stress can be easily eliminated and sensitive hearing will be supported.
- Very poor fine motor skills: Poor fine motor skills could be a common symptom of autism because it affects the ability of kids to complete simple tasks like holding a pencil or using scissors. This situation will also create issues in the development of activities like handwriting, drawing, or dealing with buttons and zippers. Parents, in this case, must focus on providing the kids with appropriate toys as recommended by the orthopaedic paediatric specialist so that children will be able to develop very fine motor skills. Providing the kids with blocks, crayons, and puzzles is important so that they can gain control over the movement and eventually will be able to improve their skills very easily.
- Difficulty in understanding and using the languages: Sensory issues are also very common in the perspective of language because the kids will find it very difficult to understand or use the language. The entire situation in this case will make it very difficult to get a sense of the environment and difficulty will be there in regulating emotions. Parents in this case must be very much attentive to the issues kids are facing because early intervention will help develop better coping strategies.
Apart from the points mentioned above it is important for people to make sure that nothing is much more challenging rather than suffering from a disorder in itself and hence providing the kids with a very comfortable environment is the basic responsibility of the caregiver, teachers, and the parents. With each child, there might be different sensitivities that you need to take care of which is the main reason that being very much aware of such things is important so that nothing is problematic for the children suffering from autism. In this case, regulation of the emotions will also be very successfully done and kids will be able to live a very healthy and happy life.