The Five Senses: Vision, Hearing, Smell, Touch, and Taste.

We can recognize a friend instantly. We can recognize thousands and thousands of smells and distinguish millions of shades of color. We can feel the lightest touch of a feather or hear the faintest sound of a bee buzzing past us. It seems so effortless, we don’t even think about it. Yet everything that we hear, feel, see, taste or smell requires billions of nerve cells to flash urgent messages through cross linked pathways and feedback loops in our brain.

I learn't that many children with Asperger’s syndrome, who are bright and capable, can have difficulty managing their sensory input. Like my son, they may be unable to go to the movies or a parade, sit through a show, or go to their friend’s birthday party. I discovered that my child has a number of sensory processing difficulties and these impacted his daily life. I discovered that with children who are gifted and those with ADHD or Autism, the prevalence of Sensory Processing Disorder (or Sensory Integration, as it is sometimes called) is much higher than in the general population.

So what exactly is it all about? Here is a definition from the KID Foundation (The Foundation for Knowledge in Development, now known as the SPD Foundation), which specializes in research and treatment of Sensory Processing Disorder:

Sensory processing refers to our ability to take in information through our senses (touch, movement, smell, taste, vision, and hearing), organize and interpret that information, and make a meaningful response. For most people, this process is automatic. We hear someone talking to us, our brains receive that input and recognize it as a voice talking in a normal tone, and we respond appropriately.

Children who have a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), however, don’t experience such interactions in the same way. SPD affects the way their brains interpret the information that comes in; it also affects how they respond to that information with emotional, motor, and other reactions. For example, some children are over-responsive to sensation and feel as if they're being constantly bombarded with sensory information. They may try to eliminate or minimize this perceived sensory overload by avoiding being touched or being particular about clothing. Some children are under-responsive and have an almost insatiable desire for sensory stimulation. They may seek out constant stimulation by taking part in extreme activities, playing music loudly, or moving constantly. They sometimes don’t notice pain or objects that are too hot or cold, and may need high intensity input to get involved in activities. Still others have trouble distinguishing between different types of sensory stimulation.

Research by the SPD Foundation indicates that 1 in every 20 children experiences symptoms of Sensory Processing Disorder that are significant enough to affect their ability to participate fully in everyday life. Symptoms of SPD, like those of autism and most disorders, occur within a broad spectrum of severity.

An important thing that I learnt from Out of Sync Child (see my recommended reading) was that a child with a sensory dysfunction does not necessarily exhibit every characteristic of the disorder and can be both over- responsive and under-responsive. For example, my child can over-react to unexpected loud noise and will cover his ears with his hands. He is also a sensation seeker and is constantly hanging upside down on the sofa and fidgeting almost all the time. Also, the child may show characteristics one day but not the next, which can be very confusing as a parent. One day my child is covering his ears because we are all talking so loudly but then he walks over and turns on the tv with the volume high. Inconsistency is a hallmark of every neurological disorder.