Sensory

Sensory issues are a common feature of autism, which can cause difficulties understanding and tolerating a normal environment.

Children and adults with autism are often oversensitive to sensory input. This can cause them to be overwhelmed by common sensory experiences such as stores and swimming pools. Undersensitivity can also be a problem. People who are undersensitive to sensory input might self-stimulate (stim) or even self-injure in order to get the input their nervous system requires. There is often a mix between oversensitivity and undersensitivity, which may fluctuate randomly. Sensory issues are frequently the cause of negative or odd behaviours.

There are a number of sensory treatments that we will cover in this section.