Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a disorder that affects how the body processes its sensory input. While this disorder is not exclusive to Autism, many Autistic people also have SPD.
People with SPD usually fall into a category of hypersensitive or hyposensitive to sensations. Hypersensitive means a particular sense is too much. The person is receiving too much sensory input. On the contrary, hyposensitive means a person lacks a particular sensory input and their body is craving more.
There are traditionally five senses: touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. However, there are more uncommon senses such as vestibular and proprioception.
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect: Sight
A person whose sight is affected in SPD may be sensitive to light. Lights may be too bright for them and make it difficult to focus. Many people sensitive to light dislike florescent lights and favor natural light. Flashing lights such as the ones on ambulances or arcades may be particularly troublesome.
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect:
Touch
People usually are either hyper or hypo sensitive to touch. Most commonly in Autism people are a mixture. From the people that I have met with Autism, they prefer a firm touch. Light touch hurts and is distracting. Deep pressure such as a hug or a weighted blanket can be very calming. Clothing could also cause problems. Clothing can be perceived as “too tight” or “too scratchy.”
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect:
Hearing
Most Autistic people are hypersensitive to sound. Fluorescent lights are particularly noisy. They make a low buzzing noise. In fact most people without Autism, never even hear the noise. Another way hearing is affected by SPD is through the person’s ability to filter noise. A person with SPD may have a hard time understanding or hearing a friend’s voice if there is a lot of background noise. Background noise is like the soft ticking of a clock, the slap of a man’s tennis shoes as they hit the floor, or the whooshing of a ceiling fan.
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect:
Taste
With taste, it can again be a spectrum. People may perceive a taste as too strong or not strong enough. They may also be averse to some foods because of the texture of the food.
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect:
Smell
Scents like a woman’s perfume or a strong candle can affect a person with SPD. The scents can make it hard for a person with SPD to focus.
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect:
The Vestibular Sense
The vestibular sense is what controls a person’s sense of balance and movement. Generally people with SPD are either hyper or hyposensitive to this type of movement. The hypersensitive people would not like movement like roller coasters or swings. However, a person who is hyposenstitive, their body cannot get enough movement. They may enjoy spinning or swinging. Some may actually appear more relaxed after going on something like a merry-go-round or rollercoaster.
How Sensory Processing Disorder Can Affect:
Proprioception
The proprioception sense is the body’s awareness of where it is in space. A person with SPD may be very clumsy or bumps unto things. They may also have a hard time understanding personal space, standing too close to others.