What is sensory processing disorder?
This is when our senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and where we are in space, is either giving us too much information ( hypersensitive) or too little information ( hyposensitive).
Depending on whether a sense is hyper or hypo, children might present differently, even look completely opposite to each other, while still having sensory processing difficulties. Some children might have difficulty with modulating the incoming sensory information, for eg, being able to focus on a teacher's voice, over the sound of a ticking clock or the sound of breathing by the child nearby.
Sensory difficulties can also extend to the interoceptors of the body: the feeling of being hot or cold, satiated or hungry, needing a 'wee' or 'poo' etc.
Touch: Often light touch can be hypersensitive, leading to children being particular about clothes. Tags and labels might feel itchy. Certain textures of clothes like wool or embroidery can feel difficult. Some children may prefer tight clothing like leggings, while others may prefer joggers and will not wear jeans. They may be particular about shoes and socks and some may want to go barefoot, while others find the seams of socks difficult. Some children will like the same sort of shoe as they change sizes. This often shows up as children complaining about haircuts or disliking it intensely, along with hair washing or brushing and toothbrushing.
Deep Touch: This can often be hyposensitive, leading to problems with fine motor co-ordination. Children may not know how hard to hold a pen/pencil or how hard to press it on paper, leading to either messy or slow handwriting, which is either too dark or light on paper. Cutlery, buttons, zips, laces can be difficult. Children might appear clumsy and trip more often as their deep touch is not telling them when there is a change in the ground without looking. Similarly it might take more effort to learn cycling or swimming or they may be slower at it, once learned.
Sight: This is often the reason that children find it difficult to make eye contact. Some children might like light and prefer fairy lights in their bedroom and be drawn to certain types of light. Other children will squint in the sunlight and complain of headaches and need blackout blinds in their bedrooms.
Sound: This is usually hypersensitive. Babies might cry at the sound of the vacuum cleaner. As they grow older, this can change to the sound of hair dryers or hand dryers, or loud noises, or a particular tone. They might find cinemas, pantomimes, or even town centres and supermarkets too noisy. Birthday parties can feel difficult.
Smell: This is usually hypersensitive and some children will find even the smell of some perfumes can induce nausea. They may not be able to tolerate a particular aftershave. The smell can be subtle and barely detectable by others, but might cause a strong reaction in the child and can lead to gagging or vomiting in extreme cases.
Taste: Some children who are hyposensitive will like sharp flavours like lemon and chilli, while others who are hypersensitive will like more bland foods. Restrictive food intake or faddy eating is discussed in another section.
Proprioception: This is the sense that tells us where we are in space and is triggered by movement of our joints. When children have poor proprioception, they might it difficult to sit on some chairs and may fall off. They might move constantly and fidget or swing their legs, in order for them to get the feedback that tells them where they are in space.
