Home The Spectrum Center, Bethesda, New York, Chicago. Bethesda, MD. 4715 Cordell Avenue, 4th Floor, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 New York, NY. 307 East 53 St., NY,NY 10022 E-Mail: info@spectrumcenter.com Phone: (301) 657-0988

The children may present with over or under sensitivity within their tactile system. Some children are so sensitive to light touch that routine self-care becomes an overwhelming proposition. They fight having their hair cut or washed as though it caused them significant pain, yet the same child may fall down, scrape a knee and get up without skipping a beat. For this child the band-aid is worse than the cut. Children may also be under reactive (sometimes in the same child), and crave certain types of touch that provide deep firm pressure. Often the children hate “yucky” textures and want their hands cleaned immediately after touching the finger paints.

Children may also present with over and under reactivity to vestibular input. Some children may crave lots of intense spinning, jumping or running back and forth. Other children may fear movement, clinging to their parents whenever their balance is challenged. They may fear elevators and escalators. Both extremes indicate some inadequacy in vestibular processing. It suggests that the child isn’t receiving from this important sensory system, the proper input necessary for optimal adaptive behavioral responses.

Over and under reactivity can also been seen in the visual system. Too much visual stimulation may be overwhelming children. They may also be fascinated with certain visual stimuli, such as watching spinning objects or vertical/horizontal lines. They may run their eyes along the table’s edge or move their heads back and forth in front of the Venetian blinds. Some children may have a fascination with visual constants that always stay the same, such as letters and numbers. They may have very advanced visual memories such as learning a complex puzzle after only seeing it once. They may rely on a stronger visual system in compensation for a weaker auditory one.

The auditory system may present with the same mixed reactivity. Commonly one of the first things parents report is that their child tunes them out when they call his name right behind him, yet comes running when his favorite video is playing three floors below. Though it is hard to believe, this selectivity of responses is really not under the child’s control. Another common symptom is sound sensitivity. Certain machine sounds, such as the vacuum cleaner or the blender may send the child in a rage, screaming and covering his ears. Another child may crave these sounds and place his ear to the vacuum cleaner. Some children may not be able to go to any noisy environments. Birthday parties where loud balloons go off are frightening experiences.

Sensitivities such as those described above may be present in normal children. It is the degree and the severity of the sensitivities that are observed in the Autistic/PDD child. Families of Autistic/PDD children often describe their lives as a restricted existence built around avoiding the things that set off their children’s sensitivities. They cannot go to restaurants or visit relatives. Their other children can’t have their friends over. Visits to the dentist or to the hairdresser can be mortifying especially if another person looks at them as if to say “Why can you control your child”. A trip to the supermarket can be just as ugly if something sets off a temper tantrum. Loving a child with such sensitivities can often be a confusing maze, as they often don’t respond to normal displays of affection because it simply doesn’t feel good to their bodies. It takes a lot of understanding to relate to a child with such a sensitive nature, yet if a channel of engagement is not found, they will continue to withdraw.
 

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