
Autism and Sensory Issues in Children
Sensory issues are common in autism, with one of the diagnostic criteria for autism being:
hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment
Some children and adults can be mildly affected by their sensory differences, whereas sensory issues can have a hugely debilitating impact on others.
Sensory information is perceived through our senses and processed by our central nervous system.
The way in which sensory information is managed by our nervous system is referred to as sensory processing.
How Many Senses are There?
Most people think of the 5 basic senses, but we actually have at least 8 sensory systems. The basic 5 senses are:
- Visual (sight)
- Auditory (hearing)
- Olfactory (smell)
- Gustatory (taste)
- Tactile (touch)
We also have 2 other sensory systems that deal with position, movement and balance:
- Vestibular (balance and head movement)
- Proprioceptive (body movement and position)
The vestibular sense relates to the sensory information from the inner ear, sensing changes in the position of your head, dizziness etc.
The proprioceptive sense relates to information conveyed from joints and muscles, relaying information about body movement, posture and position
There is one more system, which deals with how we sense the internal state of our bodies, known as:
- Interoception
This sensory systems tells us when we are hungry, tense or need the toilet amongst other things.
With sensory differences seen in autism, all the senses can be affected.

Sensory Modulation Difficulties
If an autistic child experiences sensory modulation difficulties, it means that they experience sensory stimuli either to a much greater degree than usual (known as hypersensitivity) or to a lesser degree than usual (known as hypo sensitivity) across any or all of these sensory systems.
With hypersensitivity, the child may experience uncomfortable feelings in response to sensory stimulation, which may cause them to move away from or avoid the sensory stimuli.
With hyposensitivity, the child or adult maybe unaware or less aware of sensory input.
Some children and adults have a drive to seek out or increase (‘crave’) sensory input. These sensory seeking behaviours may help a child to feel calmer and more balanced.
Each autistic child will have a unique sensory profile, they may experience hyper-sensitivity in some areas and hypo-sensitivity in others; they may have hypo / hyper sensory issues in one or two areas but no issues in others.
Hypersensitivity may be heightened at times of stress and distress.
A child’s sensory profile may change over time.
Recognising A Child’s Sensory Behaviours
Some children may be able to tell you about their sensory modulation difficulties, Other children will have difficulty in recognising or sharing their sensory issues, but you may be able to predict their issues from the behaviours they engage in such as putting hands over ears in response to loud noises, chewing or licking objects.
Some examples of sensory seeking and sensory avoidant behaviours are outlined below:
Sensory System | Sensory seeking behaviour(Hypo sensitive) | Sensory avoiding behaviour(Hyper sensitive) |
Sight |
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Sound |
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Taste |
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Touch |
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Smell |
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Proprioception |
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Vestibular |
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If a child is unable to share their differences with you, keeping a sensory diary can help you to find patterns in sensory responses that indicate hypo or hyper sensitivities.

Supporting a Child with Sensory Issues
You can support a child’s sensory issues by providing opportunities for sensory input for the child’s hypo sensitivities and helping to reduce input around their hyper sensitivities.
Examples:
Child becomes distressed around loud noises | Provide child with ear defenders to filter out loud background noises |
Child is always trying to touch other people and stroke their hair | Provide a selection of sensory / fidget toys, include a doll with long hair |
Child does not like the feeling of seams in their socks and refuses to wear them | Purchase seamless socks and sprinkle some talcum powder in them before putting them on |
Child mouths objects and chews pencils in school | Try a ‘chew buddy’ or other safe object for them to chew |
Filtering Sensory Information
Filtering
Autistic children often have difficulties ‘filtering out’ sensory information from the environment that is not directly relevant. Busy environments can cause particular difficulties, as there are multiple information sources to select from.
Busy, sensory stimulating environments can provide stimuli though sight, sound, touch and smell. From music and conversations to busy wall decorations, the amount of information in the environment can be huge.
Not being able to filter out unwanted information, may lead to the brain trying to process multiple sources of information at the same time.
This is not possible, and too many tasks causes stress and can cause overwhelm.
The stress can cause a “fight or flight response”, and the overwhelm may cause ‘shutdowns’ and ‘meltdowns’.
A ‘shut down’ is when a child is forced to stop processing information so shuts off to the outside world. A ‘meltdown’ is when a child becomes so overwhelmed by information they lose the ability to self-regulate and self-control, the distress may be observed as a loss of control, aggression or uncontrollable distress.
Certain times of year, such as Christmas can be particularly distressing for autistic children. There are a number of reasons for this, one being the additional sensory stimuli in the environment.
Maintain a Low Stimulus Environment
If a child becomes overwhelmed with sensory information, it will help to create a low stimulus environment.
Maintaining a low stimulus environment will help an autistic child to feel calm, and improve their ability to focus on interests, actions or interactions. Some adaptions that can help reduce environmental stimuli are:
- Neutral walls, with minimal decor such as art and photographs
- Putting things away, keep it neat and tidy
- Plain, pattern free flooring
- Natural or dimmed lights rather than bright or fluorescent lighting
- Window blinds to reduce bright sunshine
- Using extractor fans to reduce smells from cooking
- Limited people
- Reduce noise, no or low sound TV and music
At times, or in areas, where limiting sensory stimuli is difficult (such as school activities or when on holiday) a sensory neutral space should be made available. Your child should be able to use this space to take some time out from stimulation and calm themselves. This space could be a quiet room, or even a pop up tent in a quieter area.
Categorised in: Sensory Issues, Symptoms of Autism