Sensory Fear Factor
That’s what Wendie Marcuso, whose son Daniel has autism, called a presentation that she created to give others a better understanding of the disordered and different sensory processing systems of autistic persons. The October 10th WHP CBS (Harrisburg, PA) notes that she sought to simulate how autistic persons experience sensory stimuli differently by:
- baking brownies with an excessive amount of salt, to show how something that looks good to many can evoke a gag reflect in others (not to mention neophobia)
- blasting music from three steroes to show how autistic persons may experience everyday sounds
- turning on flashing strobe lights to show how fluorescent lights can powerfully (too powerfully, sometimes) affect an autistic person
- putting something in a bag with a very potent smell (”rotten eggs with pizza and mashed potatoes and macaroni”; “rotten eggs, pizza, and….dead rats”) to suggest an autistic person having a very sensitive sense of smell
My son Charlie has a preference for strong smells (he never seems too bothered to be near the trash can or the dumpster) and strong tastes (he not only likes those pieces of raw tuna and salmon on sushi, but he eats up the pickled ginger). He often wraps himself tightly in big fleece blankets and pulls a flap over his face. He sometimes sniffs each bit of food before eating it. He like to eat chunks of snow. He spent a good 20 minutes rocking in a rocking chair tonight—a motion not unlike swinging and even maybe what he feels when he is in with the ocean and is carried up and back and forth in the waves. Charlie may not always like what his senses deliver, and he is learning to be less fearful—less struggling through a Sensory Fear Factor than learning how to provide for his own sensory needs.
But thank goodness for polar fleece.
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POSTED IN: Sensory
14 opinions for Sensory Fear Factor
larry
Oct 11, 2007 at 2:24 pm
You know the DSM doesn’t list hypersensitivity as a criterion for autism. This kind of presentation might be useful in some cases, but it’s useless for a universal understanding of autism.
http://ani.autistics.org/dsm4-autism.html
KimJ
Oct 11, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Considering most autistics also have sensory integration dysfunction, it seems very helpful to learn about it. Most, if not all, descriptions of autistic children and adults include sensory processing problems.
Using the word, “hypersensitive” implies that you hear the same thing (as others) but that you are bothered by it more. It paints this picture that you’re fussy and dramatic. It seems to be more helpful to explain how a person can actually have more acute hearing-in which a whisper is loud and a shout is ear-shattering. These are real events that happen.
SID is one large aspect of autism that often gets overlooked or forgotten in favor of communication “problems”. Ironic, since SID can be a mitigating factor in communication ability. If you can’t separate voices and other sounds from each other, how can you answer a question? How can you know what to listen for if background noise overrides one voice or a siren? Some people complain about their hearing shutting off if they’re made to visually focus on something (eg eye contact).
Robin H. Morris
Oct 11, 2007 at 7:54 pm
FYI I have a cousin that just turned 60, who is not autistic….she always smells her food.
My son always loved smoked salmon, and very salty tastes. He also loved his carbs.
I couldn’t understand his desire to try new things, as part and parcel to his autsim. It seemed contrary to the disorder. I might add that as he got older his diversity in food increased.
You might look forward to this plus!
xR
Kristina Chew, PhD
Oct 11, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Almost every parent of an autistic child whom I have spoken to notes sensory issues of varying sorts; I’ve wondered how it might be connected to neurology, to how the brain processes stimuli.
Charlie just had a pack of sushi tonight—someday I am sure he will eat the wasabi! And he loves onions and scallions too (and he does brush his teeth every night).
Cliff
Oct 12, 2007 at 1:40 am
I am sensitive in that regard, though it is largely a game of ups and downs. I get to enjoy certain things, especially in the tactile area, but there are foods I simply will not eat for that reason and smells I will go out to avoid. I guess everything is considered extreme, though exactly who calls what is extreme, what is semi-muted, and what is normal is as much a society deal than anything. To me, it feels… well, normal enough. Probably not like fear factor as a whole, anyway.
Cliff
larry
Oct 12, 2007 at 2:08 am
In reply to Kim; I have “sensory” issues for sure, since you define it as fussy and dramatic. My hearing has been tested as average, but loud noises irritate me so my mind magnifies them. I can’t tolerate blenders and vacuum cleaners. I can’t stand discord either. A capella Barber shop quartets enrage me, because they like to show off their virtuosity rather than concentrate on pleasing chords.
Also, my sense of smell is nothing remarkable, but the smell of broccoli disgusts me because it smells like shite.
So, I agree with you completely.
As for the term “sensory integration,” I suspect that that is psychobabble.
Misha
Oct 12, 2007 at 2:23 am
Joren’s sensory issues definitely vary. He’s sensitive to almost every smell around him. And he catches things that I can’t smell at all. About half of them bother him in the worst way and he makes sure I know about it. He’s picky about what he eats because he likes certain food textures but not others.
Yet, one thing with Joren is that he loves to go to the grocery store with me. In fact, he’ll get mad if I go without him. He loves all the sights and sounds and smells there. Unfortunately, it causes severe sensory overload. As a result our shopping trips are continuous and short. It’s interesting because he seems to enjoy experiencing the overload. He never complains about it like he will about smells alone or food texture. He’ll stim in the store but he’s always smiling. Of course, he’s hyper and I have to keep a constant eye on him to keep him by the cart about halfway through our excursion. But it’s one of those things that he enjoys and I don’t want to deny him anything.
Kassiane
Oct 12, 2007 at 2:25 am
It’s not psychobabble, much as certain persons (school districts, parents in denial, other people in denial, insurance companies) would love it to be.
Mkay. I don’t get dizzy. I had a gymnastics coach make himself sick trying to prove that I get dizzy, but I don’t. That’s one sense.
I weigh 100 pounds. I like to lay between mattresses with about 10 large people on them. There’s some abnormal proprioception for you, and as a side dish, to find my arms in ballet class I had to wear 1 pound wrist weights for a full year (accellerated curriculum so it was like 3 years but w/e).
Sight: If it isnt EXACTLY where I expect it to be I can’t see it. Carpet patterns move. This is WITH my prism lenses. The brain just ain’t processing things standard issue.
Sound: You’re too loud, I can hear the cats 3 blocks away, but no I can’t understand a word you say.
Taste: *GAG* TOO STRONG.
Touch: I’m nearly 25 and wear inside out velvet pants at least once a week.
Smell: Near 25, FEMALE, and won’t let perfume in a 100 yard radius.
If it were psychobabble itd be easier. Then I could just go to therapy. But instead I want to stand on my head and spin around and carry earplugs everywhere *shrug*.
Oh, and Ive yet to meet an autistic without hypo or hyper sensitive sensorium. At least 1.
athina
Oct 12, 2007 at 2:58 am
We know for sure that our son has sensory isuues and he’s having sensory integration sessions to overcome them or, at least, improve somehow. It is always extremely difficult and upsetting for all of us when we try to have his hair cut. The same with his finger and toe nails. He won’t touch wet sand and won’t tolerate it when his hands are dirty. Every night, before he goes to sleep, it’s a herculian task to get his teeth brushed (he won’t brush them himself, of course). So, I guess he has every kind of sensory issue that exists, apart from the loud and suddden noises which he seems to enjoy.
larry
Oct 12, 2007 at 3:17 am
To Kassiane:
The presumption of “sensory integration disorder” is that we are neurological freaks. That has yet to be proven, as there are no neurological tests for autism. I am saying that our peculiarities are due to emotional factors rather than mechanical ones. Did you know that people can really go blind or have real epileptic seizures for purely psychological reasons?
Anyway, that’s why I call “sensory integration disorder” psychobabble. It’s just a name for something incomprehensible to those who refuse to consider the reality of psychosomatic illness.
I happen to think my sensory issues arise from a brain that is always half-asleep. Stimming slaps me awake, sort of like smelling ammonia spirits (which I have to do whenever blood is withdrawn from my veins).
Incidentally; if you want to see a movie about a guy who has sensory issues very similar to yours–he likes to pile rocks on himself– look at this:
http://movies.aol.com/movie/dedication/24588/video/trailer-no-1/1953317
I thought I had it bad, but I have NEVER wanted to do that.
Regan
Oct 12, 2007 at 6:45 am
When my daughter was 3, she was extremely sensitive, at least in comparison to her sis and peers at the same age, to sounds–grindy or loud, textures–no goo or sticky, and certain fabrics. She hated having dirty hands, and would touch things either with her fingertips or her palms, never both.
We never really went through any kind of formal SI program, except for a little palm brushing for the sensitivities there for about 6 months.
I was reflecting on this the other day when I reviewed some things 7 years hence–that she now washes her hands and brushes teeth voluntarily and independently, wears pretty much anything–including tags, eats onions, salsa (haven’t tried wasabi :-) ), pudding, and lots of stuff that I wouldn’t have anticipated earlier, is not bothered by even the loud commercial toilets and is the coffee grinder queen. I’m still trying to figure out whether smells bother her, but at bath time given the choice between the PertPlus and my (expensive and strong) Fracas, it’s the good stuff everytime.
The only thing that still seems, and continues to be, distinctly unpleasant is the vacuum cleaner.
So in sum, she may at this point be doing better than we are. Her older sister was complaining about the texture of something at dinner, Dad was making a face at a new scratchy sweater, and loud sounds make me crazy.
Leanne
Oct 12, 2007 at 7:45 am
I think Larry was saying that ’sensory integration’ was psychobable, not sensory issues in general. Please correct me Larry if I’m wrong.
My son has had sensory issues. He still does. He seems to grow out of them slowly over time just as a ‘typical’ child would outgrow picky eating.
Kassiane
Oct 12, 2007 at 10:17 am
Yeah, I did know that about epilepsy. Did you know they wont even read your EEG if you have ever been diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, unless you go into fulminant status epilepticus, at many epilepsy centers?
You say neurological freak. I say outside the bounds of normal. I’m NOT normal. That’s OK. I’m genetically not normal either. So what? It -can- be neurologically physically based AND have a name at the same time.
larry
Oct 12, 2007 at 11:53 am
You are right Leane. I know we have sensory issues, but I think the SID therapy is a crock. Before they start practicing medicine on us they should understand the underlying problem, and they don’t. “Sensory integration is an hypothesis. It’s nothing more than a theoretical construct–which is fine in itself–but until autism is fully understood they shouldn’t be practicing their makeshift medicine on our children. People just aren’t cautious enough to be fiddling with our treasures. Some fool killed a little autistic boy by wrapping him in a blanket. A doctor recently killed another little autistic by chelating metal out of his system multiple times after the first attempt failed to make him any better.
The autistics on this forum could concoct a better hypothesis on a shoe string based on what we know for certain. Here is what we know for certain:
(1) All trauma results in dreams and flashbacks.
(2) Difficult birth (premature birth, caesarean birth) is strongly associated with autism statistically.
In light of that, wouldn’t it be more logical to see our sensory issues more as psychological rather than peculiar wiring? Wishing to crawl in tunnels, lying under rocks or cramming oneself between cushions seems more like a wish to return to the womb than freakish wiring. Horror of florescent lights could be better seen as a reminder of the birth trauma where the first thing a child experiences is the bluish-white light of a delivery room. Irritation by certain noises and odors is explainable in those terms too.
The theory behind alternate birth centers is that they can reduce the incidence of mental problems by giving infants a comfortable environment at birth.
Hippocrates demanded that physicians “first do no harm.” A quiet setting at birth can surely do no harm. Sensory integration therapy isn’t quite as fool-proof I think.
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