Sensory Issues

Sensory Issues

By: Aristole 

[At the bottom, there's a glossary]

Sensory processing disorder is where a neurodivergent person struggles with processing information and stimuli from the senses such as visual, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular, auditory, tactile, and proprioception(sight, smell, taste, balance, hearing, touch, body awareness). This causes a struggle for the afflicted individual to respond appropriately to that information and react in many different ways. When one is overwhelmed they may respond in many ways such as becoming very anxious, feeling strong discomfort, getting angry and stressed, having outbursts and tantrums, and many other reactions. When having sensory overload some things people with sensory issues often do are things like covering their eyes or ears to lessen the impact of what's overwhelming.

Though there are negative reactions to sensory input, there are almost always positive reactions. When something makes them happy, they could have a big reaction like becoming overly excited, wound up, or figgity. Imagine happiness was a physical thing and you take a bite of it, it flows throughout you. Often enough for those with sensory issues or other disorders that make it hard to control their emotions, they can get fixated on something such as nature or fictional stories, a hobby, or a love for something. They get very focused on it but it gives a certain comfort which can be a good feeling. When happy or anxious some do something called "stimming". Stimming is repetitive unusual noises and/or movement. Sometimes stims can affect them in a negative way. When that happens someone should step in or get someone authorized to help like a guardian or a specialist so they or the helper can resolve the situation.

A downside to having Sensory Processing disorder or just sensory issues in general is that you can not get diagnosed with it. If you get a diagnosis it is addressed as autism or ADHD. Lots of specialists don't like this practice because one could have sensory issues without having autism/ADHD. Professionally stated as "not currently recognized as a distinct medical diagnosis."

Many Autistic people struggle with sensory issues, but those with sensory issues don't always have Autism. As a non-professional, it's hard to know or state how they differentiate between diagnosing one with autism or ADHD, and sometimes they might not even settle on a diagnosis. When someone leans one way more than the other it can be much easier to settle on a diagnosis. I do however know that when you are going to an occupational therapist to see if you have a type of sensory issues or to get help with it, they have you take a test that's a few pages long with questions that you answer with a 1 - 4 system. 1 being never 4 being all the time. After you answer all the questions they put it through a system and see if you fill in all the necessary criteria to be diagnosed.

Autism refers to a broad range of conditions distinguished by having challenges with social skills, speech, nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors. Autism isn't just one thing, it has many subtypes. Autism is a spectrum. It can range in different ways like how highly skilled one is to how severely challenged they could be.

ADHD stands for "Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder." Someone with ADHD often behaves with inattentive behavior, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Something noticeably different between ADHD and autism is that kids with ADHD often avoid things that require them to concentrate, while kids with autism struggle to focus on something that doesn't interest them.

The more you learn about yourself and the disorder, the better you can deal with your everyday life. Just simple things like googling symptoms or google something you notice in yourself is a step closer to understanding it better.

You may be hoping you or someone you know can outgrow the disorder. and the answer is yes and no. It's not necessarily outgrowing it but, one can adapt to a point where they can feel a little more neurotypical and learn to deal with the everyday struggles to function and be social. The condition itself is so complex that it's very unlikely you can outgrow it, much like many other disorders. You can get better but will never outgrow it. Sensory issues aren't something that suddenly appears as much as it doesn't just go away.