New Autism Cure - breakthrough treatments and cures for autism

Many autistic children suffer with sensory problems as part of their autism spectrum disorder. These sensory problems can be divided into two main groups:-

1. Hyposensitivity - When a child is “under-sensitive” to stimuli and has trouble processing information through their senses.
2. Hypersensitivity - When a child’s sensory awareness is too acute.

Hypersensitivity

Hypersensitivity is very common in autism spectrum disorders and can be the basis or cause of many “problem” behaviors that autistic children exhibit. Let’s look at how hypersensitivity can affect autistic children:-

• Hypertaste and smell - When their olfactory senses (taste and smell) are heightened, a child may have real trouble eating and may follow a very rigid diet which consists of just a few bland foods that they can tolerate. At meal times, a child with hypertaste and smell may gag on foods, vomit if they are forced to eat and not be able to sit at the dinner table when certain foods are being eaten by members of their family. This “fussy” eating and behavior can be very frustrating for the parents but you need to put yourself into your child’s shoes - what if everything you ate or tasted had an incredibly strong smell and taste? Wouldn’t it effect your enjoyment of food and meals?
  Hypersmell can also be a problem in that a child may shy away from certain people who smell quite strong to them or dislike certain places, other people’s home and shops where they are bombarded with the smell of foods and products. They may also want to wear the same clothes all the time and not like the smell of washing detergent.
• Hypertactility - This is when the child’s sense of touch is heightened. It is often characterized by a child hating to be touched or hugged. Even the gentlest of touches can feel uncomfortable and even painful to a hypersensitive child and can result in a “melt down”. Obviously they react badly when they are hurt or injured because the pain is magnified and parents need to understand this when dealing with small scratches and abrasions. Simple tasks like bathing, trimming nails, going for a haircut and even changing clothes or trying on new clothes can lead to upset and tantrums. Can you imagine having to wear an item of clothing that is new and scratchy? No wonder children with this hypertactility want to wear their old comfortable clothes all of the time! Children with this heightened sense may also dislike hot and cold - either being hot or cold or touching things that are hot or cold.
• Hypersensitive hearing or “hyperhearing” - This is when every little noise sounds amplified and it can be very scary and uncomfortable for the child concerned. Children who suffer with hypersensitive hearing will find noisy public places hard to handle and will hate thunderstorms, surround sound systems in cinemas and will also tend to be light sleepers because sounds disturb them and wake them up. Sudden sounds will terrify them and they may make their own repetitive sounds, like humming, to try and block out the sounds around them. It is also often characterized by a child covering their ears frequently.
• Hypervision - Hypervision is when the sense of sight is more acute. This is characterized by a child being able to see things that other people don’t notice, by being disturbed by bright lights or sunlight, and by being frightened by sudden flashes of light.

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