New Autism Cure - breakthrough treatments and cures for autism

As I explained last week, sensory problems are very common in autistic children and so are something we really need to get to grips with and try hard to understand.

Hyposensitivity is when a child is “under-sensitive” to stimuli and has trouble processing information through their senses. This type of sensory problem can lead to common autistic symptoms like stimming, when a child repeats movements like rocking or waving their hands around to try and stimulate their “underactive” senses. But stimming is not the only behavior or symptom linked to hyposensitivity, this type of sensory problem can affect children in many ways:-

• Hypotactility - Hypotactility or “hypotouch” means that a child’s sense of touch is diminished and they will not be able to feel light touches or even pain and temperature extremes. A child with hypotactility may look for opportunities to experience “touch” by banging their head against the wall, biting themselves, playing roughly with other children or toys, hugging tightly and wearing tight clothes. They may also love having lots of blankets on their bed, to give them a feeling of weight, and also love chewing or sucking on things. Parents and carers will need to be aware that such a child may hurt themselves, even breaking a bone, without feeling it.
• Hypovision - This is when a child’s vision can be affected to such an extent that they can only see outlines of objects. Symptoms and behaviour of this type of sensory problem include a child repeatedly moving their hands over objects, exploring everything in an unfamiliar place by touching it, repeatedly moving their hands and toys in front of their eyes, a love for bright lights, sunlight, bright colors and reflections, and an inability or difficulty to control their eye movements and to track moving objects.
• Hypohearing - A child suffering from hypohearing will seek out sounds. They are likely to love being surrounded by people chatting, they’ll love loud or continuous sounds like loud music, vacuum cleaners, drilling or sirens, and will often do things to make loud sounds e.g. bang objects or toys together. Another symptom of hypohearing is the child not understanding what you’re saying to them and needing you to repeat your instruction louder.
• Hypotaste - Hypotaste or hypo-oral can mean that a child is always on the look-out for new things to put in their mouths and taste. Everything, no matter what is is, will be put in their mouths and they may suffer with excessive drooling and go round with their mouth open. They may also regurgitate food and whatever else they have eaten.
• Hyposmell (hypo-olfactory) - A child with this sensory problem will be drawn to smelly places, like the kitchen when you’re cooking or baking, and will constantly smell things - toys, grass, soil, plants, shoes, laundry…anything! They will love the smell of freshly laundered clothes and will love bathing with strong smelling soaps or shower gels. Their need to smell something may make them distracted.
• Vestibular hyposensitivity - This is when a child can swing round and round, and rock themselves vigorously without feeling nauseous or dizzy. They will enjoy doing these types of movements.
• Proprioceptive hyposensitivity - This is quite a serious hyposensitivity problem because it means that a child has no awareness of where there body is in time and space, and so can fall over, bump into people, drop things and be “floppy” and not be able to support themselves or hold onto things. A child with this probem may also not register hunger.

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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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