Some of the indicators of sensory issues can include:
- Over or under sensitivity to touch, movement, sights or sounds.
- Physical clumsiness or carelessness
- Being very particular about foods
- Tendency to be easily distracted
- An activity level that is unusually high or low
- Not unwinding or calming oneself
- Difficulty learning new movements
- Difficulty is making transitions from one situation to another
- Social and/or emotional problems
- Delays in speech, language or motor skills
- Specific learning difficulties
So, those are some of the common symptoms but is anyone really going to learn anything by just a bullet point list? No I didn't think so either. I am now going to explain some of the problems in more detail in hope that it becomes more clear.
Physical clumsiness: Personally, I really struggle this one. Something that is associated often with autism is dyspraxia which I am unlucky to have as it really is a struggle, I won't lie to you. Regularly, I find it severely difficult to keep myself standing up straight and I unquestionably have no hand-eye coordination whatsoever. I have also managed to break many bones and have ended up in hospital numerous times and people accuse me of just "not looking where I'm going" which really is quite infuriating.
An activity level that is unusually high or low: As you can imagine, this really isn't enjoyable to have to encounter. For me, it's incredibly stressful as I'm trying to revise for my GCSE's and my activity level never stays at a certain point so at one time, I'll be ready and doing a lot of revision and feeling good about being able to learn the things that I need to but in as short of a time as 10 minutes later, I could be laying on the floor with no energy whatsoever and no cares about anything. Personally, there's no inbetween. However, I'm not saying that this applies for all people on the spectrum, I do know a few people who have managed to control their minds so that they can keep their activity level at a certain point to avoid any confusion which would be helpful to anyone suffering with this.
Being very particular about foods: "You're just fussy" No. There is a difference between being somewhat "fussy" and being physically and mentally unable to eat a food because the way it looks, or smells or tastes makes you feel terribly uncomfortable. On numerous occasions, I've felt like I was going to cry because of the texture of a certain food or the way something smells and it makes you feel physically ill but of course those who aren't autistic and do not struggle with this just think of you as being "overly picky" which obviously isn't going to make it any better at all.
Difficulty learning new movements: I think this is one of the ones that upsets me the most and makes me feel so excluded. Quick little anecdote here, my best friends often make these musical things with random objects and me, being unable to pick up anything quickly and being too scared to do anything because I'm scared that I'll get it wrong, just sits there and it makes me feel horrible. I think the most painful part is knowing that everyone else can do it so easily and I just.. can't. However, I can learn to live with it.
So, that's it with the sensory problems which I am going to talk about. I could be here all day telling you about all of them but I don't want to make it too long. If you struggle with sensory issues and would like me to talk in more detail about a specific issue then please email me on laurynmathews2@gmail.com and if you are just interested in learning something new about one of the issues, please also email me and if you just want to say hi, that's cool too.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, it really does mean a lot to me.
An activity level that is unusually high or low: As you can imagine, this really isn't enjoyable to have to encounter. For me, it's incredibly stressful as I'm trying to revise for my GCSE's and my activity level never stays at a certain point so at one time, I'll be ready and doing a lot of revision and feeling good about being able to learn the things that I need to but in as short of a time as 10 minutes later, I could be laying on the floor with no energy whatsoever and no cares about anything. Personally, there's no inbetween. However, I'm not saying that this applies for all people on the spectrum, I do know a few people who have managed to control their minds so that they can keep their activity level at a certain point to avoid any confusion which would be helpful to anyone suffering with this.
Being very particular about foods: "You're just fussy" No. There is a difference between being somewhat "fussy" and being physically and mentally unable to eat a food because the way it looks, or smells or tastes makes you feel terribly uncomfortable. On numerous occasions, I've felt like I was going to cry because of the texture of a certain food or the way something smells and it makes you feel physically ill but of course those who aren't autistic and do not struggle with this just think of you as being "overly picky" which obviously isn't going to make it any better at all.
Difficulty learning new movements: I think this is one of the ones that upsets me the most and makes me feel so excluded. Quick little anecdote here, my best friends often make these musical things with random objects and me, being unable to pick up anything quickly and being too scared to do anything because I'm scared that I'll get it wrong, just sits there and it makes me feel horrible. I think the most painful part is knowing that everyone else can do it so easily and I just.. can't. However, I can learn to live with it.
So, that's it with the sensory problems which I am going to talk about. I could be here all day telling you about all of them but I don't want to make it too long. If you struggle with sensory issues and would like me to talk in more detail about a specific issue then please email me on laurynmathews2@gmail.com and if you are just interested in learning something new about one of the issues, please also email me and if you just want to say hi, that's cool too.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, it really does mean a lot to me.
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