Super Senses

April is Autism Awareness moth, and I didn't want this month to pass without sharing something about it. Living with an autistic child is difficult on a good day, but before during and after this out of state move, has been unbelievably hard, but we are making good progress, and Chewie seems to be settling in, so I hope that the worst is behind us.

I wanted to blog about the challenges of the Sensory Integration issues or more like disintegration of kids with autism, Chewie in particular. For those of you not familiar with this term, it has to do with the way some children process the information given to them by their senses. We have 7 senses. Touch, taste, see, hear, smell we are all familiar with but in addition to those 5 we also have our vestibular sense, and our proprioception. Our vestibular sense comes from our inner ear. it tells us if we are in motion or still, if we are right side up, sideways or upside down. It is the sense that makes us feel dizzy, or car sick, and it helps us keep our balance. The proprioception sense is the feedback we get from out joints and muscles. It is how we can tell we are holding up 3 fingers when our eyes are closed. From the day we were born we have used each of these senses to teach us how the world around us works. Sensory Integration disorder, or sometimes it's called Sensory Processing Disorder, is where the brain does not process the information the body is giving it correctly. This leads to all kinds of problems, from difficulty eating (foods are too stinky, or wrong texture) to anxiety in social settings, or crowded places ( too much noise or physical contact) even to hyperactivity (body requires extra movement (input) to determine where it is and what it is doing).

A person can either be hyper-sensitive to stimulus, meaning they get too much information from their senses, everything is too loud too bright etc, or hypo-sensitive meaning they don't get enough information, or it can be both. In Chewie's case he can be hyper-sensitive one minute and hypo sensitive the next, to the same stimulus. Sometimes he loves the piano in primary and wants to sit next to it, even reaching out to feel it vibrate, other times it is painfully loud, and he can't stand to be in the same room. As you can imagine this makes it difficult as a parent to predict how he will react to certain situations, to even know if it is going to be a problem or not. you have to be prepared for all outcomes all the time. Are the fireworks going to scare him, and he will need to cover his eyes with a blanket or are the going to excite him and is he going to run off in the dark. Is he going to have a good day at school, or is he going need to chew so much he will literally eat 5 pencils lead and all (this happened last week).

One thing we can predict is that he needs extra proprioceptive input all the time and he really enjoys extra vestibular input. This helps him stay calm and focused. He is always hypo-sensitive in this area, and if we don't provide him with extra input he seeks it himself. It is much better to have him vacuum a room(pushing and pulling a heavy object) or carry laundry up and down the stairs, than chew power cords (still haven't cured him of that completely) or running in circles around the couch. We have lots of little toys and gadgets to help him get his extra input. We have balls that have nubbs on them, he often rolls it under his feet or on his back. He has an electric tooth brush he can use on any part of his body, his favorite, sticking it up his nose. Digging and rolling a truck back and forth on the floor are also good, but difficult now we are in an apartment. I am working on making curtains for his bottom bunk, so it feels more enclosed, and he listens to white noise (rain or ocean waves) to help him relax and go to sleep.

At school this means he needs several breaks from the classroom in order to fulfill these sensory needs. He could swing, or roll on a fitness ball or do yoga (upside down poses are his favorite). Sometimes he spends his free reading time in a beanbag chair, or folding origami. All these things help him process what is going on around him more effectively, and function better.

The research shows that all kids learn more effectively when multiple senses are stimulated and that all kids benefit from extra sensory input, so I would encourage you to try a "Chewie" activity with your family. Let your kids play with your yoga ball, or better yet buy them their own. Let them write their spelling words with smelly markers, or on a plate in pudding. Play in the mud or make edible play dough. If it's active, smelly or messy you are on the right track!