What Are Sensory Issues?

Sensory issues are a fairly common diagnostic indicator for many different conditions and disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, and is a common presentation in many other disorders, like ADHD. Despite this, most people are not entirely aware of what is actually meant by sensory issues. 

As the name suggests, sensory issues refer to difficulties in processing sensory information, in either over or under-sensitivity (although hypersensitivity is more common than being desensitized). In these instances, the way sensory input is processed is dysregulated. This results in the prioritization or ‘strength’ of these sensations. For example, a common tactile sensory sensitivity is tags on shirts. The sensation of clothing in particular, including tags, should ultimately be relatively low priority. Over time, particularly for tags that aren’t automatically more intrusive (stiff or very scratchy), these sensations should be categorized as unimportant by our brains and deprioritized. This results in most people hardly feeling the tag after a period of adjustment time, for the most part. For someone with a tactile sensitivity to that particular sensation, this deprioritization doesn’t happen, and at times it actually results in a higher prioritization of this information; this can be at best distracting, and at worst, painful. 

This same logic applies to all of the senses, each of which can be affected by this kind of sensitivity. Depending on the sensitivity levels and the associated sense, these symptoms of this can manifest in a number of ways. People with light or sound sensitivities can often struggle with headaches, visual auras, physical pain in eyes or ears, etc. Those with taste or scent sensitivities can become nauseous or have very strong aversions to specific smells and tastes. Tactile sensitivity is very texture dependent, and can also occur with things like beverages and food (such as hating the texture of mushrooms, even if you like the taste). 

It is important to note that there is a significant difference between a sensory sensitivity and a strong preference. While some people may be picky about the texture of their foods or dislike bright light, sensory sensitivity has the same intonation as ‘disorder’-- it has to have a negative impact on the functioning and day to day experience of the person, and have a significant role in how they make their decisions and go about their day. Those with tactile sensitivity will often express things along the lines of “it’s manageable as long as I don’t wear this brand of sock or only buy shirts with this style collar,” indicating they are changing their behavior to accommodate this experience. This accommodation does not have much flexibility, and while those with strong preferences may be able to cope with a change in their accommodations for a time, those with a clinician level of sensory sensitivity do not have such options.