Sensory Issues Survey – Who took the survey?

Thank you to everyone who took the Sensory Issues Survey!

This survey received 185 responses from parents who have children with sensory issues. Sensory issues can occur with or without Autism, although it is a very common feature of Autism.

The children can be grouped as follows:   Has Autism (either with or without Sensory Processing Disorder — SPD) (58%), Has SPD (39%), and Has no diagnosis, but does have sensory issues (2%).

 

The children represented in this survey range in age from under 3 to over 18, with the majority being in the 3 to 10 age range.

The most common sensory profile reported is a mix of sensory issues depending on the situation and/or environment.   This finding underscores how challenging these sensory issues can be — as it is often difficult to predict and plan for your child’s reaction to a situation or event.

62% of parents report that their child is “both a sensory avoider and a sensory seeker depending on the situation.”  Another 27% say that their child is mostly a sensory seeker.   Only 10% mention that their child is mostly a sensory avoider.

 

Specific sensory issues seen most often are extreme or inappropriate reactions to sound, touch, and taste.     Sensory seeking behaviors like running, jumping, crashing, spinning, difficulty with sitting still, or avoiding movement altogether are related to problems with the vestibular and proprioceptive systems.       Problems with vision or the sense of smell are less-often reported, but still very real for a minority of respondents (For example, my son has amazing peripheral vision…which I feel is an overcompensation for his hypersensitive visual system.)

The next blog post will be about the ranking of treatments for sensory issues and what has worked for parents.

If you are interested in some more background on sensory issues, please see this blog post from last year.