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Have you heard of it??  I hadn’t until recenlty when my son was assessed with this little known disorder.  This condition can very easily go unnoticed or may manifest itself in behavioural or learning difficulties.  For these reasons I thought I might give a brief summary of how it affects my son.

One evening after wallarugby when all the children were tucking into their sausage sandwiches, my eldest son whinged to me how his sausage was "too hot".  His little friend’s mother, who was sitting with us and who happens to be an Occupational Therapist (OT), picked up his sandwich stuck her finger in his sausage and made the claim that she thought he had ’sensory defensiveness’.  My response was ‘huh!’.  Basically he is oversensitve to some tactile (amongst others) experiences.  Hence the ‘too hot’ sausage.

For my son, I say this because it can be quite different for different people, many tactile, auditory and visual experiences have him on constant high alert.  Small events that go unnoticed by you and I are perceived by him as threatening and dangerous.  He will not touch shaving cream or hair gel, for example.  He won’t paint or glue.  Ordinary activities that occur regularly at school and/or preschool become challenging and emotionally draining for children with this condition.  He has trouble socialising because the games played by other children are threatening to him.  Plus, because of these things, it somehow? affects his upper and core body strength.  He is weak and tires more easily than others.  Fortunately, for us, it hasn’t affected his learning, but for many it does.

Some other examples of how this may present (and not limited to) itself are:  Covering eyes in bright lights; cowers from and covers ears from noises; freaks out in shopping centres (too much noise, lights and people); food too hot; eats hot food with no reaction eg. eats a steaming hot pie with no let up; doesn’t like rain or showers; tags on clothes are extremely uncomfortable.  These are just some examples.  It is important, however, to keep in mind that we all have likes and dislikes and they do not make us sensory defensive.  It is a combination of these things and the extreme response/reaction that is generated from exposure to such experiences.

It is a very difficult disorder to explain and it is primarily OTs who deal with it.  Very few general practioners or peadeatricians (not sure of correct spelling?) will know much if anything about sensory defensiveness.  Also it is the type of thing that can so easily go unnoticed.  We just though our son was annoying (I know what a terrible thing to say about your own child, but if you live with it…).  He was/is very clingy, he doesn’t like to play or participate in everyday games that kids play, he chooses primarily sedentary activities, he likes routine and doesn’t like to deviate from it, he gets angry often for no particular reason, he is hot and cold, he only like certain clothes, he won’t try different foods.  It can become very frustrating.

We have visited an OT and now have a program in place to try and address these issues.  The aim is to calm his sensory detector so he can take in tactile experiences in a calm manner and not freak out so much.  We need to reorganise the neural region that filters stimuli.  Such neurological dysorganisation causes the child much discomfort and stress. 

I wanted to post about this because I believe not many people know about it and the more who have some understanding may be able to address it and reduce the frustration of those who suffer from it.  If you now think your child may be affected firstly I suggest googling the term ’sensory defensiveness’ or ’sensory perception’ to get some more specific information then talking to an OT for clarification. 

I will try to answer any questions you may have, keep in mind I am not an expert!