Under/Over Stimulation

One aspect of autism that I had no idea about was sensory and stimulation issues. I had always wondered why children with autism have such crazy tantrums, or can completely tune out their environment. After reading a few books and some internet research, I learned the real reason. It seems so crazy because my son is affected by it and I had no idea. We just thought he couldn't hear, which was the case for a few months. I have learned so much about the sensory complications that plague those with autism.

My son had chronic ear infections from the time he was 12 months to 20 months. At one point, he was at a 10% hearing capacity due to dried fluid in his ears from the ear infections. The fluid wasn't draining after the infection was cleared, just drying up and building up. When the Ear, Throat, and Nose doctor told us he couldn't hear well at all, we thought that was the issue. We really thought that he would get tubes placed in his ears, be able to hear, and then start to become a talking machine. We were wrong.

He did show more awareness of our presence, and did look at us more when we would call his name, but the talking still didn't come. He even lost some of the language he had before. And if someone other than his parents were talking to him, he would seemingly ignore them. He also never had any reaction to most loud noises. Thunder, vacuum, screaming, loud laughing, dogs barking, etc. He could sleep through these things, as well as not even flinch when awake in their presence.

We would take my son out to dinner or shopping and he would sit calmly in the car/high chair, playing with something incredibly simple (a receipt, a straw wrapper, etc.) and ignore the environment. He also drooled excessively with no obvious cause. He had all of his teeth, so he was no longer drooling because of that. He would soak shirts from the amounts of drool. Laundry was not my favorite thing to do at this time.

When we were given the initial diagnosis, we researched. That research then gave us answers to all of our questions about his aloofness and drooling. Our son was hypo-sensitive, meaning that he was severely under stimulated. Sensory processing is an issue for almost all children with autism. The tantrums and meltdowns that can come with those children generally stem from one of two issues: communication and sensory stimulation. My son rarely had meltdowns or tantrums, and even those were minor. I know that there are many parents who deal with full fledged tantrums and meltdowns, where their child looses all control. I was at least lucky in this part.

Being hypo-sensitive, my son is under stimulated by his environment. He doesn't feel things or sense things the way most people do. Most people can distinguish between the sound of a car driving by and the sound of a person talking, my son does not. The only sounds my son seems to distinguish almost all the time is music. Like most autistic children, he is drawn to music. It calms him and brings him joy.

He also has a very high pain tolerance. How many parents can say that their kid will fall, scrape his knee, be bleeding, and not even flinch? Not many. My son rarely cries or notices pain. I have noticed that he has to hit his head in some way to be affected by pain. He sometimes rubs his arm on this wooden fence at our apartment complex just to feel it, giving him splinters. He had a nasty abrasion on his arm for a week and he still tries to do it. I have to watch him carefully to avoid things like this from happening.

My son is also constantly on the move, running back and forth in our apartment, jumping, bouncing on the couch, banging toys on the table/wall/floor, etc. He never seems to chill out. The psychologist that evaluated him stated that he is in a constant state of seeking visual and auditory stimulation.

The drooling is also directly linked to his under stimulation. We took him to a children's farmstead one morning and noticed he hadn't drooled the entire time we were there. That's when we knew that his sensory stimulation was directly related. We told our OT (occupational therapist) about this discovery and she began to give us ideas for things to do. She suggested try foods with bolder flavors, extremely cold beverages, and using straws. We took it a step further and make sensory play items, such as bags, bins, and bottles. On my other blog, I describe how I made them. Check the sensory toys out here.

We play with him with the sensory toys and he loves them! He even comes running when he hears the sound of the items. He will actually sit still and play nicely with the sensory bins in particular. It's just dried beans, some measuring cups, and some rubber action figures. It's so simple, but he absolutely loves it. If we use sensory toys with him a few times a day, roughly 10 minutes at a time, he stops drooling. He seems to be more conscious of the fact that he needs to swallow.

Life, and laundry, has gotten easier for us just by doing a few simple things to help my son with his hypo-sensitivity.