Autism is a complex neuro developmental condition. In autism research has focused on the social, communication and cognitive difficulties associated with the condition.
Sensory issues often accompany autism. Sensory sensitivities to the symptoms that help diagnose autism. Autism’s sensory issues can involve both hyper-sensitivities (over-responsiveness) and hypo-sensitivities (under-responsiveness) to a wide range of stimuli.
Sensory perception of ASD kids shows:
- Be uncoordinated
- Bump into things
- Be unable to tell where their limbs are in space
- Be hard to engage in conversation or play
The exact cause of sensory processing problems has not been identified.
Treatment depends on a child’s individual needs. But in general, it involves helping children do better at activities they’re normally not good at and helping them get used to things they can’t tolerate.
Major part of this therapy is the “floor-time” method. The method involves multiple sessions of play with the child and parent. The play sessions last about 20 minutes.
During the sessions, parents are first asked to follow the child’s lead, even if the playtime behaviour isn’t typical. For example, if a child is rubbing the same spot on the floor over and over, the parent does the same. These actions allow the parent to “enter” into the child’s world
The challenges create opportunities for the child to master important skills in areas such as:
- Relating
- Communicating
- Thinking
If the child tends to overreact to touch and sound, the parent will need to be more soothing.
