Sensory processing is the topic of a presentation at the May 20089 IMFAR conference (International Meeting for Autism Research), as well as of a number of poster presentations. Here’s the description for a segment (#148 in the Program Book) on “Sensory Processing:The Interface of Research and Clinical Practice”:
Sensory differences are commonly reported in people with autism. Often they are among the most problematic symptoms. This symposium will examine the phenomenon of sensory symptomatology, the research methodology used to characterize and explain the observed behaviors, and the treatments that are being used in the community. A translational approach will be emphasized to inform both basic researchers and clinicians on future avenues of study.
Papers will look at how to characterize sensory processing differences in autistic individuals; interventions; neural mechanisms; and neuropsychological perspectives.
When Charlie was just diagnosed, we didn’t think he had any sensory issues. I rather think, now, that we just did not know what we were looking for. The more I’ve learned about sensory processing (and reading books by autistic authors like Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay have been invaluable), the more I’ve seen that, yes, Charlie indeed has sensory processing differences and that his difficulty at telling us about these and explaining what they feel like may well lead to various sorts of outbursts and general unhappiness. The other day, I accidentally dropped my (metal) traveling coffee mug on the kitchen counter and Charlie cried out in serious pain and kept crying for some twenty minutes. After years of indifference to me vacuuming, I now tell him that I’m turning on the dustbuster and he puts his hands over his ears, tucks down his head, and steals random glances at me working on the crumbs left from someone’s snack. The key thing is that I give him advance notice about the loud sounds of the vacuum.
Charlie (according to my “research,” such as it is) has learned and is learning his own strategies for dealing with all that noise from the likes of me.
Thank you, Cliff, I appreciate your replies! I would love to hear what Laurentius thinks about it, too! (hint hint!)
“I think one actually might draw some interesting conclusions about autism from the described differences in perception that are seen across different environments to autism”
Hate when I qualify something twice in writing like that in writing, and don’t remember I did the first time. That should be “I think one might actually draw some interesting conclusions about autism from the described differences seen across different environments”. Amongst other minor clumsy mistakes in my long posts that I tend toward oh so much.
Cliff