Overwhelming Sensory Input
What is Overwhelming Sensory Input in a special needs person?
If you are looking for specifics, it depends upon the person and what their special needs are. It could be different for everyone. If you are speaking along more general terms, overwhelming sensory input is just what it sounds like. Too much stimulation that overwhelms our senses. Some people, particularly those with autism or related disorders, can easily become overwhelmed by too much stimulation. This can be very upsetting to them and result in behavioral outbursts. People with psychotic symptoms often do better in calm non-stimulating environments. They can become agitated and unpredictable when their senses are overloaded by too much going on around them. It becomes much more difficult to filter out the internal stimuli.
Edited: alskann on 14th Jun, 2008 - 7:27am
In the case of our son his Overwhelming Sensory Input is very hard to control because it is mostly based on the movement of people. In other words he must at all times track what everyone is doing and their location. Therefore if everyone is in one room sitting it's fine, but if they are in multiple rooms (such as at home where everyone is doing their own thing) he feels he is not getting enough information about what everyone is doing and has to fill the gap.
In the case of everyone in one room moving, like Church he has the need to get involve in every conversation spoken and move because other people are moving. Yes, difficult to handle, most times we are constantly talking to him in the ear... "don't move", "it is not finished yet", "it is not time to get up yet". He also tries to spin around in his chair to see what people are doing, which some children do, but at the age of eight he does it as a 2-3 year old would. He is not medicated and by the end of a meeting you are very tired.
Autism-linked protein crucial for feeling pain
Sensory problems are common to autism spectrum disorders. Some individuals with autism may injure themselves repetitively -- for example, pulling their hair or banging their heads -- because they're less sensitive to pain than other people. New research points to a potential mechanism underlying pain insensitivity in autism. Ref. Source 3y.
With eyes or noses? How young children use sensory cues to make social decisions
Children begin using olfactory information to help guide their responses to emotionally-expressive faces at about age five, research shows. These findings advance understanding of how children integrate different types of sensory information to direct their social behavior. Ref. Source 5u.
Origins of autism: Abnormalities in sensory processing at six months. The origins of autism remain mysterious. What areas of the brain are involved, and when do the first signs appear? New findings brings us closer to understanding the pathology of autism, and the point at which it begins to take shape in the human brain. Such knowledge will allow earlier interventions in the future and better outcomes for autistic children. Source 6l.