The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum by Temple Grandin, Richard Panek
Authors: Temple Grandin, Richard Panek
Tags: Non-Fiction
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possibility: “Maybe that kid is freaking out in the middle of Walmart because he feels like he’s inside a speaker at a rock concert. Wouldn’t
you
be freaking out if you were inside a speaker at a rock concert?” I’ve had researchers then ask me, “If the kid is screaming because he’s sensitive to sounds, then shouldn’t
that
sound be bothering him?” Not if he’s sensitive to only certain kinds of sounds. Sometimes those particular sounds don’t even need to be loud in order to be annoying.
Not every person who suffers from a sensory disorder responds to a stimulus in the same way. I’ve seen children scream when a supermarket door opens swiftly, but I myself always found the movement of doors fascinating. One child will play with running water. Another will run away from a flushing toilet.
And not every person who suffers from a sensory disorder suffers to the same degree. I’ve learned to live with the sound of hands under air dryers or door alarms in airports. For some people, though, the sensory problems are debilitating. They can’t function in normal environments like offices and restaurants. Pain or confusion defines their lives.
But whatever form these sensory problems take, they’re real, they’re common, and they require attention. I’ve given them that attention—and what I’ve found has surprised me, shocked me, and even led me to question some of the basic assumptions about autism itself.
While autism experts by and large have neglected sensory problems as a subject for research, the fact is you can’t study autism without figuring out a way to categorize the sensory issues. I myself long ago accepted the traditional way of putting autistic people with sensory processing problems into three categories, or subtypes.
Sensory seeking. This category covers problems that arise when the autistic person solicits sensations. Of course, we all seek sensations all the time.
What does that cake taste like? How will that linen shirt feel? Can I hear what the people sitting behind me on the bus are saying?
But autistic people with sensory problems tend to seek these sensations all the time. They can’t get enough of them. They might crave loud noises or, in my case, deep pressure. They often stimulate these sensations through rocking, twirling, hand-flapping, or noisemaking.
The other two categories are sort of the opposite of the first category. Rather than seeking sensations, the people in these two categories are responding to unsolicited sensations.
Sensory overresponsiveness. People with this are overly sensitive to input. They can’t stand the smell of the pasta sauce, or they can’t sit in a noisy restaurant or wear certain kinds of clothing or eat certain foods.
Sensory underresponsiveness. People with this show poor or no response to common stimuli. For instance, they might not respond to their names, even though their hearing is okay, or they might not react to pain.
These three subtypes make a lot of sense. I never thought to question them. You see autistic people with sensory processing problems, and you can fit them into one category or another.
But some scientists have started rethinking these categories. In 2010, Alison Lane of Ohio State University as well as three collaborators published a papertitled “Sensory Processing Subtypes in Autism: Association with Adaptive Behaviors” in the
Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders.
(
Good,
I thought.
An article about sensory problems that’s actually in an autism journal.
) As usual in papers about sensory processing, these authors were quick to point out how neglected their subject was: “Few studies have sought to investigate the relationship between SP [sensory processing] difficulties and the clinical manifestations of ASD.” Then they got down to business.
The authors collected their data in the usual way. They relied on results from the Short Sensory Profile, a research tool that dates to the
you
be freaking out if you were inside a speaker at a rock concert?” I’ve had researchers then ask me, “If the kid is screaming because he’s sensitive to sounds, then shouldn’t
that
sound be bothering him?” Not if he’s sensitive to only certain kinds of sounds. Sometimes those particular sounds don’t even need to be loud in order to be annoying.
Not every person who suffers from a sensory disorder responds to a stimulus in the same way. I’ve seen children scream when a supermarket door opens swiftly, but I myself always found the movement of doors fascinating. One child will play with running water. Another will run away from a flushing toilet.
And not every person who suffers from a sensory disorder suffers to the same degree. I’ve learned to live with the sound of hands under air dryers or door alarms in airports. For some people, though, the sensory problems are debilitating. They can’t function in normal environments like offices and restaurants. Pain or confusion defines their lives.
But whatever form these sensory problems take, they’re real, they’re common, and they require attention. I’ve given them that attention—and what I’ve found has surprised me, shocked me, and even led me to question some of the basic assumptions about autism itself.
While autism experts by and large have neglected sensory problems as a subject for research, the fact is you can’t study autism without figuring out a way to categorize the sensory issues. I myself long ago accepted the traditional way of putting autistic people with sensory processing problems into three categories, or subtypes.
Sensory seeking. This category covers problems that arise when the autistic person solicits sensations. Of course, we all seek sensations all the time.
What does that cake taste like? How will that linen shirt feel? Can I hear what the people sitting behind me on the bus are saying?
But autistic people with sensory problems tend to seek these sensations all the time. They can’t get enough of them. They might crave loud noises or, in my case, deep pressure. They often stimulate these sensations through rocking, twirling, hand-flapping, or noisemaking.
The other two categories are sort of the opposite of the first category. Rather than seeking sensations, the people in these two categories are responding to unsolicited sensations.
Sensory overresponsiveness. People with this are overly sensitive to input. They can’t stand the smell of the pasta sauce, or they can’t sit in a noisy restaurant or wear certain kinds of clothing or eat certain foods.
Sensory underresponsiveness. People with this show poor or no response to common stimuli. For instance, they might not respond to their names, even though their hearing is okay, or they might not react to pain.
These three subtypes make a lot of sense. I never thought to question them. You see autistic people with sensory processing problems, and you can fit them into one category or another.
But some scientists have started rethinking these categories. In 2010, Alison Lane of Ohio State University as well as three collaborators published a papertitled “Sensory Processing Subtypes in Autism: Association with Adaptive Behaviors” in the
Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders.
(
Good,
I thought.
An article about sensory problems that’s actually in an autism journal.
) As usual in papers about sensory processing, these authors were quick to point out how neglected their subject was: “Few studies have sought to investigate the relationship between SP [sensory processing] difficulties and the clinical manifestations of ASD.” Then they got down to business.
The authors collected their data in the usual way. They relied on results from the Short Sensory Profile, a research tool that dates to the
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