We think of ourselves as having five senses, but we actually have eight. The first five that are commonly thought of are; sight, hearing, taste smell and touch. The others are balance, body awareness or energy, and internal body awareness.
The first five are assist us with external stimuli and our perception, like sight we decode shapes, colour’s and movement, hearing we perceive sounds, taste we interpret flavours, smell odours and decode if they are pleasant or not, touch we perceive and interpret sensations like pressure, temperature and pain through the skin. For the most part these are sensations that we interpret from the external world.
The next three senses are more about how we interpret, or we sense our body and the unison or our body with the external world. Such as balance and gravity, interpreting our body parts internally and interpretation of how our body parts are moving in unison with the world.
An Autistic individual may experience heightened or diminished responses to sensory input. Some autistic individuals need physical pressure, and some do not like touch at all. Understanding this can assist with making an environment more inclusive. Sensations are where there can be a divide with some people, with two divisions, the avoiders and the seekers. A seeker will want to feel pressure on their limbs before they go to bed, and an avoider wants the least amount of stimulation as possible.
Understanding this as a parent is important, and that everyone is an individual you can have seekers and avoiders in one family. Understanding this is important and making comments like “oh you are too sensitive, get over it” or asking, “what is wrong with you!” Should be comments that a parent should avoid even if the sensitivity Is mystifying remembering we are all individuals is important.
If you need help parenting through this send an email to info@mindhealthconnect.com