Did you know that most folks have....?
IMPORTANT: Check out the video on the types of SPD to understand
hyposensitivity, hypersensitivity, seeking, and what I’m calling hyperdetection. Thanks!
Also, respect for those of you who lack one or more of the senses or aspects of one!!
For example, I don’t have a sense of thirst (part of interoception). So, there’s that.
NOTE: Problems with hyposensitivity, hyperdetection, hypersensitivity, and seeking can mix and match in various combinations for the same sense and across senses. For added fun, they can change over time, and for different environment/experiences. So, you will need to figure out your, or the person’s, patterns and try to understand why.
Learn about the Eight Senses
and Individual Differences
Interoception helps you know what your body organs are doing and what you need to return to a state of contentment.
Interoception can affect your thoughts and emotions and vice versa. For example, ADHD medication or coffee, may make someone’s heart and breathing rate increase, causing the brain to interpret this as a feeling of anxiety and start looking for an external cause for those emotions. Or, experiencing the emotion of excitement may make someone’s heart and breathing rate increase.
Interoreceptors include baroreceptors (triggered by “stretch”), piezoreceptors (shear stress and distension), nociceptors (pain), chemoreceptors (chemical composition), osmoreceptors (concentration of solutes in the blood), etc.
Hyposensitivity
Sudden, late realization of strong hunger, strong thirst, or immediate need for the restroom
Failure to notice injury, particularly in the limbs
Trouble falling asleep
Frequent dehydration or complete lack of thirst
Indifferent to hot or cold weather, failure to notice fever
May feel fairly normal, even with mild to moderate sickness
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Low pain tolerance, particularly in the gut
Anxiety and easily stressed out, due to increased perception of heart and breathing rate
Frequently hungry, thirsty, or needing the restroom, seldom full, satisfied, or comfortable
Intolerance of heat/cold
Seeking
Risk taking, due to desire to feel elevated heart and/or breathing rate
Enjoyment of temperature variation
Overeating, over drinking (non-alcoholic), or excessive sleeping
Skin picking, nail peeling, hair pulling, or other harmful behaviors (GOD forbid)
Proprioception helps you know where your body parts are relative to each other, facilitating coordinated movements.
Proprioception receptors are found throughout the body, processing information from skeletal muscles, tendon organs located at the junction of muscles and tendons, and the capsules and ligaments surrounding joints.
Hyposensitivity
Lack of coordination/clumsiness, particularly when there is no visual input; i.e., needing to watch own hands and/or feet to avoid tripping, or falling down stairs, or to engage in sports
Instant rage with soft touch
Need for constant movement; can be cause of something like restless leg
May prefer to sit on a foot when seated or "double cross" legs (at the knee and ankle)
Emotional distress from unconscious sensation of floating/disconnected hands/feet
Poor handwriting, difficulty learning to type, and/or struggles with fine motor work
Joint injury, dislocations, subluxations due to putting joints under overwhelming pressure
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Emotional outbursts to requests to perform physical tasks
Refuses hard, chewy foods/gum
Avoidance of jumping, running, clapping, stretching, reaching, to avoid being jarred or jolted
Avoidance of weight bearing activities, climbing, monkey bars/pull ups
Resistance to changing positions (sitting to standing to lying down)
Avoidance of weight bearing activities and climbing
Refuses to sit with crossed legs or a foot tucked
Seeking
Rough and tumble play, including bumping or crashing into people or things
Chews gum, wants chewy or hard foods, chews on pen caps, etc.
Hangs from things
Heavy footfall when walking, likes to stomp
Climbs rocks, furniture, on cars, engages in parkour
Craves hard pressure
Craves difficult manual labor tasks/weightlifting
May literally pick people off of the ground and/or enjoying carrying packs, people, or packs of people (ha!).
Jumps or falls heavily into chairs, sofa, or onto the floor
Emotional or mental injury due to presumption by others that they lack emotional/mental sensitivity, because they are physically robust or rambunctious
Smell (olfaction) helps you find food, discriminate toxic/infectious or otherwise undesirable substances, and detect social and relational cues.
This sense affects memory, emotion, attraction, relationships, and the perception of taste. Smell receptors are chemoreceptors expressed in the cell membranes of actual neurons. There are about 400 smell receptor types that the brain can use to distinguish over 1,000,000,000 different odors (we think).
Hyposensitivity
Difficulty avoiding spoiled foods
Weight loss due to lack of interest in eating
Failure to avoid offensive body odors due to poor hygiene or overuse of cologne
Illness, injury, or poisoning from smoke, natural gas leaks, or inadequate ventilation when using chemicals, paints, etc.
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Mistaken as dishonest or untrustworthy due to ability to distinguish and notice odors that are imperceptible to others
Refusal of seemingly fresh foods
Avoidance of cleaning products, colognes, food smells, and stores with "signature" marketing fragrances
Refusal to hug or be in enclosed spaces with smelly people
Job and relational stress due to dissonance between a desire to interact and need to avoid odors
Seeking
Odors may be prioritized over other features of clothing, housewares, automobiles, locations, or people, etc.
Strong desire for strong or highly specific odors
Territorial regarding odors in clothing or other items, location, etc. and may be accused of greediness or selfishness
Sight (vision) helps you recognize objects and people, find and select wholesome food, navigate, read, notice patterns or things that don’t belong, avoid toxic or infectious items, discern whether others are friends or foes, and discriminate between environments that are as they should be and those that aren’t.
Most human brains devotes more space to vision that to all other senses combined and is the most relied-upon sense, barring exception. While one or more functioning eyes are necessary for vision, much of what constitutes the sense of sight occurs in the brain.
Hyposensitivity
Difficulty perceiving discrepancies/distinctions between visual inputs in color, pattern, shape, presence/absence, etc.
Inability to perceive mimicked 3-dimensionality in holographic materials or autostereograms
Poor depth perception
Face blindness
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Notices minute discrepancies/distinctions between visual inputs in color, pattern, shape, or presence/absence
Navigating accurately at high speed while piloting/driving, may engage in daring or reckless flying/driving for enjoyment
Skilled at sports requiring accuracy or precision of ball/puck/bullet/etc. placement
May be overwhelmed by bright or flashing lights
Experiences rage, inability to pay attention to other things, or becomes depressed or lethargic when exposed to fluorescent lights
Insistent regarding colors, patterns, shapes of clothing and/or decor, regardless of color, pattern, or shape
Seeking
Desire for bright colors, bright lights, and complicated or abundant patterns
Fascination and/or comfort while looking at certain colors, patterns, shininess, opalescence
Stares at or experiences visual immersion while looking at items or people with certain visual qualities
Strong desire for beauty in self, others, and various environments
Devotes more time than others to looking at objects and/or people.
Hearing (audition) helps people perceive and locate threats and opportunities (both up close and at distance), communicate, and detect and participate in the emotional state of others.
Hearing involves funneling sound into the ear canal where it moves the eardrum, which moves small bones, that move tiny hair cells that transmit signals to the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve transmits those signals to the temporal lobe of the brain.
Hyposensitivity
Difficulty perceiving discrepancies/distinctions between auditory inputs in volume, tone, or other qualities
Fails to respond when called or to other sounds typical to the environment, despite functional audition, etc.
Difficulty processing verbal instructions
Needs loud sounds for perception
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Notices minute discrepancies/distinctions between auditory inputs in frequency, pattern, quality, or presence/absence
Skilled at mimicking sounds, memorizing or producing music and lyrics
May be overwhelmed by loud sounds
Insistent regarding volume, tone, or other sound qualities
Seeking
Desire for frequent auditory input / intolerance of silence
Fascination and/or comfort while listening to certain volume, tone, or other sound qualities
May create own sounds, including repetition and experimentation with various sound qualities
Devotes more time than others to listening to sound or specific sounds
Taste (gustation) helps you discriminate toxic or infectious substances from nutritious ones and to want to eat or drink nutritious substances.
Taste is fairly simplistic and is currently understood to be comprised of 5 basic flavor types, namely, sweet (sugars), salty (salts), bitter (toxic/medicinal substances), sour (acid and fermentation products), and umami (glutamates). The brain coordinates smell and taste to produce sensations of various flavors, which is why damage or hyposensitivity to smell affects perception of “taste.”
Gustation also includes receptors that provide a sensation of heat or cold. These are triggered by temperature as well as certain chemicals that mimic temperature. For example, false sensation of heat is triggered by capsacin (hot chillies), allyl isothiocyanate (wasabi, horseradish, mustard), and allicin (garlic, onions), etc. False sensation of cold is triggered by menthol (mint), camphor (thyme, rosemary, basil), eucalyptol (rosemary, cardamom, basil), etc.
Hyposensitivity
Difficulty perceiving discrepancies/distinctions between gustatory inputs
Difficulty perceiving food that has gone bad, particularly if sense of smell is damaged or hyposensitive
Not fussy about taking bitter medications or indifferent to foods that mimic heat
May consume toxic substances (GOD forbid) due to high tolerance of bitter flavors
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Notices minute discrepancies/distinctions between gustatory inputs in taste and temperature
Rejects seemingly fresh foods as rancid
May be overwhelmed by strong flavors, mimicked heat or cold
Doesn't perceive "bland" foods as bland and will enjoy them more than most people
Seeking
Desire for frequent gustatory input in the form of food, drink, and gum
Consumption of an unusually large amount of mints, spices, herbs, coffee, salty or acidic foods, alcohol (GOD forbid)
Fascination and/or comfort while consuming food and drink with certain taste, flavor, temperature, or mimicked temperature
Creates own food or drink, including experimentation with various taste, flavor, temperature, or mimicked temperature qualities
Craving for strong flavors, temperatures, or mimicked temperatures
Spends an unusual amount of time thinking about food or drink
Tendency toward obesity and may become diabetic from overconsumption of sweets
Touch (somatosensation) helps people perceive pain, pressure, temperature, and objects (shape, size, texture), grasp items and walk without falling (motor control/feedback), and experience affection and emotional and mental comfort.
Somatosensation involves various types of receptors that detect sustained pressure, deep pressure, light touch, skin motion/stretching, temperature, and pain/itching.
Hyposensitivity
Difficulty perceiving the location, pressure, texture, or sharpness of somatosensory inputs
High pain tolerance to flesh wounds and high tolerance to "cold plunge," etc.
Risk-taking behaviors due to impaired ability to feel pain or experience discomfort
Indifference to temperature on the skin, may not dress appropriately for the weather
Indifferent to the legitimate pain or discomfort of others, instead viewing them as melodramatic
Considered physically rugged by others
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Notices minute discrepancies/distinctions between sematosensory inputs in pressure, texture, sharpness, and location
Displays unexpectedly high level of empathy/sympathy for the pain and discomfort of others
Instantly enraged or emotionally/mentally overwhelmed by certain types or amounts of sematosensory inputs
Extreme startle response upon unexpected touch
Insistent regarding temperature, clothing, seams, textures, etc.
Seeking
May choose clothing or furniture for the feel of it above other characteristics
May rub fabrics on face or mouth
Unusually hot or cold water used for bathing or washing
May pick skin, nails, peel labels off of bottles/jars, etc.
The vestibular sense helps people sense inertia due to motion and gravity. The brain coordinates the vestibular sense with sight, proprioception, and touch to orient the body within a space and maintain balance.
Receptors for the vestibular sense are located in the inner ear and measure vertical and horizontal linear acceleration.
NOTE: The spatial orientation of the vestibular sense differs from that of proprioception, in that proprioception involves the orientation of the body’s constituent parts relative to each other, while the vestibular sense involves the orientation of the head in space. This orientation of the head combined with the relative orientation of the rest of the body relative to the head permit the brain to understand the orientation of the whole body and its constituent parts in space.
Hyposensitivity
Difficulty perceiving whether one is "right side up" or "upside down"
Clumsy in motion, with difficulty distinguishing changes to orientation -- particularly if also hyposensitive to proprioception and/or touch
Indifferent to accelerative forces such as during a ride on a roller coaster, spinning, etc.
Difficulty maintaining balance, and so also with standing or walking
Sensation of floating or disorientation, feelings of "un-realness" and disconnection with the environment
May bump or knock into things or people<
Poor coordination, including poor eye coordination and tracking
Sensation of falling or flying off into space when sitting down or otherwise changing position
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Notices minute discrepancies/distinctions among various head positions
Skilled at sports, dancing, and other physical activities
Skilled at piloting vehicles such as airplanes, boats, and cars (hyperdetection), although may not be able to tolerate flying, boating, or driving (hypersensitivity)
May be prone to motion sickness, barring early and/or consistent exposure over time
Extreme startle response upon unexpected movements, such as on roller coasters
Fear of heights
Terrified by moving backwards or tilting backwards, such as when driving up an incline in a car or in a wheelchair
May trip, stumble, or fall due to proprioceptive deficits and/or hypermobility and quickly right self / recover before hitting the ground, another object, etc.
Seeking
Desire for accelerations, such as being slung, spun, swinging, jumping on a trampoline, etc.
Fascination and/or comfort while spinning, jumping, or otherwise accelerating, such as takeoff in an airplane, zip-lining, or going over a hill fast enough to feel the "drop"
May obsessively engage in sports, piloting, theme parks, etc.
Some Stuff that Can (might, maybe) Help
The things listed below are not intended to cure or treat any condition, but may be nonetheless be comforting. They may or may not be helpful or even safe for any given individual. Any attempt to utilize any of these methods, products, etc. is at your own risk. Therefore, seek the advice of a licensed healthcare provider before attempting any of the following. See the disclaimer at the end of the page for more information.
For those who can, please consider engaging the services of a licensed occupational therapist (OT) who can understand, and will prioritize the interests of, the person with sensory issues.
Interoception helps you know what your body organs are doing and what you need to return to a state of contentment.
Interoception can affect your thoughts and emotions and vice versa. For example, ADHD medication or coffee, may make someone’s heart and breathing rate increase, causing the brain to interpret this as a feeling of anxiety and start looking for an external cause for those emotions. Or, experiencing the emotion of excitement may make someone’s heart and breathing rate increase.
Interoreceptors include baroreceptors (triggered by “stretch”), piezoreceptors (shear stress and distension), nociceptors (pain), chemoreceptors (chemical composition), osmoreceptors (concentration of solutes in the blood), etc.
Hyposensitivity
Set calendar or phone reminders for meals and water
Use a clear tumbler that has markings for amounts down the side to hold water and keep the tumbler within field of vision during the day
Exercise on a strict schedule to help promote sensation of sleepiness
Make a habit of always visiting the restroom after each scheduled meal
Make a habit of wearing vests to help promote warmth in winter
Use secure smart devices to automatically set both day and nighttime temperatures indoors that vary seasonally
Schedule daily body temperature checks and/or use a wearable to monitor body temperature
Look for bruising, cuts, scrapes prior to bedtime and try to connect any issues with the day's activities -- then, come up with a plan to prevent injury in the future
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Work stubbornly in consultation with a licensed medical provider to improve digestion to help alleviate GI distress and pain
Maintain consistent exercise schedule to promote habituation to increased heart and breathing rate
Gradually introduce any exercise types that cause jostling of the abdomen -- start with types with smooth motion through the gut (swimming, floor exercises, etc.)
Set a strict schedule for food and drink and schedule taxing mental, emotional, and physical tasks prior to anticipated hunger and thirst
Plan each day's clothing outfits with layers to facilitate temperature control
Schedule regular maintenance for temperature control units and devices to avoid failure
Keep a cooler with ice packs or popsicles in the car and/or in the refrigerator at home and at work
Utilize hot or cold beverages to assist with temperature regulation
Seeking
Save and invest in professional education and training in and regularly engage in a legal, controlled, and thrilling hobby (mountain climbing, racing/autocross, skateboarding, flying, demolition derby, etc.)
Pursue a career or vocation with built-in excitement (firefighter, emergency medical technician/physician, nurse, law enforcement/investigation, etc.)
Consult with a licensed healthcare provider about regular cold plunges and sauna
Consult with a licensed nutritionist and utilize meal prep with appropriate portions, whether self-made or by subscription to avoid overeating
Engage in counseling with a licensed PhD psychologist and/or licensed psychiatrist to address pain-seeking skin picking, nail peeling, hair pulling, or other harmful behaviors (GOD forbid)
Proprioception helps you know where your body parts are relative to each other, facilitating coordinated movements.
Proprioception receptors are found throughout the body, processing information from skeletal muscles, tendon organs located at the junction of muscles and tendons, and the capsules and ligaments surrounding joints.
Hyposensitivity
Watch hands and feet while navigating stairs, bridges, doorways, hallways, etc.
Wear a tight base layer of clothing as recommended by OT to alleviate soft touch on the skin and increase resistance to movement of limbs
**Safe resistance to motion can increase perception of limb location in some people
Similarly, spend time safely in water/swimming to help increase perception of location of limbs in space
**Increased perception of limb location may reduce emotional and mental distress and fatigue from the brain constantly trying to locate limbs, in some people
Wiggle or curl toes in shoes when attending class or while at work and/or consider a squeeze ball fidget
Utilize wrist and/or ankle weights to improve perception of hand and foot location, as recommended by OT
Consider ways to introduce resistance to motion to improve handwriting and/or motor planning
Utilize braces to avoid overextension of joints
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
OT and/or other licensed healthcare providers who are also research professionals are going to be important for folks whose sensory needs fit within this category
Invest time to develop healthcare networking and obtain referrals to high quality medical services for assistance -- potentially medical research universities
Seeking
Provide many opportunities for safe, fun, and socially-appropriate rough and tumble play early in life and consistently
Provide professional education and training on and consider careers and hobbies that require strenuous, physical activity that places the joints under an appropriate amount of stress (gardening, karate, rock climbing, gymnastics, weightlifting, parkour, machinist, smelting, metalworking, etc.)
Consult with dental professional and nutritionist to identify safe items to chew that are hard, chewy, or crunchy
Provide safe and appropriate opportunities for stomping, crashing into things, and climbing.
Utilize sports compression shirts.
Monitor for and accept emotional and mental sensitivity and/or heightened empathy or sensitivity to the feelings of others
Smell (olfaction) helps you find food, discriminate toxic/infectious or otherwise undesirable substances, and detect social and relational cues.
This sense affects memory, emotion, attraction, relationships, and the perception of taste. Smell receptors are chemoreceptors expressed in the cell membranes of actual neurons. There are about 400 smell receptor types that the brain can use to distinguish over 1,000,000,000 different odors (we think).
Hyposensitivity
Keep a roll of blank "easy peel" stickers and a writing instrument next to each refrigerator and freezer at home, school, and work. Always write the date that food or drink is first placed in a refrigerator or freezer and strictly observe USDA/FDA guidance regarding food safety and safe storage temperature and duration
Strictly observe best by/use by dates on canned or jarred foods, supplements, etc.
Eat on a strict schedule and consult with a nutritionist regarding more flavorful foods
Consult with a licensed healthcare provider regarding smell therapy/training
Avoid using air freshener, cologne to prevent offensively strong odors
Only wear clothing for one day before laundering and change clothes and shower after being exposed to heat or strenuous exercise.
Purchase washable sneakers or tennis shoes and launder quarterly (every three months)
Utilize electric appliances and heating instead of gas or kerosene
Observe strict maintenance schedules for all household appliances
Install smoke detectors in each room and timely and regularly test them
Consider a fire suppression system
Consider a whole house fan for use when using chemical cleaning products, paint, or other products that produce toxic/noxious gases an odors -- or, otherwise ensure sufficient ventilation
Switch to non-toxic cleaning products and methods
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Utilize produce, meat, and other food and drink products shortly after purchase and immediately divide out and freeze all leftovers. Consider meal prep containers
Advocate for ability to notice and distinguish odors. Refuse to accept gaslighting or ridicule
Consider legal counsel regarding any problematic odors at school, work, or public or healthcare settings
Prepare scripts to utilize to refuse to hug someone or otherwise engage in expected social interaction due to odors - work with a counselor or social worker to prepare these as needed
Suggest outdoor activities with friends and co-workers (sit on the patio at a restaurant, go for a hike, rock climbing, stroll by a river, play a game in the park, kayaking, etc.)
Consider a screened in porch to host visits with other people
Consider dedicated rooms for use by visitors (basement, formal living room or parlour, cool garage with roll-down bug screen, etc.)
Seeking
Consult with nutritionist to identify appropriate strongly-scented foods
Make peace with an unusually high, level of prioritization of odors over other features of clothing, housewares, automobiles, locations, or people, etc., as appropriate
Avoid utilizing strong scents that attach to clothing and anger or cause illness to other people (air freshener, laundry products, cologne, etc.) and consult with a healthcare provider regarding safe, personal aromatherapy items instead (locket, handkerchief, etc.) [Always ensure that any aromatherapy oils are OK'd by an appropriate, licensed healthcare provider, as some are poisonous in certain doses.]
Prepare appropriate social scripts to advocate for ability to keep the brand, type, etc. of certain, sentimental odors secret from others
Consult with a licensed mental health provider or social worker to help determine appropriate boundaries and weigh social consequences/isolation from perceived greediness or undue territoriality vs. personal agency, individuation, and uniqueness
Sight (vision) helps you recognize objects and people, find and select wholesome food, navigate, read, notice patterns or things that don’t belong, avoid toxic or infectious items, discern whether others are friends or foes, and discriminate between environments that are as they should be and those that aren’t.
Most human brains devotes more space to vision that to all other senses combined and is the most relied-upon sense, barring exception. While one or more functioning eyes are necessary for vision, much of what constitutes the sense of sight occurs in the brain.
Hyposensitivity
Consult with licensed healthcare provider to determine appropriate treatments for any vision issues that are rooted in the eye itself (as opposed to the brain) and to find out whether brain differences are treatable
Allow additional distance from other vehicles to increase driving safety and additional time to react to driving scene
Utilize labels to identify medications and consult with legitimate, online resources for numbers and text imprinted on medication to ensure accuracy
Consult with a licensed neurologist and/or neuropsychologist regarding face blindness. Advocate for understanding and learn to identify others by voice, or other defining features
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Make peace with greater skill at noticing visual patterns and connections and learn to utilize inability to avoid noticing details in visual inputs
Consider minimalist design and decoration for spaces within residence, if hypersensitivity causes fatigue or frustration
Consider safe opportunities to indulge visual-spatial excellence (supervised and sanctioned racing events, sports, archery, target practice, pottery/sculpting/carving, 3D modeling, computer assisted design, graphic design, etc.)
Advocate for comfortable lighting or lack of lighting for concentration and distress reduction
Consult competent mental health provider regarding advocating and scripting for refreshing and comfortable colors, patterns, and shapes
Seeking
Create retreat spaces that indulge desired colors, lighting, sheen, and patterns
Utilize visual immersion
Advocate for wholesome, GODly beauty in environment
Make peace with devoting more time than others looking at objects and/or people
Take steps to protect vision throughout lifetime, including regular eye exams by licensed healthcare providers
Hearing (audition) helps people perceive and locate threats and opportunities (both up close and at distance), communicate, and detect and participate in the emotional state of others.
Hearing involves funneling sound into the ear canal where it moves the eardrum, which moves small bones, that move tiny hair cells that transmit signals to the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve transmits those signals to the temporal lobe of the brain.
Hyposensitivity
Consult with licensed healthcare provider to determine appropriate treatments for any hearing issues that are rooted in the ear itself (as opposed to the brain) and to find out whether brain differences are treatable
Learn and advocate for action that will permit and encourage others to learn sign language
Ask others to approach from the front to avoid surprise/startle
Use pictographic and/or written instructions
Encourage moving head repeatedly left-to-right to help locate the source of a sound in space
Avoid sudden, very loud sounds to prevent surprise/startle
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Consider careers and hobbies that require detection of low volume and/or good discrimination among types of sounds and/or are quiet
Avoid surprise/startle via sound, as hypersensitivity may be caused by lack of ability to locate sounds in space (which keeps the brain on continual, active alert scanning the soundscape)
Invest in some quality earplugs and/or sound reduction
Experiment with nature sounds, familiar passages of comforting books on repeat (like certain books of the Bible, for example), and/or white noise at a restful volume to help brain settle down for sleep
Make peace with strong auditory preferences
Seek assistance from a counselor to come up with and practice social scripts to express needs
Seeking
Consider careers and hobbies that require frequent listening and/or speaking (because sometimes people talk in order to have sound available to them)
Make peace with fascinations and/or comfort while listening to certain sounds
Make peace with repetition of sound and/or listening to sounds repeatedly
Consider nature sounds for sleep
Share love of sounds with other people who are interested
Taste (gustation) helps you discriminate toxic or infectious substances from nutritious ones and to want to eat or drink nutritious substances.
Taste is fairly simplistic and is currently understood to be comprised of 5 basic flavor types, namely, sweet (sugars), salty (salts), bitter (toxic/medicinal substances), sour (acid and fermentation products), and umami (glutamates). The brain coordinates smell and taste to produce sensations of various flavors, which is why damage or hyposensitivity to smell affects perception of “taste.”
Gustation also includes receptors that provide a sensation of heat or cold. These are triggered by temperature as well as certain chemicals that mimic temperature. For example, false sensation of heat is triggered by capsacin (hot chillies), allyl isothiocyanate (wasabi, horseradish, mustard), and allicin (garlic, onions), etc. False sensation of cold is triggered by menthol (mint), camphor (thyme, rosemary, basil), eucalyptol (rosemary, cardamom, basil), etc.
Hyposensitivity
Keep a roll of blank "easy peel" stickers and a writing instrument next to each refrigerator and freezer at home, school, and work. Always write the date that food or drink is first placed in a refrigerator or freezer and strictly observe USDA/FDA guidance regarding food safety and safe storage temperature and duration
Strictly observe best by/use by dates on canned or jarred foods, supplements, etc.
Eat on a strict schedule and consult with a nutritionist regarding more flavorful foods
Consult with a licensed healthcare provider regarding smell/taste therapy/training
Use care with foods that mimic heat to avoid chemical burns of the mouth and gastrointestinal distress
Ensure strict compliance with healthcare provider's instructions related to prescriptions and other medications, if indifferent to bitter tastes
Avoid use of essential oils and bitter supplements
Monitor and seek healthcare provider's advice regarding consumption of coffee, tea, and other bitter drinks
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Consider careers and hobbies that require the ability to distinguish among gustatory/taste inputs
Limit grocery shopping to prevent unnecessary expense due to rejection of seemingly fresh foods as rancid
Make peace with dislike of strong and/or mimicked heat or cold flavors
Prepare acceptable alternatives to unbearable cough drops
Make peace with love of bland foods, to the extent approved by healthcare provider
Seeking
Carefully consider and/or avoid careers and hobbies that require frequent gustatory input to avoid overeating
Consult with nutritionist regarding flavorful low-calorie foods and drinks that can be safely consumed in large quantities
Consult with dentist or oral surgeon regarding the maximum amount of time that gum can be safely chewed
Set reminders and/or check for gum prior to sleeping
Consult with healthcare professionals regarding consumption of unusually large amounts of mints, spices, herbs, coffee, salty or acidic foods, or alcohol (GOD forbid)
Make peace with unconventional food and drink creations
Work with licensed counselor to consider how to approach hosting for meals so as to appropriately engage seeking behaviors while helping others feel comfortable attending and prepare social scripts
Use care with foods that mimic heat to avoid chemical burns of the mouth and gastrointestinal distress
Schedule time to indulge thoughts about food or drink so as to provide an appropriate amount of time (not too much or too little)
Strict compliance with exercise regimen recommended by healthcare provider
Seek regular monitoring for diabetes and heart disease from licensed healthcare provider
Touch (somatosensation) helps people perceive pain, pressure, temperature, and objects (shape, size, texture), grasp items and walk without falling (motor control/feedback), and experience affection and emotional and mental comfort.
Somatosensation involves various types of receptors that detect sustained pressure, deep pressure, light touch, skin motion/stretching, temperature, and pain/itching.
Hyposensitivity
Monitor for injury, bites, ticks, and rashes during and after various activities
Take all complaints related to pain and/or discomfort very seriously and investigate thoroughly, if reduced ability to perceive pain is present
Notify all healthcare providers of reduced ability to perceive pain (if present), with examples, and insistently advocate for thorough investigation and diagnostics in healthcare settings
Ensure that the person is never left by themselves in a hospital setting and has frequent visitors who understand reduced ability to perceive pain (if any) in residential healthcare settings
Strictly adhere to the advice of healthcare providers regarding duration of cold plunges and/or sauna or avoid altogether, if temperature perception is impaired and especially if interoception is also impaired
Dress in layers and consider modeling the temperature behaviors of others to avoid over heating or chilling, especially if interoception is also impaired
Monitor for risk-taking behaviors due to impaired ability to feel pain or experience discomfort and seek the assistance of a licensed counselor/social worker as needed
Work with licensed counselor to help person understand that others experience more pain and discomfort and appropriately address any belittling of others in pain sharply and decisively
Assist person with understanding how their ruggedness can benefit their self and others
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Make peace with noticing minute discrepancies/distinctions between sematosensory inputs in pressure, texture, sharpness, and location
Consider unexpectedly high level of empathy/sympathy for the pain and discomfort of others in consultation with licensed counselor, mainline protestant Christian pastor, and healthcare provider skilled in compassionately addressing sensory processing disorders
Keep a log of all meltdowns and shutdowns so that these can be better mitigated and predicted based on sematosensory overwhelm
Consider clothing as a tool to protect against distressing sematosensory input
Strictly avoid unasked for and unexpected touch, never insist on hugs, intentionally sneak up on to surprise/scare, etc.
Make peace with needs regarding temperature, clothing, seams, textures, etc. to the greatest extent appropriate
Seeking
Make peace with choosing clothing and furniture for the feel of it above other characteristics, etc.
Monitor for safety regarding unusually hot or cold water used for bathing or washing
Strictly adhere to the advice of healthcare providers regarding duration of cold plunges and/or sauna or avoid altogether, especially if either temperature perception and/or interoception is impaired
Monitor for and seek licensed healthcare advice regarding any picking of skin, nails, etc.
Encourage peeling labels off of bottles/jars and use of picking and/or peeling fidgets, to the greatest extent appropriate
The vestibular sense helps people sense inertia due to motion and gravity. The brain coordinates the vestibular sense with sight, proprioception, and touch to orient the body within a space and maintain balance.
Receptors for the vestibular sense are located in the inner ear and measure vertical and horizontal linear acceleration.
NOTE: The spatial orientation of the vestibular sense differs from that of proprioception, in that proprioception involves the orientation of the body’s constituent parts relative to each other, while the vestibular sense involves the orientation of the head in space. This orientation of the head combined with the relative orientation of the rest of the body relative to the head permit the brain to understand the orientation of the whole body and its constituent parts in space.
Hyposensitivity
Strictly adhere to driving rules and consider driving school
Consider play and activity spaces with soft floors (sand, trampoline, carpeted) and away from stairs, hard furniture, and other items that could cause injury if landed on or run into
Consider options for safely experiencing accelerative forces such as a ride on a roller coaster, playground slide, spinning, etc.
Consult with licensed counselor/psychiatrist for advice regarding sensation of floating or disorientation, feelings of "un-realness" and disconnection with the environment
Advocate for person regarding any accidental bumping into things or people
Modify activities that can cause injury due to poor eye coordination and tracking. For example, use stuffed fabric balls and/or bubbles for pretend baseball, and avoid hard bats as needed, etc., especially if proprioception is also impaired
Provide comfort and validation, and consult with licensed occupational therapist and counselor/psychiatrist/neurologist, regarding sensation of falling or flying off into space when sitting down or otherwise changing position.
Consult with licensed occupational therapist regarding education and training for improvement and/or utilization of other senses for compensation
Hyperdetection & Hypersensitivity
Consider careers and hobbies that require noticing minute discrepancies/distinctions among various head positions (sports, dancing, flying, driving, boating, etc.) if hyperdetection is present without hypersensitivity
Consult with licensed healthcare provider and licensed occupational therapist regarding any motion sickness
Make peace with any fear of heights and/or consult with licensed occupational therapist for mitigation
Work with licensed occupational therapist regarding any terror from moving backwards or tilting backwards, such as when driving up an incline in a car or in a wheelchair
Seeking
Consider careers and hobbies that provide for safe accelerations
Provide inputs to the greatest extent appropriate, (being slung, spun, and/or swooshing). For example, by swinging, jumping on a trampoline, roller coasters, flying, driving, boating, skiing, zip-lining, etc.
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