Sensory Processing Issues in Children: Signs Parents Often Miss

What are Sensory Processing Issues/ Disorders (SPD) in Children?

It is a condition where the brain has trouble handling information from the senses. It affects how a cold hear, smells, tastes, touches, sees, feels movement, or even balance. Due to this rollercoaster, the brain gets confused, and either overreacts or underreacts. For example, hearing loss can increase the risk of dementia because of depression and social isolation.

SPD develops in children more than adults, and this is because of neurological differences in the brain. Adults tend to have cognitive strategies and a better central nervous system, which processes the information from the senses in a better way. There are chances that, in childhood, parents are unable to detect sensory processing disorder symptoms, which ultimately increases the risk as their age progresses.

Types of Sensory Processing Issues

1. Sensory over-responsivity (SOR)-

In this situation, a child reacts faster and more intensely to everyday sensory stimuli. Bright light, clothing tags, or even noises make them feel uneasy (children cover their ears) in situations in which they experience pain and are overwhelmed rather than enjoying that moment. This type of behavior is usually seen in children with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and obsessive-compulsive traits.

Sign of Sensory over-responsivity:

• Distress from clothing tags, specific fabrics, face wash, or even nail-trimming.
• Cover ears from sudden noises.
• Even a mild smell can make them feel uneasy.
• Extreme motion sickness and fear from slides and swings.

2. Sensory under-responsivity (SUR)-

This is just the opposite of sensory over-responsivity. In this, a child registers the input much more slowly and requires a higher stimulus to get a signal to the brain. They have high pain tolerance, are usually lost in thought, have less interest in active play, are clumsy, and are unaware of extreme heat or cold.

Sensory under-responsivity (SUR) Symptoms:

• Can tolerate immense pain easily.
• Slow response to things and take time to respond.
• Always feel lethargic, and mostly, they prefer to stay quiet.
• Unaware of sticky hands and messy face.
• Unaware of hunger, thirst, full bladder until it is an urgent accident.

3. Sensory craving disorder-

Children with this condition seek sensory input constantly, and for that, they constantly seek sounds, movements, touch, or sight to stimulate their nervous system.

Symptoms of Sensory craving disorder: 

• Constantly jumping, climbing, rocking, or spinning without being dizzy.
• They chew their pencil, finger, or even shirt collars.
• Make loud noises and have the urge to touch everything that comes in their path.
• Body awareness is high, which makes them stomp their feet, crash into walls, and seek very tight hugs to register the input.

4. Sensory discrimination disorder (SDD)-

When a person faces challenges telling or interpreting similar sensory information. For example, if you touch the hand of your child without them looking, they are unable to detect which body part has been touched by you. Or, when a key and a coin are in their pocket, they are unable to justify the difference between the two objects.

Signs of Sensory discrimination disorder (SDD):

• Difficulty in distinguishing between light or firm touch.
• Trouble in identifying different shapes, sizes, colors, tastes, and smells.
• Face challenges doing even daily living activities like dressing, writing, using utensils, or grooming.
• Use too much force to do things like easing words, crushing objects, or even ripping paper.
• Get confused with different sounds easily.

5. Postural disorder-

When the brain struggles to process the signal sent from the vestibular (balance) and proprioceptive system (body awareness), and this directly impacts cognitive abilities. Due to these challenges, it makes it hard for a child to stabilize their body or maintain an upright position.

Postural disorder Signs:

• Taking support or leaning on walls or furniture.
• They tend to have a low muscle tone appearance.
• Unusual sitting habits like wrapping legs tightly around chairs, or sitting in W position.
• Toe walking or unusual gait patterns

6. Dyspraxia-

It is closely related to neurodevelopmental conditions and begins with indications of challenges in motor skills and coordination in your child. Usually the signs start to show in early age, and become obvious in older age.

Dyspraxia Symptoms:

• Frequent bumping and dropping objects
• Poor pencil grip
• Difficulty with playing any game
• Speech articulation challenges
• Their body won’t cooperate with things that they understand

Seeking vs Avoiding Behavior

What Parents Often Get Confused with Symptoms?

When a child refuses to listen, throws things, and is loud in public. Parents think they are throwing tantrums, but sometimes, loud noises, crowds, or even lights can make a child uncomfortable and overwhelmed, and they don’t know how to express this emotion, so they do things to get their attention.

Children who are dealing with Postural Disorder are often labeled as lazy and unfocused. But as parents, you need to understand that they are really physically exhausted, and their body is continuously fighting gravity to even stand still.

Some children become picky even with food as well. And this is not just their being stubborn, but there are chances that their mouth is genuinely overreacting to texture, and they don’t do things on purpose.

Treatment Options for Sensory Processing Disorder

1. Occupational Therapy- it is play-based sensory integration which helps the brain to organize sights, sounds, and movements. It includes a sensory diet and a changed environment for children so that they can focus on their abilities. It focuses on fine motor skills such as writing or using scissors, gross motor skills like climbing stairs or throwing a ball, or everyday living activities like getting dressed, or even using utensils on their own.
2. Sensory integration therapy (ISI)- under this therapy, the therapist uses fun activities in a controlled environment so that the child can experience stimuli without being overwhelmed. Common therapies include

• Swinging and spinning to balance motion tolerance
• Tactile exploration like playing in sand, water, or rice bins
• Obstacle courses like jumping and climbing and deep pressure input.
• It helps to increase tolerance in babies, especially in a loud environment, supports better motion skills and coordination, improves emotional regulation, and also aids in lower anxiety.

3. Sensory diet- it is not your regular diet, because it is a more personalised and scheduled plan which is focused on physical and sensory activities. Just like sensory integration, this includes heavy work (proprioception), movement (vestibular), touch (tactile), and even oral motor. Activities included in this-

• Trampoline bouncing.
• Deep pressure includes a lap pad, weighted blanket, and tight bear hugs.
• Animal walk like crab walk, frog jumps, and bear crawl.
• Pulling and pushing heavy objects.

Strategies Parents Can Use at Home

1. By involving your child in your day-to-day activities, you can easily make them habitual of exercises. Like pushing laundry baskets, doing animal crawls with them, and many more. This will help them to keep their nervous system calm through deep pressure input.
2. In their schedule, add short physically active breaks like jumping, pushing the wall, and rolling an exercise ball.
3. This might sound weird, but this exercise will help them a lot. Create a crunchy and chewy snack, and tell them to drink through a narrow straw, as this helps them to self-regulate.
4. Always use a soothing and gentle voice while talking to them or trying to calm them. This experience really helps to regulate their emotions and protect them from sensory overload meltdowns.
5. Implement the activities that their therapist performs during the session.

When To Get an Assessment For Your Child?

There are some points that parents need to understand: before the challenges become a long-term complication, it is better to get them checked.

• Poor coordination, being clumsy, tripping often, and struggling to hold anything
• Constantly seeking intense movement like crashing into things, or spinning vigorously.
• Strongly avoid simple  touch, and more into messy play
• Frequent meltdowns triggered by  even normal voices like bright light, vacuum, crowded place, and loud music
• Struggle to do even basic tasks like getting dressed, brushing teeth, eating food, or bathing properly

Conclusion

Sensory processing disorder is one of the challenges that affects their behavior, touch, play, smell, and other usual tasks that other children do on a regular basis. Some parents misinterpret it as their child throwing tantrums, and they are just misbehaving. But there are chances that your child might be dealing with some neurological challenges. Although you cannot conclude the issue, there is no harm in taking them to a pediatrician. Tests and assessments can help you to understand the actual situation.

At Cradle Children Hospital, pediatricians first understand the main reason for the child’s behavior and then process the treatment after communicating everything to parents. We believe in transparency and good service. So, if your child is dealing with challenges, then book the consultation and start their journey to healthy living.

FAQ’s

How to detect sensory processing disorder in my child?
If your child reacts more than usual or very little to things that other children tend to enjoy, then make sure to start focusing on your child. Their emotions might look like tantrums, but there are a lot of differences between them.

What to do if my child has SPD?
If your child is showing signs, then make sure to take them to an expert so that they can start their treatment as soon as possible.

Can my child live a normal life after having SPD?
Yes, your child can live a healthy and normal life. Although the condition affects how their brain handles things differently, copying strategies and timely detection can help them to manage symptoms.

How can sensory processing issues be managed?
Through sensory-friendly routines, a structured environment, activities, guidance from trained professionals, and education from parents, can help to manage the issues.