Not everyone would completely understand the correlation between autism and smells, tastes, sight, and other senses. But it’s true. For most individuals with autism, smell sensitivity and other sensory sensitivities are a part of their daily life and a constant struggle.
It’s essential that we all strive to understand why, in individuals with autism, the senses of smell, hearing, taste, and touch are often heightened, how and why this impacts their lives, and, more importantly, how we can help them cope with these sensory sensitivities.
The Connection Between Autism and Smells, Sounds, Textures, and Tastes
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder usually experience heightened sensory sensitivities – stimulus responses that are more intense than what’s considered normal. This is because those on the spectrum experience and process sensory input from their surroundings differently.
Here are the types of sensory sensitivity:
Smell Sensitivity
For those with autism, their sense of smell can be ultra-sensitive because their olfactory system is also more active. That’s why they overreact to smells that are neutral or even unnoticeable to others. They may also have an aversion to certain scents that are overwhelming for them. Others even experience anxiety, discomfort, and physical pain.
Visual Sensitivity
Visual sensory sensitivity is also quite common in people with ASD. Many individuals on the spectrum are hypersensitive to visual stimuli like flashing lights, bright lights, or even busy or loud patterns. Some experience perceptual distortion, as well.
Auditory Sensitivity
Autistic individuals often report experiencing heightened sensitivity to sound, too. For most, loud sounds can be upsetting, but for others, there are specific sounds that they cannot tolerate, like the sound of horns, alarms, and others. In some cases, auditory sensitivity triggers what is known as a fight, flight, or freeze response as they get overstimulated by sound.
Tactile Sensitivity
Tactile sensitivity, or sometimes called tactile defensiveness, is experienced by many individuals with ASD. It is when one has high sensitivity to everyday ordinary sensations like fabric or clothing tags, lotions and creams, or even hugs, and perceives them as irritating or sometimes even painful.
Taste Sensitivity
For individuals with autism, food sensitivity or taste sensitivity is also quite common. There are a few probable reasons for this, one of which is their difficulty in identifying tastes like sour and bitter. It is not that they can’t “sense” the taste. The problem is in the processing and identification of tastes. This in itself can be frustrating for those with autism, and smells and textures make that even more challenging. For little kids with autism, food texture is especially a huge factor. Many don’t like mushy and soft food, while others cannot handle crispiness. It’s for this reason that some therapists recommend sensory foods for autism, and why individuals on the spectrum are often called picky eaters.
How Sensory Sensitivities Impact the Lives of Individuals with Autism
For children and adults with autism, smell sensitivity or taste sensitivity is not as simple as not liking a particular scent or flavor and just ignoring it or choosing something else.
People with autism with food sensitivity, for example, may suffer from certain nutritional deficiencies and have poor eating habits, which means their sensitivity can affect their physical health.
If a person with autism smells something unpleasant for them and it becomes overwhelming, this can lead to anxiety and panic attacks. This can happen anywhere and could cause distress to the individual with ASD and those around them.
Sensory sensitivities affect a person’s communication as they might find it hard to fully process auditory information, especially in noisy environments. They may also affect a child’s academic performance as they can be easily distracted by flickering lights, humming air conditioners, or tapping pencils. Because of how overwhelming these sensitivities can get, individuals with autism may even choose to skip events altogether to avoid sensory overload and possible meltdowns.
How You Can Help Someone with Sensory Sensitivities
True, having sensory sensitivities can be very difficult. The good news is that some coping strategies can help manage them. Here are a few ideas you can try at home:
Turn Your Home Into a Sensory-Friendly Environment
You may not be able to do this on a larger scale, but you can at least do it at home. Create a sensory-friendly space that promotes calmness and relaxation. This could mean you’d have to make some tweaks to better accommodate their sensitivities. You could change your lights to dimmable ones, invest in noise-cancelling devices, soundproof their bedroom with foam panels and carpets or rugs, and more..
Prepare Sensory Foods for Autism
Communicate with your loved one’s therapist and nutritionist so you can create a sensory diet that involves food items with different textures and flavors. This may be met with negativity, but strategies like turning mealtime into a game and offering rewards for trying something new could work.
Minimize Visual Clutter at Home
Clutter may also add to the sensory overload your loved one with autism has. Keep things organized and choose neutral colors for your furniture and decor. Remember that the goal is to build them a soothing environment that can lessen sensory stimulation.
Create a “Safe Space” for Them
If your space at home still permits, have a designated room or corner where your loved one with ASD can retreat to whenever they feel overwhelmed by lights, noises, and other stimuli.
Try Gradual Exposure
You can try to slowly desensitize your loved one by encouraging them to have messy play time and introducing one new sensory food for autism each week. You can also get them clothes in different types of fabric.
Your Loved One with Sensory Sensitivities Need Support
If you have someone you know with autism and smells, sounds, textures, and tastes often bother them, they likely have sensory sensitivity that needs management. Steady Steps ABA can provide the right intervention program that can help your loved one navigate their unique sensory world.
Our board-certified and licensed behavior analyst and the rest of our team at Steady Steps ABA in Kansas are dedicated to honoring the unique needs of each individual with autism that we support. Reach out to us to know how we can help you and your loved one through this amazing journey!
