A Thousand Thoughts

This info dump is brought to you by Hilary’s brain, accumulated lightbulb moments, and the letter P.

There are actually eight sensory systems in the human body, and the three that don’t get talked about are possibly the most important for neurodivergent people.

I’d never heard of the first and second terms until several years ago when I was introduced to the world of paediatric occupational therapy.  I knew of vestibular only as balance, and had no idea it and the others had anything to do with the nervous system, and the experience of bodily and mental wellbeing.

Knowing where your body *is*, in space, in your environment, in the relationship of one part of the body to another – that’s proprioception, and discovering that this is a THING was a game changer for us. I had no idea that what is often called ‘sensory seeking’ is the body’s very clever attempt to get more proprioceptive input, but when you’re a kid feeling figuratively lost in space, you don’t know how to go and get what you need. Or, you do, but jumping, pushing, climbing, and landing hard on things often equals getting in trouble for being too rough and generally not doing what you’re supposed to.

One of my kids has great difficulty with interoception which means their brain doesn’t receive messages from their other senses and sensations in their body, and can mean ignoring or not realising hunger cues, being too hot or cold, needing to go to the toilet, or generally interpreting and integrating what’s going on inside of them and when there’s a need to change something. Confusingly, it can (and does in this case) be coupled with hypersensitivity to some sensations which makes them completely overwhelming. Small injuries or even touch can be experienced as strong pain.

Activation of the vestibular system through spinning or fast movement can be overstimulating or actually regulating. It’s different for everyone and won’t be the same in every situation for that person, anyway.

When lack of awareness of the body’s call for a shift in one of these things flips to sudden awareness, I, and at least one of my kids, experiences that sensation like a flood through the entire body and mind. It is overwhelming and commands attention to the exclusion of everything else, including the ability to moderate vocal tone and volume, exercise patience, and even coordinate movement of the body. That will get you in trouble too.

My unqualified and anecdotal opinion is that for every kid being told off at school or home, there’s a strong chance that kid is just doing their best to operate according to their own neurobiological make up, and sensory and processing needs. Add to that, if you don’t know about it, RSD (rejection sensitivity dysphoria) and alexithymia. There are qualified and neuro-affirming occupational therapists out there that are doing good things in peeling back these layers. However, I bet you that most people you know, including teachers, have very little understanding of these three sensory systems. A teacher friend recently said ‘how have I not heard of this stuff?’. Because they were never taught it. Because every system we’ve interacted with for our kid is stuck in the past, and is resistant to catching up with lived experience backed up by a whole lot of evidence. We are failing so many kids.

The odd thing is that I was not one of those disruptive kids. The total opposite. But one of my kids is, or would be if they were in those unsuitable environments. The kids I found so hard to be around at school (because of my sensory overwhelm from their sensory hyperactivity) were probably these kinds of kids. I was really not okay in school but I could survive. I would never have guessed that there were any similarities between them and me, and that we were all struggling with an environment and structure that really wasn’t working very well for any of us. It’s almost a stereotype – me the compliant neurodivergent girl flying under the radar, my child the uncontainable neurodivergent boy.

And there you have it, an informative and useful Autistic infodump.

Hilary

A Thousand Thoughts

Blog http://www.athousandthoughts.net

[Photo ID: a number of brightly coloured foam blocks and play couch cushions, a small wooden climbing frame, and an orange inflatable peanut-shaped gym ball, arranged on and around a couch in the loungeroom. They take up all the space, which we have chosen to consciously accept and encourage, because we are making our environment suit us.]