When my son was a baby, toddler and young child, he had the most difficulties with bright lights, loud noises and smells. A family dinner with lots of noise and several people wearing perfume or cologne was enough to set off a hissy fit over the "littlest" thing. Eventually I figured out that he couldn't sit beside anyone with musk perfume and placed people around him at the table very carefully, but this was only a hit and miss solution. Then to the surprise of my sisters-in-law, I asked them not to wear perfume when they came to visit, explaining that their perfume set my son off. They thought this was a little weird, but complied, and this solved the problem.
My son wore sunglasses and hats for years, trying to block out the light and has always preferred to play in the shade outside. When he was in Grade 5 unfortunately, his teacher decided to get the children's attention by flicking the classroom lights on and off. This drove him crazy, but he solved the problem himself by closing his eyes when she did this.
When my son was very young I tried to teach him how to make mud pies. He couldn't stand the feeling of the mud on his fingers and to this day, he hates working with papier mache projects. He will insist on eating a sugar donut with a fork because he doesn't like picking it up with his fingers.
Many children and adults have a limited diet due to the problems of taste, texture and the smell of food. I have heard of some children who will only eat "pink" food, and certainly, my son is an extremely "picky" eater. Other parents have told me that I am not alone in this battle to get my son to eat anything other than junk food. After years of battling over cooked vegetables, my son and I have reached a truce. He will eat a variety of raw vegetables as long as he has a yogurt dip to go with them.
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