Sensory Hypersensitivity and/or Hyposensitivity in Autism
They enjoy and seek all sort of movement and can spin or swing for a long time without being dizzy or nauseated. Autistic people with vestibular hyposensitivity often rock forth and back or move in circles while rocking their body.
Proprioceptive hyposensitivity: They have difficulty knowing where their bodies are in space and are often unaware of their own body sensations (e.g., they do not feel hunger). Children with hypoproprioceptive system appear floppy, often lean against people, furniture and walls. They bump into objects and people, stumble frequently, have tendency to fall. They have a weak grasp, drop things.
Delacato (1974) was one of the first researchers to suggest that hyper- and hyposensitivities experienced by autistic children caused all autistic behaviors, viz. withdrawal from social interaction, communication, stereotypic behaviors. He called these behaviors sensoryisms (sensorisms: blindisms - visual "isms", deafisms - auditory "isms", etc.) and considered them as the child's attempts to treat himself and either normalize his sensory channels or communicate his problems.
Autistic individuals often describe their stims as defensive mechanisms from hyper- or hyposensitivity. Sometimes they engage in these behaviors to suppress the pain or calm themselves down (in the case of hypersensitivity), sometimes to arouse the nervous system and get sensory stimulation from the outside (in the case of hyposensitivity), and sometimes to provide themselves with internal pleasure.
Very often, therefore, these self-stimulatory behaviors, which are defined by non-autistic people as "bizarre behaviors" (such as rocking, spinning, flapping their hands, tapping things, watching things spin, etc.), can be viewed as involuntary strategies the child has acquired to cope with 'unwelcome stimulation' (hypersensitivity) or lack of it (hyposensitivity). That is why, no matter how irritating and meaningless these behaviors may seem to us, it is unwise to stop them without learning the function they serve and introducing experiences with the same function.
The stereotypies caused by sensory hyper- or hyposensitivity can involve one or all senses. If we interpret these behaviors, we will be able to imagine (if not fully comprehend) how the child perceives the world and help the child develop strategies to cope with these (often painful) sensitivities.
References
Delacato, C. (1974). The Ultimate Stranger. Noveto, CA: Academic Therapy Publications.
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