Autism Home Learning

Many of our children and young people who experience sensory processing differences may be supported with sensory strategies. In this post I outline some of these strategies - this post links with posts on sensory differences and sensory ideas & activities. First of all it may be helpful to consider each of the sensory systems and the possible hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity some individuals experience - (see post on sensory differences). The following examples illustrate sensory strategies you could try at home: Visual hypersensitivity - calming Visual hyposensitivity - alerting Use sunglasses or tinted lenses, especially in bright lights. Be aware of visually ‘busy’ areas in the home & limit visual items. Try lamps instead of overhead lighting. Keep information on worksheet clear & simple, reduce visual details. Try visually stimulating apps (see sensory ideas & activities for examples). Touch screens. Visually stimul...

Many autistic children, young people and adults process sensory information differently and as a result we may see unusual responses to sensory information in their behaviours.  Sensory processing consists of the following: 1) messages are received from our senses 2) our brains interpret and organise the sensory information received 3) processing of sensory information leads to our response. Sensory processing is going on all the time: Sensory processing in individuals with autism is thought to be different. These differences manifest in different ways for different individuals. For many individuals, the messages the brain receives are perceived differently: Hypersensitivity/over-responsive - imagine sensory information entering the brain through a magnifying glass, resulting in too much sensory input Hyposensitivity/under-responsive - in this case sensory information may not be received by the brain, or is dulled, resulting in limited sensory input Sensory-seeking/unus...