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Autism and the 8 Senses
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One of the traits of Autism are sensitivities to sensory stimuli. This means we are particularly sensitive to bright lights and loud noises, as an example. We can be both sensory avoidant and sensory seeking, hypo or hyper sensitive.
To gain a deeper understanding of what this looks like in autistic individuals, we’re going to examine the five senses, including vocal/verbal stimming. We’ll also take a look at three additional “senses,” we all experience, but might not be aware of, as well as how each exists with stimming.
If you’re unaware of what stimming is, I covered it in my last post when explaining repetitive movements as they are basically stimming. And stimming is “the repetition of physical movements or articulated noises exhibited by people, in reaction to a mental or emotional state.”
Alright, now we can move on to the senses.
The 5 Senses
Visual (Sight)
The visual sense has to do with our eyes and what we see around us. As an autistic person visual stimuli is often the most triggering, but one that I’m the least aware of. Crowded spaces like shopping malls are visually overstimulating for me and often leave me feeling overwhelmed and…
