It’s a condition that affects how your brain processes sensory information (stimuli). Sensory information includes things you see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. SPD can affect all of your senses, or just one. SPD usually means you're overly sensitive to stimuli that other people are not.

Types of sensory input:

We have 8 sensory systems, they all contribute to our daily functioning and engagement with the world. Some of these systems are more ‘known’ and others may be new for you.

1. Tactile-what you feel (touch).

2. Visual-what you see.

3. Auditory-what you hear.

4. Gustation-what you taste.

5. Olfactory-what you smell.

6. Proprioception-body awareness. This is the ability to know where you are without using your sight. If you close your eyes and touch your nose successfully that’s because of your proprioceptive system.

7. Vestibular-where you are in space, this input comes from movement and head position. Your vestibular system lets you know if you are upright or hanging upside down.

8. Interoception-how you ‘feel’. This is input that lets you know you are hungry, thirsty, need to use the restroom, that your heart is beating fast, that you are hot or cold, etc.

It’s the input we receive from these 8 systems constantly during our day that our brain is receiving and interpreting. Some people may be under-responsive to input, others may be over-responsive.

Hypersensitive and hyposensitive:

Hypersensitive means that you are more sensitive (over-responsive) to input than others. This may look like covering your ears when loud music is turned on because it is too loud. Or struggling with the feeling of your clothing, even to the point of not being able to wear clothes.

At times we refer to people that are hypersensitive as avoiders, they want to avoid certain types of input because they are more sensitive to them.

Hyposensitive means that you are less sensitive (under-responsive) to input than others. Meaning you may want and crave more input to feel regulated and fulfilled. This may look like constantly moving, spinning, jumping, or playing rough with others. At times we refer to people that are hyposensitive as seekers. It is not uncommon for someone to be both hypersensitive and hyposensitive at the same time. This can change day-to-day as well. For example, someone may be hypersensitive to touch and struggle with the texture of their clothing, but be hyposensitive to proprioceptive input and seek out more rough play and heavy work where their muscles are being engaged.

What does SPD look like?

Example 1-The ‘avoider’ You’re at a family gathering. Everyone is chatting, having a good time. You are getting ready to sit down at the table to enjoy a meal together and realize your little one is nowhere to be found. After a few minutes, you find them in a back room, lights off, cuddled with their favorite blanket. You might ask yourself why they decided to leave all the fun? Wouldn’t they rather be playing with their cousins and grandparents?

In this case, your child may be displaying ‘avoiding’ behavior. Perhaps they became overstimulated from all the noise (auditory input), the number of activities going on (visual input), and possibly by the smells of dinner cooking (olfactory input).

Their system is on overdrive taking in the intensity and amount of input, and they became overstimulated. In this case, your child noticed and decided to retreat. Good for them! They had the insight that they were overwhelmed (even though they might not verbalize this to you) and instead of completely losing it out in the living room they decided to give themself a break.

They went to a room with little visual stimulus, which was quieter, and wrapped up in a blanket giving deep pressure to themselves which helps to calm the nervous and sensory systems.

Maybe you've been in this scenario yourself. Perhaps you also become overwhelmed when a lot is happening around you so you understand. Or maybe you are on the other end and thrive off of all the action in which case you might not relate as easily to what your child is feeling in this moment.

Example 2-The ‘seeker’ It’s a beautiful sunny day and you go to the park. Your child loves the park, the slides, the swings, the monkey bars, all of it!

While at the park your child moves quickly between the different toys, jumping, falling, crashing as they go. They can spend hours on the swings, maybe even spinning endlessly on the tire swing. They don't seem to notice when they fall or bump into something. They appear to have the energy of the Energizer Bunny and go non-stop.

Simply put this child is ‘seeking’. They appear to crave and need increased input to fulfill their system. Swinging, slides, jumping all give input into the vestibular system. Crashing, falling, monkey bars, and climbing all provide great proprioceptive input.

In the case of the seeker, they tend to be hyposensitive to input and need more throughout the day.

Example 3-Both It’s dinner time and your family has sat down to enjoy a nice meal. Your child takes one look at their plate and pushes it away. You’ve made mashed potatoes and chicken. And for your sensory kid, the mashed potatoes are too lumpy and the texture of the chicken is too ‘stringy’ or the food is too close together and touching.

But earlier in the day you had to change their shirt because they were chewing on their collar to the point it was soaked through. They often chew on the eraser of their pencils including the metal part, batteries, etc

This can be confusing, they are a picky eater but chew on everything. They seem to need more input to their mouth but struggle with certain foods.

They are seeking the deep proprioceptive input that chewing can offer, but are avoidant (hypersensitive) to certain textures.

This child is demonstrating both oral seeking and avoiding behaviors.

Remember, there are many different ways that seeking and avoiding behavior can be displayed and these are just three examples.