Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome

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Autism: An Inside-Out Approach
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Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism
and Asperger Syndrome
Different Sensory Experiences
– Different Perceptual Worlds
Olga Bogdashina
Forewords by Wendy Lawson and Theo Peeters
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and New York
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether
or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the
written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England
W1P 9HE. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any
part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result
in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
The right of Olga Bogdashina to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2003
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, England
and
29 West 35th Street, 10th fl.
New York, NY 10001–2299, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © 2003 Olga Bogdashina
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 84310 166 1
Printed and Bound in Great Britain by
Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
I dedicate this book to my dearest children,
Alyosha and Olesya.
Being their mum is the best experience I’ve ever had.
Acknowledgements
My warmest thanks to

all the autistic individuals who are willing to share their insights
in order to help us understand this fascinating world of autism
the parents who gave me their permission to use their children’s
drawings in this book
the autistic children and teenagers I have had the privilege to
work with for trying really hard to teach me to communicate
with them
my husband, Nigel Bath, for tolerating my ‘absence’ from his
life during my ‘writing hours’
my beautiful children, Alyosha and Olesya, for their
unconditional love, support and understanding.
Contents
FOREWORD 11
Wendy Lawson
FOREWORD 13
Theo Peeters
Introduction to the Problem 19
1 Sensory Dysfunction or Different Sensory Experiences? 25
2 Perception 30
Sensory systems
What is perception?
Sensory perceptual development
3 Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 44
What is the autistic way to perceive the world?
‘Literal perception’
Inability to distinguish between foreground and background information
(‘Gestalt perception’)
Hypersensitivity and/or hyposensitivity
Inconsistency of perception (fluctuation)
Fragmented perception (perception ‘in bits’, stimulus overselectivity)
Distorted perception
Sensory agnosia (difficulty interpreting a sense)
Delayed perception (delayed processing)
Vulnerability to sensory overload
4 Perceptual Styles 83
Mono-processing
Peripheral perception (avoidance of direct perception)
Systems shutdowns
Compensating for unreliable sense by other senses
Resonance
Daydreaming
5 Cognitive Styles 98
Subconscious, unconscious and preconscious cognitive processes
Preconscious (indirect) style versus conscious (direct) style
Attention in autism
Memory in autism
Concept formation. Categorization. Generalization
Perceptual thinking
‘Inertia’ (executive function deficit)
Imagination
6 Other Sensory Conditions 119
Synaesthesia
Prosopagnosia (‘face-blindness’)
Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD)
Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome (SS/IS)
Sensory integration dysfunction
7 Treatments 143
Auditory Integration Training (AIT)
Irlen method
Behavioural optometry
Holding therapy
‘Hug machine’
Sensory integration therapy
Aromatherapy
8 Sensory Perceptual Profile 160
9 Recommendations: Rainbows and Umbrellas 170
Conclusion 181
APPENDIX 1: SENSORY PROFILE CHECKLIST REVISED (SPCR) 184
APPENDIX 2: KEY FOR DECODING THE CHECKLIST 195
APPENDIX 3: PHOTOCOPIABLE RAINBOW AND TABLE 199
REFERENCES 200
SUBJECT INDEX
AUTHOR INDEX

Foreword
When I was asked to write a foreword to this book I felt excited and
honoured. To read a book that puts forward ‘our case’ as autistic individuals is still a rarity. Although there is a wealth of books about ‘autism’ there
is still so little that discusses our ‘sensory issues’ and their associations with
cognitive style. This book is an important resource for both professionals
and families relating to and living with autistic individuals. It is only in
understanding that our knowledge can make sense of the world we all live
in. Knowledge that is only ‘academic’ fails to move us along in any practical sense of the word and will fall short of imparting confidence to those
who need it. This book aims to present a balanced view of how an autistic
individual might be experiencing life, what his or her experience may be
and how this experience may change over time. It is frank, to the point and
paves the way to a fuller picture of ‘personal autism’.
Many a time autistic individuals have been ‘pushed’ beyond their
limits of sensory endurance. Often this is due to those relating to them not
having understood how ‘painful’ it is to be overloaded by too much sound;
visual stimulation; emotional or/and physical demand and environmental
expectation. Those who read this book will now be able to access further
the understanding necessary to prepare sensible and thoughtful
programmes for any intended intervention or timetable. No longer will
there exist any excuse for those who are involved in the daily activities of
relating to an autistic individual to be ill prepared.
This book explores the outcomes of monotropic or single channelling:
a constant state of being that is at the very core of what it means to be
11
autistic; a state of being that non-autistic individuals can experience on
occasion when they are focused to the max or perhaps taken up with an
overwhelming thought or feeling, such as pain. The book considers the
impact literality might have upon cognition. What if you couldn’t separate
an idiom from its literal translation? Might you feel terrified if someone
said he had ‘laughed his head off ’? It demonstrates the extremes of
emotion an autistic individual might travel through. Even today there is
still literature that will tell you autistic individuals lack ‘feeling’! This idea
has been responsible for much of the abuse and misunderstanding that we
have encountered as autistic people.
I still come across the thinking that allows an individual to say ‘Oh she
is doing that for attention’ or ‘He does understand what I’m saying, he is
just too lazy to co-operate’. As autistic individuals we might not have the
luxury of choosing to shift our attention. We might not even know what
‘lazy’ means. Such concepts are exploited more often by non-autistic
individuals who know how to forward think, plot, plan and deliver! At
times our very state as autistic individuals seems to threaten the
neuro-typical (non-autistic) world because we show you up for who you
are. Please don’t be part of the ‘us’ and ‘them’ syndrome. Don’t succumb to
ignorance and typical thinking. Take the time to get to know ‘autism’.
Take the time to get to know us.
In a world that promotes inclusion and equal rights for all, what has
happened to our ‘right’ to be autistic? What has happened to our ‘right’ to
be heard? I think it has been buried under fear and ignorance for far too
long. This book adds to the growing collection of works that is helping to
address the ignorance behind the inappropriate dealings of others, i.e.
those individuals who have not considered what it might mean to be an
autistic individual. For those of you who have instinctively ‘known us’ this
book will confirm your knowing and increase your confidence. To all who
choose to relate to us using the knowledge outlined within the pages of
this book, thank you. You are the individuals who will make a constructive
difference to the quality of both of our lives.
Wendy Lawson
Counsellor, autism consultant and author
12 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Foreword
My hearing is like having a hearing aid with the volume control
stuck on ‘super loud’. It is like an open microphone that picks up
everything. I have two choices: turn the mike on and get deluged
with sound, or shut it off. (Temple Grandin)
His mother says that he has to vomit whenever he smells
cheese…And he says that his teacher stinks.
In my total horror of sounds, the sound of metal was an exception. I
really like it. Unfortunately for my mother, the doorbell fell within
this category and I spent my time obsessively ringing it. (Donna
Williams)
It hurts if he touches buttons, zippers or anything in metal, but he
may lay his hand upon a hot stove without feeling pain.
I was hypersensitive to the texture of food, and I had to touch everything with my fingers to see how it felt before I could put it in my
mouth. I really hated it when food had things mixed with it, like
noodles with vegetables or bread with fillings to make sandwiches. I
could NEVER, NEVER put any of it into my mouth. I knew if I did I
would get violently sick. (Sean Barron)
He says it hurts when he has a haircut, he refuses to take a shower,
because it hurts, but he has a bath without problems.
Always the same problem: these kids have no education…
13
They really need to learn to be like everyone else…
Only give them to me for a week and I’ll show them…
Thirty years ago, when I became more and more interested in autism, I
started (as everyone, I think) reading the scientific literature and learned a
lot, in a rational way.
But when I listened to the stories parents told I learned about aspects of
autism that were more or less neglected by the official literature. Whereas
the first type of information hit my brain, the second hit my heart. And I
think that real understanding should include heart and brain together.
In recent years I have a similar feeling when I read books written by
high functioning people with autism. Their understanding of autism is
from within and they treat themes that are less well documented in the
scientific literature. We can learn a lot from them (as they can learn a lot
from us), about autism and sensory problems.
When, for example, I invited Gunilla Gerland (‘A real person’) a few
years ago for conferences to the Opleidingscentrum Autisme (Centre for
Training on Autism) in Antwerp and when I asked her about the themes
she preferred to talk about, she answered that she certainly wanted to have
a conference about sensory problems. Professionals in autism, she said,
seem to focus too much on the triad.
What professionals see as ‘autistic’ usually is – for natural reasons –
what they can see, not what the autistic persons experience. Many
people with Asperger syndrome/high functioning autism define
their sensory processing problems as more disabling than the deficits
in communication/social behaviour.
For our audience her conference on sensory problems really was an
eye-opener.
In that period I also read Autism: An Inside – Out Approach by Donna
Williams, who wrote that her problem in infancy was not so much that she
did not understand the world, but that she could not stand it, because she
was so often bombarded with an overload of sensory information.
Then I thought: if people with autism find this so important and if we
understand these problems so little, then I have to study sensory aspects in
autism more and write about it. And then came along this book written by
14 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Olga Bogdashina (I do not have to write it anymore) and I like it so much
that I’m a little bit jealous of not having written it myself.
Without mentioning the name ‘Iceberg approach’ she uses the same
ethical approach towards autism as we do (I learned it at the TEACCH state
program during my internship in North Carolina in l979–l980). Basically
it means: if you deal with ‘challenging behaviours’ in autism, do not focus
too much on the behaviours themselves, they are just like the tip of the
iceberg (the biggest part of the iceberg is invisible); do understand the
underlying causes of the behaviours and try to develop an approach not
based on symptoms but on prevention. Challenging behaviours are caused
by problems of communication, social understanding, by different
imagination, by sensory problems… Therefore try to understand autism
‘from within’. It is easier said than done, because it requires an enormous
effort of imagination: we need to learn to put ourselves in the brains of
autistic people and then we will understand better through their eyes the
obstacles in their attempts to survive among us.
This is also the basic orientation in Olga Bogdashina’s book: she gives
a lot of scientific information, but she also gives the word to the ‘natives’,
the ‘born experts’ and all this with an attitude of enormous respect. For a
better future cohabitation with people with autism we will indeed need to
learn to look at life through ‘the Asperger lens’.
My teachers think they know more about autism than me because
they have been on a course. But I have been autistic all my life!
(Mathew Stanton)
‘Trying to understand autism from within’ is the first axis of our approach
to understanding autism. In the first instance you need to try to share the
mind of someone who is different.
I read Olga Bogdashina’s manuscript when I was writing an article on
‘Autism and the search for meaning’. I tried to explain how beyond
behaviours that many people would call bizarre we may find a desperate
search for meaning (e.g. beyond ‘mindblindness’, echolalia, echobehaviour, detail thinking, repetitive and stereotyped behaviours, etc.). If
you try to understand these ‘odd behaviours’ from within then you see that
they may also have important functions for the people with autism
themselves and that they are much less ‘bizarre’ than what people without
Foreword 15
the ‘Asperger lens’ would think. It makes me happy when I read Olga’s
analyses of so many sensory problems and how she shows (with the help
of ‘the native experts’) how many behaviours have a protective function.
Parents often say that the hardest thing to bear is that so many behaviours
seem to have no meaning or function. Once they understand the cause of
the behaviours they are less difficult to accept.
Donna Williams says about sensory issues of autism that they are like a
private heaven under her own responsibility, but like a hell under the
responsibility of others.
When I was a small child my threshold for processing blah-blah was
only a few seconds. When I was about ten or so, my threshold for
processing blah-blah was about five to ten minutes.
It is in these circumstances of extreme stress that people with autism start
humming, rocking, looking at turning objects, flapping hands and arms
(‘sensorisms’, Olga calls them): ‘self stimulatory behaviours’, involuntary
strategies the child has learned to cope with difficult situations (hypersensitivity) or lack of stimulation (hyposensitivity). Olga Bogdashina writes
that it is unwise to stop these behaviours, however irritating and meaningless they seem. First we have to try to find out which functions these
behaviours serve, so that we can replace them with experiences with the
same function.
The second axis of our approach to understanding autism is ‘the
adaptation of the environment’.
We might also define it as ‘trying to get people who live in chaos out of
the chaos, so that they find some meaning and/or order. We have also
called it ‘pre-education’ or ‘creating circumstances where learning
becomes possible’. As the quotes by Gunilla Gerland and Donna Williams
(and so many other ones in this book) suggest: adapting to the sensory
environment (and developing ‘a sensory diet’) is one of the essential
elements of this ‘pre-educational approach’. If people with autism have to
live continuously in an environment that does not take into account their
sensory sensitivity then they live in an atmosphere that makes me think of
‘posttraumatic situations’. In such situations neuro-typical people also
develop acute sensory problems. Information overload may lead to sensory
and emotional hypersensibility and therefore to a situation of chronic
16 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
stress ‘…it was not so much that I did not understand the world, I could
not stand it…’. People who are not protected enough and who
permanently have to fear that their central nervous system might crash are
not in a position to learn difficult things and to face extra challenges.
I have selected a few fragments from Autism: An Inside – Out Approach
when Donna Williams talks about an ideal educational environment:
My ideal educational environment would be one where the room
had verylittle echo or reflective light, where the lighting was soft
and glowingwith upward projecting rather then downward projecting lighting… It would be an environment where the educator’s
volume was soft, so that youhad to choose to tune in rather than
being bombarded…
It would be an environment that took account of mono and
sensory hypersensitivity and information overload and didn’t
assume that the educator’s perceptual, sensory, cognitive, emotional
or social reality was the only one…
There are many things that people with autism often seek to
avoid: external control, disorder, chaos, noise, bright light, touch, involvement, being affected emotionally, being looked at or made to
look. Unfortunately most educational environments are all about the
very things that are the strongest sources of aversion.
There’s still a lot of work ahead, don’t you think?
Though this book is not the first to be published on sensory issues, I
consider Olga Bogdashina a pioneer. With a monk’s patience she has
puzzled together so many testimonies of high functioning people with
autism, she gives so many deep insights… Some people may say that some
of the information may not be scientifically validated yet, but do you blame
Icarus for flying too high? And isn’t it extremely important that someone
brings together all of this information and intuition to be researched later
on? If the need of this type for information is so urgent, then there is no
time to lose, no time to wait until every little detail has been scientifically
proven.
One does not blame a blind child for not being able to name colours.
And yet, youngsters with autism continue to be blamed despite their
distorted, slower, faster perceptions… Many professionals, despite the
evidence, continue to believe that many of these problems are of
Foreword 17
psychological, not of physiological origin. An educational approach,
supplemented with sensory ‘treatment’, is not a question of how many
hours, but of ‘which perceptual world’ we inhabit.
Learning how the senses of each individual with autism function is a
crucial key towards understanding this person. (O’Neill)
I agree completely with Olga Bogdashina when she says at the end:
Stop trying to change them into ‘normals’. Help them to cope with
their problems and how to survive within the community.
Theo Peeters
Director of Centre for Training on Autism, Belgium
18 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Introduction to the Problem
Since the first identification of autism in 1943 (Kanner), a lot of research
has been carried out to study this condition from different perspectives.
What has not been taken into account by the experts in the field, however,
is the opinion of the ‘native experts’ – autistic individuals themselves.
Despite the fact that many people with autism have tried to communicate
their views and insights, these attempts have mostly passed without much
professional notice, one of the reasons being that their views and insights
seem unconventional to the majority of people (so-called ‘normal’ people).
In this book I try to show that ‘different’ does not mean ‘abnormal’ or
‘defective’. ‘Normalcy’ is a very relative term, as the ‘norm’ is often applied
to the performance of majority, and it is more justifiable to term it ‘typical’.
To avoid having to use the term ‘normal’, autistic people at Autism
Network International, founded by Jim Sinclair and Donna Williams in
1992, have introduced a new term – ‘Neurologically Typical’ (NT) to
describe non-autistic people.
Here I deliberately use the term ‘autistic people’ rather than ‘people
with autism’ because autism is not something that is just attached to them
and cannot be easily removed. I am aware of the ‘people first, then
disability’ approach. However, without autism they would be different
people, as being autistic means being different. If people with autism
prefer to name themselves autistic why should we be shy to call them that?
Just to show them our respect? There are other ways to do it. Autism is not
something to be ashamed of. To draw a parallel, should we call Russian
people as ‘people from Russia’ to show that we respect them despite the
19
fact that under the communist party regime the policy of that country was,
to put it mildly, incorrect.
For autistic people, autism is a way of being. It is pervasive, it colours
every experience, every sensation, perception, thought, emotion – in
short, every aspect of existence (Sinclair 1993). They do not respond in the
way we expect them to, because they have different systems of perception
and communication. Bob Morris (1999) calls it a different set of SPATS –
Senses, Perceptions, Abilities and Thinking Systems – that are not in the
same spectral range as NT individuals. Of course, it is very difficult to
communicate with someone who uses a different ‘language’ (and autistic
people are ‘foreigners’ in any culture). But it is wrong to use non-autistic
methods to teach and treat autistic children. It is sure to fail and may
sometimes even damage their lives.
We have to give up our conventional non-autistic assumptions and let
them teach us about their communication systems in order to build bridges
between the two worlds. We follow Donna Williams’s recommendation of
the way to help people with autism: ‘If you have a camel which is finding it
hard to walk under the weight of all the straws on its back, the easiest way
to make it easier for the camel to walk is to take as many straws off its back
as possible’, and not to train ‘…the camel to walk or appear to walk whilst
carrying the straws. To take the straws off the camel’s back, you have to do
two things. One is to identify them and second is to know how to remove
them’ (Williams 1996, p.87).
At present, as there are no known medical tests to indicate autism, the
diagnosis is based on the presence of the specific behaviours (DSM-IV,
ICD-10), namely impairments of social interaction, communication and
imagination, known collectively as the Triad of Impairments (Wing
1992). However, these behaviours are seen as a cluster of purposeful
compensatory reactions caused by some fundamental impairment(s) and
cannot be considered as primary features. These behavioural characteristics, though very useful for diagnosis, do not tell us much about why
autistic people exhibit them and how they experience the world. That is
why it is no use trying to eliminate these behaviours without identifying
underlying causes, no matter how much these ‘bizarre reactions’ interfere
with teaching or treatment of autistic children.
20 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Since Kanner’s identification of autism (1943) different theories of the
probable deficits in autism have emerged. Since the 1970s the main
emphasis has been on the cognitive development of autistic children and
different theories of cognitive deficits have been originated: ‘theory of
mind’ (Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith 1985); central coherence theory
(Frith 1989); executive functioning deficit theory (Ozonoff 1995) and
some others. All these theories suggest that low-level perceptual processes
are intact in autism and information processing up to the point of
interpretation by a central system can be assumed to be normal in autism
(Frith 1989).
At present it is commonly recognized that there are many possible
causes of autism and some researchers distinguish several types of autism
(‘autisms’), all of which result in the same behavioural patterns
(impairments of social interaction, communication and imagination).
Though many different problems can produce similar symptoms, what
defines autism is a specific combination of these problems reflected in the
Triad of Impairments. There is scientific evidence that deficits in
information processing, both perceptive and executive, is found in all
persons within the autistic spectrum, though the role of sensory perceptual
problems is still very controversial.
Although in the 1960s–70s the idea of possible sensory perceptual
abnormalities as one of the core features of the disorder was put forward
(Rimland 1964) and the theory of sensory dysfunction formulated
(Delacato 1974), till recently it has been ignored by the researchers. What
makes one wonder, is that, though unusual sensory experiences have been
observed in autistic people for many years and are confirmed by autistic
individuals themselves, they are still listed as an associated (and not
essential) feature of autism in the main diagnostic classifications.
Although a number of works have appeared recently highlighting
perceptual abnormalities in autism, to date these possible abnormalities
and their role in causing autistic behaviours have not been systematically
investigated. More research work is needed to find out whether perceptual
problems are core features in the fundamental impairment(s) in the autistic
condition, which senses are affected, the intensity with which the senses
work, etc.
Introduction to the Problem 21
This book attempts to reconstruct the sensory world of autism in order
to help understand the way autistic people experience the world, because
very well-meaning specialists are often ‘failing people with autism…[and]
most [autistic people] have not been helped at all, many have felt degraded
and some have been harmed’ (Gerland 1998), due to misunderstanding
and misinterpretation of the condition. This is the attempt to describe
possible sensory experiences (not always necessarily abnormalities) based
on the personal accounts of autistic people. If we can understand the causes
of certain behaviours, we can accept these behaviours. If we know what to
look for, it will be easier for us to understand the person’s problems and
abilities and to find appropriate methods to identify and remove the
‘straws’ from the camel. Moreover, understanding of the way autistic
people experience the world will bring respect to people with autism in
their attempts to survive and live a productive life in our world instead of
the lack of acceptance often exhibited by the public.
What is lacking in most studies on the sensory dysfunction in autism is
the opinion and views on the problem of the autistic people themselves.
Bob Morris (1999) calls it ‘the original error’ of the investigations, i.e.
trying to reconstruct the ‘autistic world’ using the methods and
perceptions of non-autistics. To avoid this error the personal accounts and
communications should be seen as the main source of information about
this condition. Our approach is to listen to autistic individuals who are
willing to communicate and explain how they experience the world and
not to assume that only our views are right because we are specialists/
parents. It is the same as if I said to you, ‘Sorry, but you speak English with
an accent. Let me teach you English pronunciation. It doesn’t matter that I
am Russian. I am a linguist so I know better than you how to speak your
language properly.’
In this book the term ‘types of sensory dysfunction’ is replaced by the
term ‘types of sensory experiences’, as not all the experiences turn out to be
‘dysfunctional’ or ‘defective’ but rather ‘different’ or ‘showing superability’ (for example, synaesthesia, ‘resonance’, ‘daydreaming’, ‘acute
vision/hearing’ etc.) and might be considered as strengths rather than
deficits.
Before we discuss the possible patterns of sensory perceptual
experiences in autism it is necessary to give a brief explanation of why the
22 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
role of these differences should not be ignored (Chapter 1) and to consider
briefly the general concepts and issues, such as sensory systems and
perception in general (Chapter 2). In Chapters 3 and 4 the possible sensory
experiences and perceptual styles in autism are discussed. As sensory
perceptual differences affect cognitive processes, we will further
investigate how these perceptual differences are reflected in the differences
of thinking (Chapter 5). Each descriptor is followed by a ‘what to look for’
section, to help with the identification of this particular characteristic with
the ‘behaviours on the surface’. Sometimes we cannot explain the
behaviour because we do not know what might cause it. I hope the
descriptions of the behaviours will help find the answers to some ‘why
does he do this’ questions. While reading the descriptions and especially
explanations and experiences given by the autistic authors, I would advise
the reader to do two things: first, try to simulate these autistic sensory
experiences in order to imagine at least what it could be like for them, and
second, think of any autistic person you know. Is it about him or her? Does
his or her behaviour make sense now?
Other sensory conditions, which are quite common in autism, are
described in Chapter 6. The possible sensory experiences and perceptual
styles are classified into 20 categories. These are by no means a complete
set of the descriptors. Further research (and co-operation with autistic
individuals) is needed. However, I feel, it would be a good start to
achieving an understanding of a sensory world of autism.
After ‘exploration’ of the sensory world we move to the consideration
of different treatments to eliminate sensory perceptual problems,
supplemented by discussion of the limitations and strengths of different
approaches and techniques addressing sensory perceptual difficulties
experienced by people with autism (Chapter 7) and then to the ‘rainbows’
– special graphs that will help identify possible different experiences of
each child in order to work with him ‘on his territory’ (Chapter 8). (The
Sensory Profile Checklist is included at Appendix 1; it is designed to
identify areas of strengths and challenge for autistic individuals.) The
Sensory Perceptual Profile suggested in the book is aimed to assess the
impact of these difficulties on each individual and to initiate relevant
strategies and environmental changes to facilitate more effective
functioning. In Chapter 9 are some ideas to help interpret the behaviours
Introduction to the Problem 23
caused by sensory perceptual differences and identify the sensory
perceptual difficulties of autistic individuals.
Throughout the book, examples are offered to illustrate different
phenomena.
24 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Chapter 1
Sensory Dysfunction or Different
Sensory Experiences?
In recent decades, different conceptions of autism have appeared, which
highlight sensory perceptual abnormalities as the basis of core features of
the disorder. Some researchers describe autism as a disorder of the senses
rather than a social dysfunction, where each sense operates in isolation and
the brain is unable to organize the stimuli in any meaningful way
(Hatch-Rasmussen 1995). It has been hypothesized that all symptoms of
autism are simply a consequence of the brain injury that makes brains of
autistic children perceive inputs from the world differently from
non-autistic brains. Autism is sometimes defined as sensory dysfunction
(Delacato 1974), a sensory integrative disorder in which the brain is not
able to attach meaning to sensations and organize them into percepts and
finally into concepts (Ayres 1979), etc. Unusual sensory experience is
claimed by some authors to be a primary characteristic feature able to
account for the basic symptoms of autism, considered to be essential
according to DSM-IV and ICD-10. Thus, abnormal perceptions might
give rise to high levels of anxiety, this in turn results in obsessive or compulsive behaviours, thus making the more commonly accepted criteria, in
fact, secondary developmental problems (Delacato 1974).
Though, it is not as simple as that and the syndrome of autism is far too
complex a phenomenon to be explained by differences in sensory
experiences, sensory perceptual problems do play an important role in
autism. The indirect evidence comes from the research in the fields of
sensory deprivation and visual and/or auditory impairments. Sensory
25
deprivation studies (Doman 1984) show that sudden and nearly complete
deprivation of stimulation through the five senses can lead to autistic-like
behaviours (withdrawal, stereotyped movements, etc.). The symptoms of
sensory deprivation in animals and many autistic symptoms are similar as
well: animals confined to a barren environment are excitable and engage in
stereotyped behaviours and self-injury (Grandin 1996b).
The research in the field of visual impairments (Cass 1996) has shown
that some similar patterns of behaviour occur in children who are blind
and in those who are autistic: impairments in social interaction,
communication, stereotyped movements. Gense and Gense (1994) have
shown the many ways in which the behaviours of children with autism and
those with visual impairments are similar. For example, such behaviours as
rocking and rhythmic head banging, spinning objects, or perimeter
hugging (especially in large places) and the need to touch everything in a
room before settling down, are typical for both autistic and visually
impaired children. In autism, this is often considered as obsessional ritual
behaviour without explaining the function it serves. Autistic people argue
that the original cause is of a perceptual nature. Donna Williams, a
high-functioning autistic woman, for example, when asked why she does
this, explained that she had difficulty perceiving herself in relation to her
environment until she had done this; it gave her security by helping
interpret her environment.
Common features have been also observed in the language
development of children with autism and those with visual impairments,
for example, echolalia and pronoun reversal – distinctive features of
‘autistic language’ – are also observed in the language of children with
visual impairments (Fay and Schuler 1980). It is recognized that there is a
critical role for visual stimulation for the development of communication.
Similar ‘autistic’ characteristics are observed in deaf children, though in a
lesser degree.
A possible explanation for this lies in the fact that around 75–80 per
cent of the information about the world comes through vision, so a blind
child has to make sense of or process a very different set of sensory
information, which may develop emotional and psychological problems
and result in ‘autistic’ behaviour. The researchers (Cass 1996) assume that
the autistic-like picture observed in a proportion of blind children arises
26 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
from the same core deficit as that in sighted autistic children. Thus, the
following characteristics (Cass 1996) might be ‘normal’ for blind children:
absence of eye contact; referential eye gaze and pointing; repetitive
behaviours; language abnormalities; orienting behaviours (for instance,
smelling, touching objects, etc.). There arises a question: Are autistic
children ‘blind’ in a way, i.e. is their perception distorted?
Though blindness means there is an absence of visual information
about the world, it affects all levels of functioning. To draw a parallel, one
might assume autism means there are distortions of visual/auditory/
gustatory/olfactory/tactile information about the world. Whereas the
blind/the deaf/the deaf-blind have other senses (that work properly) to
compensate their lack of vision or hearing, and ‘see’ through their ears,
nose and hands, or ‘hear’ through their hands and eyes, autistic people
often cannot rely on their senses as all of them might be affected in some
way.
It is worth learning how autistic individuals themselves consider the
role of sensory perceptual difficulties they experience. The personal
accounts of autistic individuals reveal that one of the main problems they
experience is their abnormal perception, and many autistic authors
consider autism as largely a condition relating to sensory processing
(Gerland 1997; Grandin 1996a, b; Grandin and Scariano 1986; Lawson
1998; O’Neill 1999; Willey 1999; Williams 1992; and others). For
example, J. G. T. VanDalen (1995) believes that the true invisible
deep-rooted cause of all social and emotional problems is of a perceptual
nature, and autism, to be really understood, has to be seen above all as a
perceptual deficit. For Donna Williams (1992; 1996; 1998), her
expressive difficulties were secondary and sprang from the primary
inconsistencies in her perception of the world around her. Temple Grandin
(1996a, b), one of the most famous autistic individuals, states that some
episodes of difficult behaviour were directly caused by sensory difficulties
and hypothesizes that there is a continuum of sensory processing problems
for most autistic people, which goes from fractured disjointed images at
one end to a slight abnormality at the other.
In the Geneva Centre for Autism (Walker and Cantello 1994) a survey
was conducted to gain more insights into sensory experiences of autistic
people: autistic people were asked to complete the survey anonymously
Sensory Dysfunction or Different Sensory Experiences? 27
through the Internet. According to the data obtained, 81 per cent of
respondents reported differences in visual perception, 87 per cent in
hearing, 77 per cent in tactile perception, 30 per cent in taste and 56 per
cent in smell. All these data give some evidence of the possible role of
distorted sensory perception in autism.
Autistic people understand that they are different in early life, but they
do not know why. It is no wonder that they are often unaware that they
perceive the world differently because they have nothing else to compare
their perception with. Bob Morris (1999) explains: ‘if you are born with
different perceptions, you have no way of knowing your individual
perceptions are not the same as the other 99% of the population, until your
differences are called to your attention’. The first realization of the nature
of their differences comes in late teens or even later. For example, it took
Liane Willey, a woman with Asperger syndrome, many years before she
realized that she did and thought many things that others did not, then she
saw how peculiar her world was – not wrong or embarrassing or
unessential – just different.
To illustrate the idea of misidentification and misunderstanding of
autistic people by non-autistic individuals Bob Morris (1999) uses Hans
Andersen’s story ‘The Ugly Duckling’. A swan egg became misplaced into
a duck’s nest. As it grew, it was seen as a poor performing odd duck. But in
time, and after correct identification, the swan was shown to be physically
more stately, majestic and powerful than any duck could even hope to be.
The author concludes that if we recognize that we all have complementary,
weak and strong capability patterns in our respective SPATS, the autistic
person can have life, not life-support, for life. Morris’s advice to
professionals is to include SPATS in the diagnosis check-off and to teach
the all-wise ducks how to recognize, handle and develop a swan, instead of
trying to mould the swan into a defective duck. Many autistic authors
emphasize that there are beneficial ‘side-effects’ of autism that could far
outweigh the negatives (Kochmeister 1995; Grandin 1996a, 1999;
O’Neill 1999; Sinclair 1992; Williams 1994).
The fact that autistic people share common systems of perception and
thinking is confirmed by many autistic individuals: they report that they
have very few problems communicating with and understanding people
‘of their own kind’ (Dekker 1999; Williams 1994). Though there are
28 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
plenty of varieties in their perception, in general autistic people are no
more all different than non-autistics when SPATS are considered as a
whole (Morris, 1999). As the systems work differently their responses to
sensory stimuli are ‘normal’ (from the autistic point of view), though
different and unconventional, and not abnormal or defective.
It seems wrong to use non-autistic methods to treat autistic individuals.
There are always two ways to look at things: the non-autistic way and the
autistic way (Bovee). Our task should be to understand the second way.
In the next chapter, we briefly discuss the general concepts we will use
throughout the book, namely sensory systems and perception, and
compare the sensory perceptual development of autistic and non-autistic
children.
Sensory Dysfunction or Different Sensory Experiences? 29
Chapter 2
Perception
Sensory systems
The importance of sensory experiences is undeniable. The French philosopher, Etienne Bonnet Condillac (1715–1780) claimed that judgement,
reflection and understanding originated in sensations. To illustrate the role
of the senses in the shaping of the mind he described a marble statue that
was given first the sense of smell, then taste, then tactility and finally
hearing and vision; and the statue came to life. She generated ideas, exhibited feelings and made judgements.
To begin to understand how we sense and perceive the world, we must
know how sensory mechanisms are constructed and how they operate to
convey sensations, i.e. experiences caused by stimuli in the environment.
The senses operate through specialized sensory organs.
Sensory organs, or receptors (organs or cells able to respond to an
external stimulus such as light, heat, etc. and transmit signal to a sensory
nerve), can be classified into exteroceptive (relating to stimuli produced
outside an organism) and interoceptive (relating to stimuli produced
within the organism) receptors. Exteroceptive sense organs are divided
into distance (or far) senses (vision, hearing, olfaction) and contact (or
near) senses (gustation and tactility). Interoceptive cells operate within the
body, for example, proprioceptors (relating to the position and movements
of the body).
Traditionally we distinguish the following sensory systems:

vision – the faculty of seeing
hearing – the faculty of perceiving sounds
30
vestibular system – refers to structures within the inner ear that
detect movement and changes in the position of the head
olfaction (the sense of smell) – the faculty of perceiving odours
or scents
gustation (the sense of taste) – the faculty of perceiving the
sensation of a soluble substance caused in the mouth and throat
by contact with that substance
tactile system – the faculty of perceiving touch, pressure, pain,
temperature
proprioceptive system – the faculty of perceiving stimuli
produced within an organism, especially relating to the
position and movement of the body.
Sense organs transform sensory stimuli, such as light, sounds, odours,
flavours, touch, into electrical/chemical nerve signals, which are identified, put together and interpreted in the brain. The signals from each
sensory organ are processed in specialized areas of the brain. Most of the
sensory information (except smell) passes through the thalamus and then
to the opposite hemisphere of the cortex for further processing.
Olfaction (the sense of smell)
The olfactory system is the primary sensory channel in infancy. Olfactory
receptors are located in the nostrils on the olfactory epithelium and deal
with odour molecules in the air. There are about 10 million smell receptors
in the nose, of at least 20 different types. Each type detects a different
range of smell molecules. The receptors respond quickly to minute chemicals in the air, but they also adapt to them in a very short time so that the
intensity of the smell is lost very quickly. The nerve signals pass along the
olfactory nerve to the smell centre in the brain that processes the electrochemical signal pattern and identifies the smell.
Smell differs from other senses in two ways. First, it is the only sense
that goes straight to the amygdala (limbic system) and then to the cortex,
without ‘visiting’ the thalamus – the central relay station from which
sensory signals are transferred to regions of the cortex specialized for each
Perception 31
sense. Second, unlike other senses, it does not go from each nostril to the
opposite hemisphere but passes uncrossed to the same hemisphere.
Smell plays an important role in the way we taste.
Gustation (the sense of taste)
The receptors of taste are taste buds (taste receptors) on the tongue, inside
the cheeks, on the roof of the mouth and in the throat. We have between
2000 and 5000 taste buds which are subdivided into several categories of
the primary tastes: sweet (near the tip of the tongue), salty and sour (on the
sides of the tongue), bitter (on the back of the tongue) and spicy. The
middle of the tongue, sometimes called the tongue’s blind spot, has no
taste buds. The tongue can also sense temperature and texture.
The sense of taste is not very strong without the sense of smell. That is
why we do not seem to feel any taste when we have a cold and our sense of
smell is blocked. The senses of smell and taste are often called chemosenses
because they operate in very similar ways: the sense of taste deals with
chemicals in liquids and the sense of smell with chemicals in the air.
Vision
The sense organs of vision are the eyes. The function of the eyes is to
receive light and let it in to the nerve endings (the sight receptors) at the
back of the eyes (the retina).
The place on the retina where the nerve endings of the rods and cones
form the optic nerve and its blood vessels join the retina is called the blind
spot because there are no light-sensitive cells on that part of the retina and
the eye does not receive light here. To find the blind spot look at one of the
crosses (Figure 2.1) with one eye only. Slowly move the book towards your
face. At some point, one of the crosses will seem to disappear. It is when the
image falls on the blind spot.
32 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Figure 2.1 Blind spot
Perception 33
Box 2.1 The eye
There are three layers of the eyeball:
The sclera is the outer layer (the ‘white’) of the eye
that protects the eyeball. The cornea is the
transparent horny part of the anterior covering of the
eyeball.
The choroid is the middle layer of the eyeball, which
has blood vessels and brings oxygen to the eye.
The retina is the inner layer of the eye, made up of
light receptors. These light receptors are of two types:
rods and cones. Rods are sensitive to dim light.
Cones are sensitive to bright lights and colours.
Light enters the eye through the pupil. The iris (the coloured
area around the pupil) controls the amount of light entering the
eye.
Directly behind the pupil is the lens. The eye’s lens, like any
other lens, inverts the visual image upside-down. Thus, we
receive ‘upside-down pictures’ on the retina. It is the brain that
turns them the ‘right way up’.
The function of the lens is to focus the light rays. The ability
of the eyes to adjust the focus by thickening or flattening of the
lens is called accommodation. In normal sight, the light rays are
focused on the retina. However, sometimes the cornea and lens
do not focus correctly. In myopia (short-sightedness) light from
distant objects focuses in front of the retina and images on the
retina are blurred. In hypermetropia (long-sightedness) light
from nearby objects focuses behind the retina and images are
blurred.
Between the cornea and the lens is a jelly-like liquid called
the aqueous humour that helps to keep the eyeball firm.
Directly behind the pupil and lens there is the yellow spot
on the retina, where the most cones are located.
The brain learns to compensate and fill in missing parts of the image
using information from the colours and shapes around it.
Each eye’s visual field covers a slightly different area and each eye sees
an object from a slightly different angle. The brain combines these
different views of an object into one image. Seeing with two eyes is called
binocular or stereoscopic vision.
Electrical signals are carried along the optic nerve from each eye and
cross over at the optic chiasma, so that the signals from the right side of the
left eye and the right side of the right eye go to the right hemisphere and
the signals from the left side of each eye go to the left hemisphere.
The visual cortex of the brain consists of many areas, each processing
different aspects of sight, such as colour, shape, size, motion, depth,
distance, etc. Thus, each visual element is processed by a different brain
area.
Hearing
The sense organs of hearing are the ears.
The sound information from each ear goes to the auditory cortex of the
opposite hemisphere.
Vestibular system
The sense organs of balance and gravity (vestibular system) are located in
the inner ear. These are three semicircular canals, covered with
endolymph. These organs pass messages to the brain about movement and
changes in the position of the head: when we move our head, spin, lie
down, etc. the endolymph presses on the nerve endings behind the wall of
each canal and sends the message to the brain.
The sense of balance is backed up by our vision and by the
proprioceptors. It is much more difficult to balance on one foot with the
eyes closed. When we spin, we often feel dizzy because the brain receives
confusing messages about the position of the body. It takes time for babies
to develop coordination between the sense of balance, sight and
proprioceptors.
34 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Perception 35
Box 2.2 The ear
The ear consists of three parts – the outer ear, the middle ear and
the inner ear.
The outer ear
The pinnae (broad upper part of external ear) is used for catching
and directing sound waves into the ear. The auditory canal is a
short tube leading from the pinnae to the eardrum (a tightly
stretched membrane closing off the outer ear). When sound
waves travel down the auditory canal they make the drum vibrate.
The vibrations pass along to the middle ear cavity.
The middle ear
There are three little bones – the hammer, the anvil and the
stirrup – that form a chain across the middle ear. The vibration of
the eardrum causes the vibration of these three little bones which,
in turn, causes the oval window (another membrane in the inner
ear at the opposite side from the eardrum) to vibrate.
The Eustachian tube is a passage communicating between
the middle ear and the back of the throat (larynx), and serving to
equalize air-pressure on both sides of the eardrum.
The inner ear
The vibration of the oval window causes the perilymph (a fluid
in the inner ear) to vibrate and to produce the vibration in the
endolymph (a fluid surrounding auditory nerve endings) and
send electrochemical information along the auditory receptors to
the brainstem and through the thalamus to the auditory cortex of
the temporal lobe for further processing.
Proprioception
The proprioceptive system (kinaesthetic sense) receives the information
from contracting and stretching muscles, bending and compression of
joints, and provides awareness of body position. Receptors in muscles,
tendons and joints inform the brain about the position and posture of the
body. Proprioceptors also identify the right amount of pressure to pick up
something light or heavy.
Proprioceptive information is processed in many different brain areas.
Tactility
The sense of touch is one of the first senses to develop; it develops in the
uterus. The sense of tactility plays an important role in receiving information about the environment and in exhibiting protective reactions.
The sense organ of tactility is skin. There are five different types of
tactile receptors in the different skin layers: for light touch, for pressure, for
pain, for heat and for cold.
Different types of touch receptors respond to different kinds of stimuli.
For example, Pacini’s endings respond mainly to pressure; Merkel’s and
Meissner’s endings react to touch and small, fast vibrations; Ruffini’s
endings detect changes in temperature and pressure; nociceptors are
primary receptors of pain caused by extreme temperature, pressure and so
on.
Millions of tactile receptors are scattered all over the skin, more highly
packed in some places, for example, the fingertips, making them very
sensitive, and with less density in others, for instance, the back. When
tactile receptors are stimulated by touch, heat, cold or vibration they send
the signals to the special areas in the brain.
When we get dressed we can feel our clothes on the skin, but then the
feeling fades. This fading of sensation is called habituation. It is the same
with smell and taste. If the senses are exposed to a continuing stimulus,
habituation soon occurs. When the stimulus changes, the feeling returns.
Like with smell and taste, tactile receptors display habituation to a
continuous stimulus. That is why we do not feel the clothes we are wearing
and become aware of them only if we change or adjust them.
36 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
What is perception?
Everything we know about the world and ourselves has come through our
senses. All our knowledge therefore is the product of what we have seen,
heard, smelt, etc. The process by which an organism collects, interprets and
comprehends information from the outside world by means of senses is
called perception. The process of perception has several stages. It starts
with sensation. This is an elementary process incapable of analysis; it takes
no account of any external object, being simply feeling. Sensations possess
quality, intensity and duration. They may be broadly divided into affective
(pleasure, pain) and representative (taste, touch, smell, heat). At the level of
the perceptual (literal and objective), there is no understanding that things
can have meaning beyond what is perceptually available (Powell 2000).
Once the incoming information has passed through special areas in the
brain the sensory perceptions are joined with appropriate cognitive
associations and are bound to general types of things in memory
(concepts). For example, the perception of a pen is joined with the concept
of writing:
Sensory perceptual development
A baby is not born with knowledge and strategies ready-made for perceiving the complexities of environmental stimuli. This ability develops with
age. After birth, the baby’s interaction with the environment immediately
becomes a source of knowledge. Infants acquire information about the
world and constantly check the validity of that information; the process
defines perception: extracting information from stimulation (Gibson
1969).
Perception depends on both learning and maturation. Babies are not
given the perceptual world with all its categories at birth. They actively
create it through their experiences, memories and cognitive processes. For
Perception 37
Stimulus Sensation Interpretation
(Percept)
Comprehension
(Concept)
A pen
(an object)
A long thin
cylindrical
plastic thing
A pen I can write with it
babies, even their own body does not exist as a whole, rather as ‘separate
organs such as hands, mouth, arms and belly’ and they know ‘nothing of
the various parts being related together’ (Tustin 1974, p.60). Gradually
babies learn to ‘feel self ’ and control their body parts to produce
meaningful movements.
The baby has to learn how to see, to hear, etc. Thus, vision or hearing
means the ability to receive sights or sounds, but this ability does not
include comprehending visual images and sounds. We have to learn how to
see and hear with meaning. We develop our visual and auditory processing
skills and achieve the comprehension through interaction with the
environment. Babies are learning how to discriminate different stimuli
from a chaos of sounds, shapes, patterns, movements, and in the first
months of their lives infants achieve the ability to make fine
discriminations between the slightest variations in colour, form, sound, etc.
Babies also have to learn how to get and store the information from their
senses. They actually learn how to use their sensory organs and connect
sensory images with meanings.
If the perceptual processes are functioning appropriately, the infant is
able to ‘make sense’ out of the environment. On the other hand, distorted
sensory input becomes distorted information (Ornitz 1983; 1985). If one
(or several) of the senses is lost (for example, sight or hearing), the other
senses develop to compensate and create the balance. However, the
sensory perceptual worlds of blind or deaf people are very different from
the sensory perceptual world of people without these disabilities. It is not
enough to shut the eyes or ears to imagine how they experience life. Here
we can talk about different perceptions, different languages, and even
different cultures.
For example, the blind live in a tactile/auditory/olfactory/gustatory
world without any visual perceptions. Their experiences are based on their
interaction with the world through the senses available to them. This is by
no means a dysfunctional world. It is rather a completely different world.
Instead of visual images, they have tactile-motor concepts. Their
perception of space and time is different. They perceive distance by time –
by how long it has taken to reach or pass objects. The blind compensate the
lack of vision by other senses (often very acute) and reconstruct their
38 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
‘visionless’ world rich in sound images, tactile and olfactory ‘pictures’ that
is very difficult for sighted people even to imagine.
In his book An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks writes about a man
named Virgil who had been blind for 45 years. When his sight was
restored, the results were very surprising (and in many ways
disappointing). Virgil could see but he could not interpret what he saw. He
was still ‘blind’ to the meaning of visual stimuli. He could reach the ‘visual
meaning’ if he touched the objects, i.e. using his tactile system. He could
‘see’ with his ears, nose or hands much better than with his eyes. He had to
learn to connect visual experiences with meaning. As his world had been
built up with other senses, Virgil had great difficulty in learning how to use
his eyes – he would attend visually only if he was asked to. Without visual
experience and visual memory, he had problems recognizing objects,
animals or people. He could not even distinguish between a circle and a
square if he was not allowed to touch them. Virgil was ‘mentally blind’ –
able to see but not to decipher what he was seeing (Sacks 1995).
Extraneous information that came through his eyes that was not backed up
with visual experiences and visual memories brought only confusion into
his perception. This ‘foreign’ information interfered with his ability to
interpret the environment. He could ‘see’ better without his eyes!
Problems similar to Virgil’s may be experienced by congenitally deaf
people whose hearing is restored later in life. Initially they find themselves
in the world of chaotic sounds, which they are unable to interpret
(‘mentally deaf ’). It takes them a long time to learn to use their ears and
attach meaning to auditory images. They have to learn to ‘translate’
auditory stimuli into visual/olfactory ones in order to learn their meaning.
Those whose vision or hearing is restored at a younger age, have fewer
problems with adjustment to their new perceptual world. Thus, the timing
when perceptual problems are handled is very important.
Some autistic children may require to be taught how to see using their
eyes, how to hear using their ears, how to eat and how to move. Jim Sinclair
(1992), a high-functioning person with autism, emphasizes that simple,
basic skills such as recognizing people and things presuppose even
simpler, more basic skills such as knowing how to attach meaning to visual
stimuli. Understanding speech requires knowing how to process sounds,
that, in turn first requires recognizing sounds as things that can be
Perception 39
processed, and recognizing processing as a way to extract order from
chaos. Autistic individuals may experience problems acquiring these skills.
More complex functions such as speech (or any kind of motor behaviour)
require the ability to keep track of all the body parts involved, and to
coordinate all their movements. Producing any behaviour in response to
any perception requires monitoring and coordinating all the inputs and
outputs at once, and doing it fast enough to keep up with changing inputs
that may call for changing outputs (Sinclair 1992). Autistic children do not
seem to possess these basic, taken for granted by us, abilities.
So how do we learn to use our senses in order to make sense of the world
around us? Eleanor Gibson (1969) identifies three trends in perceptual
development:

Increasing specificity of discrimination. Maturing organisms restrict
their reactions to a stimulus, i.e. they respond only to the true
stimulus or a close approximation. Youngsters show a steady
increase in the precision and consistency of their
discriminations and they also manifest a constant reduction in
the time needed to discriminate.
The optimization of attention. Perception is an active process that
changes developmentally. Children of the early childhood age
are vigorously active, and their perceptual processes are now
more searching than the passive perceptual responses of
infancy: their eye movements, for example, no longer fixate on
a single spot of an object but follow its contour seeking
distinctive features. They select needed information from
complex stimuli, thus demonstrating attention to relevant and
disregarding irrelevant stimuli. Changes in ability to attend to
wanted information and ignore the irrelevant occur with age.
Increasing economy in information pickup. Combining the first two
of these developmental trends helps to explain growing
perceptual sophistication. Youngsters learn to discriminate an
object by focusing on the fewest possible features that
distinguish it. If they can isolate some invariant, i.e. a feature
that remains constant over time, they have drastically improved
their perception of an object. They thus increase their ability to
40 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
process several objects or events simultaneously because they
see relationships and can form structures, which facilitates
retention and economical recall.
The real world and the perceived world (i.e. our mental image of the world)
differ. All the information we receive from our senses is constructed (pieced
together) in our brain. Our brain cannot process all the stimuli present;
therefore, it selects the key aspects of the scene while the rest of the world
falls into the background. That is, the process of perception is an active
process, guided by the brain. Moreover, it is a two-way process: information from the sense organs (relatively raw material) is influenced by the
‘inside information’ (the information we have stored and adjusted to our
earlier experiences).
What is more, with age we often tend to ‘distort’ what we perceive even
more because we often add to our perception by ‘seeing’, ‘hearing’, etc.
what we expect to see, hear, etc. in certain situations. These expectations are
based on our experience and knowledge. We do not have to examine the
flat vertical surface with a handle every time we see it, to know that this is a
door and we can open it to get into the house. A lot of ‘perceptual
constancies’ stored in our brain help us to move in our world with
confidence and certainty and ‘save the time’ for other cognitive processes
(solving problems, planning activities, etc.).
Our interpretation (‘seeing’) of the world is based on our imagination,
memory and experience. For instance, we know from our past experience
the size of objects and people. We use this knowledge to ‘see’ and interpret
things and people we are confronted with at present. As a result, the final
picture (multi-sensory: visual, auditory, olfactory, etc.) is inevitably
distorted, without our even realizing that our ‘perceived world’ is not a
true copy of the real one. Looking at the three people in the picture (Figure
2.2), we know that the person who is farthest away should look smaller. If
this person looks of the same height, we interpret it as if he or she is the
tallest even though the three of them are exactly the same. This is an
example of visual illusion. However, we may experience illusions in any
sensory modality.
Illusion is defined as erroneous interpretation of something really
existent and actually perceived by the senses. Some illusions arise from
imperfect knowledge or perception, others from a disordered condition of
Perception 41
42 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Figure 2.3 A vase or two faces?
Figure 2.2 Which person is the tallest?
the senses, as when someone sees two objects where one exists. In contrast
to hallucinations, illusions are errors of perception and/or construction,
rather than false constructions (Carter 1998).
We may distinguish several types of illusions:
Illusions caused by some physiological and/or mechanical
processes, for example, blind spot; the halo effect (when
brightness persists after bright light has been switched off due
to residual firing of the light receptors in the retina).
Illusions caused by ‘filtering foreground and background
information’, when our perception depends on what we have
picked as a foreground image, for example, a vase or two faces
(see Figure 2.3).
Cognitive illusions – caused by cognitive interpretation of the
perceived stimuli, for example, when we ‘see’ what we expect to
see.
‘Seeing’ or ‘not seeing’ visual illusions provides an objective and replicable
way of examining visual-constructive capacities of the brain (Sacks 1995).
Oliver Sacks quotes the case of S.B., a blind person whose vision was
restored when he was in his fifties. S.B.’s responses to visual illusions were
very peculiar. ‘Physiological illusions’, such as parallel lines that seem to
diverge because of the effect of diverging lines on them, were seen as
parallel by him. Reversing figures (‘filtering illusions’), such as cubes and
staircases drawn in perspective or ambiguous figures, did not reverse for
S.B. and were not seen in depth. He had no ‘figure-ground fluctuation’ and
saw one ‘image’ without changing from foreground to background perspective. Sacks interprets S.B.’s failure to ‘see’ the illusion as evidence of
rudimentary visual constructions and absence of early visual experience.
Thus, there is always something of us in our interpretation of stimuli.
Our response is not objective. It depends on our previous experiences,
interests, motivation, etc. Besides, our perception is also influenced by our
culture. And though every brain constructs the world in a slightly different
way from any other because every brain is different, the ways it operates
are similar for non-disabled people. Even with perceptual differences, we
see sufficient similarity to agree that a book is a book, a cat is a cat, etc.
Perception 43
Chapter 3
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism
What is the autistic way to perceive the world?
Learning how each individual autistic person’s senses function is
one crucial key to understanding that person. (O’Neill 1999, p.31)
Though autistic people live in the same physical world and deal with the
same ‘raw material’, their perceptual world turns out to be strikingly different from that of non-autistic people. It is widely reported that autistic
people have unusual (from a non-autistic point of view) sensory perceptual
experiences. These experiences may involve hyper- or hyposensitivity,
fluctuation between different ‘volumes’ of perception, difficulty interpreting a sense, etc. All these experiences are based on real experiences, like
those of non-autistic people, but these experiences may look/sound/feel,
etc. different, or they may be interpreted differently. We think about the
world in a way we experience it and perceive it to be. Different experience
brings a different stock of knowledge about the world. So can we be sure
that we are moving in the same perceptual/social, etc. world if our reconstructions of it are so different? Can we be sure that we see, hear, feel, etc.
exactly the same things? How can we know that only our ‘perceptual
version’ of the world is correct and theirs is wrong? Whatever the answer
to these questions it is worth remembering that autistic people cannot help
seeing and hearing the ‘wrong thing’, and they do not even know that they
see or hear the wrong thing (Rand). ‘Normal’ connections between things
and events do not make sense for them, but may be overwhelming, confusing and scary.
44
What makes the matter even more complicated is that no two autistic
people appear to have the exactly same patterns of sensory perceptual
experiences.
We can distinguish some features of ‘autistic perception’ of the world,
based on the testimonies of high-functioning autistic individuals and close
observation of autistic children. Below we will discuss the most commonly
reported perceptual phenomena.
These experiences are not unique. We all may ‘feel strange’ sometimes
and have similar experiences now and then, especially when tired or
drugged. What is unique about these experiences in autism is their
intensity and continuity: these experiences are ‘normal’ for them.
‘Literal perception’
Most things I take at face value, without judging or interpreting
them. I look at them in a concrete, literal, and very individual way. I
do not normally integrate things or see them as connected unless I
actively look for a connection. I do not ‘draw’ connections, I assign
them consciously, based on reasoning and usefulness. All my associations are consciously formed, and may be consciously severed.
(Blackburn 1999, p.10)
Autistic people seem to perceive everything as it is. It is sort of ‘literal perception’, for example, they may see things without interpretation and
understanding (literal vision). Professor Snyder, who studies the phenomenon of autistic savants, suggests that autistic people look at the world the
way it actually is.
A very good example of our inability to actually see the world the way
it is without the brain’s interference with the process is the way we
interpret so-called impossible objects. Looking at the top part of the figure
(Figure 3.1), we interpret it as a construction with two columns. However,
if we change the perspective and look at the bottom, we ‘change our mind’
and conclude that there are three columns. As we know that this is
impossible (though our eyes tell us the opposite), we arrive at the
conclusion that this is an impossible object.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 45
Inability to distinguish between foreground and background
information (‘Gestalt perception’)
It was like having a brain with no sieve… (Williams 1994, p.42)
There is much evidence that one of the problems many autistic people
experience is their inability to distinguish between foreground and background stimuli (inability to filter foreground and background information). They often are unable to discriminate relevant and irrelevant stimuli
(Gibson’s first two stages of perceptual development). What is background
to others may be equally foreground to them; they perceive everything
without filtration or selection. It is often hard for the autistic person to
integrate what they are experiencing into separate and unique entities
(Joan and Rich 1999), to ‘break’ the whole picture into meaningful parts.
Delacato (1974) discovered that some autistic children (‘hypervisual’
in his classification) are not fooled by optical illusions and identified it as
one on the visual ‘isms’. Several theories have appeared trying to explain
the phenomenon of ‘optical disillusions’ in autism: the theory of ‘probable
46 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Figure 3.1 Impossible object
prediction’ (Feigenberg 1986) and the modification of the ‘weak central
coherence theory’ (Frith 1989) to low levels (Happe 1996).
Feigenberg (1986) suggests that what we see (hear, feel, etc.) is mostly
something we are expecting to see (hear, feel, etc.). The brain does not need
to process all the stimuli; it just ‘fills in the gaps’ and ‘predicts’ the final
picture. That is why we are prone to illusions. This ability of the brain to
‘see’ before actually seeing is not restricted to vision. The same can be
observed with other senses, for example, we can ‘hear’ or ‘feel’ what we are
expecting to hear or feel.
Happe (1996) interprets low susceptibility to illusions in autistic
individuals as evidence of weak central coherence, as visual illusions
require processing of information in context, i.e. holistically. If autistic
people perceive everything in fragments and focus on these fragments
without integrating them with the surrounding illusion-inducing context,
one might expect them to succumb less to the typical misperceptions
(Happe 1996). A recent study (Garner and Hamilton 2001), however, has
questioned the proposition of universal weak central coherence in autistic
people. Garner and Hamilton (2001) demonstrated that some autistic
individuals (all nine autistic participants in their study) are able to
experience visual illusions and implement central coherence, and some of
the participants experienced it even before the non-autistic ones. The
researchers conclude that the idea that weak central coherence dominates
all perceptual experience of autistic individuals is incorrect.
The results of the study of Ozonoff et al. (1994) have also questioned
the weak central coherence in autism. They reveal that the autistic group
demonstrated no particular difficulty processing global features of a
stimulus, nor did they exhibit superiority in processing local features,
relative to the two matched control groups, one with Tourette syndrome
and the other developmentally normal. Ozonoff et al. (1994) hypothesize
that autistic individuals do indeed focus on details at the expense of seeing
the big picture, but do this at a conceptual, rather than a perceptual level.
That is, they may have no trouble visually processing the whole picture;
difficulty may only be apparent when the individual elements are
meaningful pieces of information that must be integrated to form a general
idea or understanding at a higher-order conceptual level.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 47
The inability to filter foreground and background information can
account for both strengths and weaknesses of autistic perception. On the
one hand, they seem to perceive more accurate information and a larger
amount of it. On the other hand, this amount of unselected information
cannot be processed simultaneously and may lead to information overload.
As Donna Williams describes it, they seem to have no sieves in their brains
to select the information that is worth being attended to. This results in a
paradoxical phenomenon: sensory information is received in infinite detail
and holistically at the same time. It can be described as ‘gestalt
perception’1
, i.e. perception of the whole scene as a single entity with all
the details perceived (not processed!) simultaneously. They may be aware
of the information others miss, but the processing of ‘holistic situations’
can be overwhelming.
The phenomenon of autistic savants can contribute a lot to the
explanation of ‘autistic perception’. Steven Wiltshire, a well-known
autistic artist, for example, draws pictures of architectural buildings with
minute detail. It has been suggested that this ability is the result of
photographic memory that helps hold the whole scene together. Another
interesting feature of his drawings is that he could start the picture from
any (often insignificant) detail and complete it with ease. Could it be that
for him all these details are one entity? If you want to draw a circle, you can
start from any point and complete it. For people like Steven, who perceive
the gestalt, the starting point does not matter, as for us it does not matter
from what point we start to draw a circle.
Louis, an autistic boy (aged nine at the time) completed his picture of
Humpty Dumpty in ten minutes after having watched a cartoon (Figure
3.2).
Many autistic children, whose drawings though are not so spectacular,
exhibit the same technique of creating a picture. They may start to draw a
car with a wheel, a man with a foot, etc. Gestalt perception may account for
their ‘superability’ to see simultaneously two pictures in one (for example,
well-known ‘vase-faces’ picture). Other ‘disillusions’ (for example, Titcher
circles, etc.) can be accounted for by ‘probable prediction’ deficit
(Feigenberg 1986).
Gestalt perception is often overwhelming and may lead to all sorts of
distortions during the processing of information, such as fragmented
48 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
perception, hypersensitivity, fluctuation between hyper- and hyposensitivity, delayed processing, etc.
It is common knowledge that autistic people do not like changes and
like routines. If a slightest detail is changed (for example, a picture on the
wall is not straight, or a piece of furniture has been moved a few inches to
the side), the whole scene (gestalt) is different, i.e. unfamiliar. For them to
recognize things, things must be exactly the same as they have already
experienced. Only then will they know what to do with them (Williams
1996). The same is true about routines: if something goes differently, they
do not know what to do. The gestalt of the situation is different.
All this results in fear, stress and frustration.
Paradoxically, autistic people have much more trouble with slight
changes than with big ones. For instance, they can cope with going
somewhere unfamiliar much better than with changes in the arrangement
of the furniture in their room. The explanation of this phenomenon lies in
the gestalt perception. Their encounter with new information is a new
gestalt, which will be stored, while any changes in the ‘familiar gestalt’
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 49
Figure 3.2 ‘Humpty Dumpty’. Drawing by Louis, aged nine years old
bring confusion: on the one hand, it becomes a complete ‘new picture’, on
the other hand, in the familiar situation they are confronted with an
unfamiliar environment.
Autistic people may experience gestalt perception in any sensory
modality. A person who experiences visual gestalt has a great difficulty
focusing on a single detail of the scene and finds it almost impossible to
separate it from the whole picture. People with auditory gestalt perception
have a great difficulty to concentrating on one auditory stimulus, for
example, someone’s voice as it goes as a package with all the
environmental noises: fans working, doors opening, somebody coughing,
cars passing, etc. Their ears seem to pick up all sounds with equal intensity.
If they try to screen out the background noise (separate it from the voice
they want to attend to), they also screen out the voice they are trying to
attend. The same problem occurs when several people are talking at once:
it is difficult for them to listen to one voice and screen out the others
(Grandin 1996b). They often feel ‘drowned’ in the ‘sea of background
noise’ and cannot isolate the words of the person they are talking to from
those talking within the room, in the next room, outside, etc. In crowded
places, their brains seem to try to process all the stimuli around them –
what every other person is saying, and what other noises and sounds
coming from all directions mean.
What to look for:
1 Is not fooled by optical illusions
2 Notices every tiny change in the environment
3 Does not recognize a familiar environment if approached from
a different direction
4 Gets easily frustrated when trying to do something in a noisy,
crowded room
5 Does not seem to understand the instructions if more than one
person is talking
6 Is unable to distinguish between tactile stimuli of different
intensity (e.g. light and rough touch)
50 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
7 Is unable to distinguish between strong and weak odours/tastes
8 Clumsy; moves stiffly
9 Resists change to head position/movement
Alex notices every tiny change in the environment (‘The rubber is
under the table’ ‘The picture is not straight’, etc.). I should be very
careful about these changes, as the boy would not do anything unless he
‘puts everything right’; i.e. the way it used to be.
Brad Rand, a high-functioning person with autism gives very good
examples to illustrate this phenomenon:
You seem to learn general things, like shirts hanging in a closet, then
you can process little changes about those things easily and quickly,
like the shirts are still shirts hanging in a closet no matter what order
they’re in, or if one has fallen off its hanger a little, or if pants have
accidentally got mixed into the shirts.
But some people who are different learn specific things, like
when they learn about shirts hanging in a closet, they learn those
exact shirts in that exact order. Anything different that they see next
time is not what they learned. Maybe it is like kids who learn to read
by memorizing the shapes of letters, instead of by phonics. They can
read Sat because they learned s and a and t equal Sat. But they can’t
read Cat, because the c changes everything. (Rand, pp.12–13)
As there is too much information coming in, it is hard to know which
stimuli to attend to. As the stock of knowledge accumulated by autistic
individuals is different, then their attention would also be different.
Here arises the question: Does the explanation of ‘gestalt perception’
contradict the ‘weak central coherence theory’ (Frith 1989) in autism? No,
it does not. The theory of weak central coherence ‘starts working’ at the
next stage of the process of perception when gestalt perception inevitably
leads to distortions and fragmentation, in order to limit the amount of
information to be processed.
Different stages (and styles) of perception can account for the
controversial findings of the studies investigating weak central coherence
and global processing in autism. On the one hand, Embedded Figures
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 51
Tests have been considered as the strongest area where autistic individuals
perform better than non-autistic ones (Joliffe and Baron-Cohen 1997;
Shah and Frith 1993) and the results have been interpreted as an
illustration of weak central coherence in autism. On the other hand, the
recent study (Garner and Hamilton 2001) has challenged this idea and
shown that autistic individuals can see optical illusions, i.e. have the ability
to cohere. The authors interpret these findings as the confirmation of
Happe’s (1999) notion about coherence being a continuum and
representing a cognitive style. Whether it is a cognitive style or a
perceptual style, we cannot talk about a continuum here, as one and the
same person seems to be able to display both styles at different times. Thus
the overflow of sensory information that cannot be filtered and/or
processed simultaneously may cause distortions in perception.
Gestalt perception may result in different sensory experiences and
compensatory strategies (voluntary and involuntary) the person acquires in
order to cope with sensory information overload.
Most commonly reported sensory experiences in autism are:

hypersensitivity and/or hyposensitivity
disturbance by certain stimuli and/or fascination by certain
stimuli
inconsistency of perception (fluctuation between hyper- and
hyposensitivity)
fragmented perception
distorted perception
sensory agnosia (difficulty interpreting a sense)
delayed perception
sensory overload.
Hypersensitivity and/or hyposensitivity
In his book The Ultimate Stranger: The Autistic Child, describing possible
sensory problems in autism, Carl Delacato (1974) classified each sensory
channel as being:
52 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
hyper-: the channel is too open, as a result too much stimulation
gets in for the brain to handle
hypo-: the channel is not open enough, as a result too little of
the stimulation gets in and the brain is deprived
‘white noise’: the channel creates its own stimulus because of its
faulty operation and, as a result the message from the outside
world is overcome by the noise within the system.
Delacato stated that each sensory channel could be affected in a different
way, for example, a child could be hypovisual, ‘white noise’ auditory,
hypo- to tastes and smells and hypertactile.
While recognizing the revolutionary contribution to the understanding of autism made by Delacato, it seems necessary to argue one point
in his theory. Delacato considered that a channel could be either hyper- or
hypo- or ‘white noise’. However, it turns out that often one and the same
person can experience sensory inputs of one and the same channel at
different times from all three of Delacato’s categories – hyper-, hypo-,
‘white noise’ – because the intensity (the volume) with which the channels
work often fluctuates. For example, an autistic boy in my group can watch
‘spots’ and ‘moths’ (small particles in the air), shows great discomfort at
bright lights (Delacato’s characteristics of being hypervisual), while he
often inspects objects by hand, likes mirrors (hypovisual) and has large
pupils, often looks through people and things, dislikes eye contact and has
distorted visual experience (‘white noise’).
While describing their unusual sensory experiences autistic
individuals prefer the term ‘hypersensitivity’. This term is very broad. In
this book ‘hypersensitivity’ means acute or heightened, or excessive
sensitivity; ‘hyposensitivity’ stands for below normal sensitivity. Here the
terms are deliberately narrowed, as it seems more justifiable to distinguish
between different sensory experiences, often conventionally covered by
one term. Below are some examples of hyper- and hyposensitivities of all
the channels experienced by autistic individuals.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 53
Hypersensitivity
Hypervision (seeing ‘invisible’) means that they can see more than other
people, i.e. their vision is too acute. For example, Alex, an autistic child,
often complains ‘Moths [air particles] are flying.’ His vision is so hypersensitive that ‘moths’ often become a background with the rest of his environment fading away. Annabel Stehli (1991, p.186) described her autistic
daughter Georgiana who saw ‘too well’ and everything she saw was magnified; ‘she saw like an eagle’; she saw, for example, every strand of hair
‘like spaghetti…[that] must have been why she’d been so fascinated by
people’s hair’. Jasmine O’Neill (1999) describes an autistic person as the
person who sees what is around him with extra-acute sight.
Hyperhearing (hearing ‘inaudible’) is widely reported. Temple Grandin
(1996b) describes her hearing as having a sound amplifier set on
maximum loudness, and she compares her ears with a microphone that
picks up and amplifies sounds. They might be able to hear some
frequencies that only animals normally hear (Williams 1992). Alex, an
autistic boy, seems to hear noises before other people. He can announce his
dad coming home before anybody else can hear the car turning to the
porch. As noises seem so much louder to him, Alex usually moves away
from conversations and avoids crowded places.
Children with hyperhearing often cover their ears when the noise is
painful for them, though others in the same room may be unaware of any
disturbing sounds at all.
Hypertaste/Hypersmell: Some autistic individuals have olfactory
sensitivities comparable to canines (Morris 1999). For them, ‘almost all
types of food smell too sharp’ and they ‘cannot tolerate’ how people smell,
even if they are very clean. They do not like some food because ‘the smell
or taste’ might be intolerable (Rand). Hypersensitivity to certain stimuli
experienced by autistic people can be compared with allergies (O’Neill
1999). Donna Williams’s allergic reaction to some perfumes made the
inside of her nose feel like it had been walled up with clay up to her
eyebrows, some perfumes ‘burned her lungs’ (Williams 1996).
Some food problems, however, may be caused not by taste or smell but
by intolerance of textures of certain food, sounds it produces or even its
colour. Alex, for example, would never eat any red vegetables or fruit. He
would accept a green apple but never a red one!
54 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Hypertactility is very common among the autistic population. Some
autistic children pull away when people try to hug them, because they fear
being touched. Many children refuse to wear certain clothes, as they
cannot tolerate the texture on their skin. Because their hypertactility
results in overwhelming sensations, even the slightest touch can send them
to a panic attack. Small scratches that most people ignore can be very
painful to them. Parents often report that washing their child’s hair or
cutting nails turns into an ordeal demanding several people to complete it.
Luke Jackson (2002), a teenager with Asperger syndrome, describes his
autistic brother Ben who has real problems with clothes. Ben will now
wear his clothes to go out to school, but as soon as he comes home he
cannot help stripping them off – ‘Hurts!’
For some people it takes many days to stop feeling their clothes on
their body. And unfortunately, when this comfortable feeling (or
‘non-feeling’) has been achieved it is time to wear clean ones, so the
process of getting used to it starts again.
Gillingham (1991) states that this ‘superability’ of autistic people,
when the senses are so finely tuned that they make them acutely aware of
things the ‘normal’ person would not notice, sometimes causes extreme
pain. The researcher hypothesizes that to block this pain the body
produces endomorphins that, in turn, may suppress further sensory
information.
Temple Grandin (2000) suggests that a partial explanation for the lack
of empathy in autism may be due to an oversensitive nervous system that
prevents an autistic child from receiving comforting tactile stimulation
from being hugged.
Vestibular hypersensitivity is reflected in a low tolerance for any activity
that involves movement or quick change in the position of the body.
People with vestibular hypersensitivity experience difficulty changing
direction and are poor at sports. They feel disoriented after spinning,
jumping or running. They often express fear and anxiety of having their
feet leave the ground. Ayres (1979) termed them ‘gravitationally insecure’.
Proprioceptive hypersensitivity is reflected in odd body posturing,
difficulty manipulating small objects, etc.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 55
Hyposensitivity
There might be times when they are not getting enough information, then
their brain can feel empty and stop processing and they do not really see
anything or hear anything. They are just there. Then they might get the
information going again in their brain and nervous system by waving their
hands around or rocking back and forth or making strange sounds or
hitting their head with their hand (Rand).
Hypovision: Some autistic people may experience trouble figuring out
where objects are, as they see just outlines, and even bright lights are not
‘bright enough’ for them. They may stare at the sun for a long time, or walk
around something, running their hand around the edges so they can
understand what it is (Rand).
Hypohearing: We often see children who ‘seek sounds’ (leaning their ear
against electric equipment or enjoying crowds, sirens). They often create
sounds themselves to stimulate their hearing – banging doors, tapping
things, vocalizing.
Hypotaste/Hyposmell: Children with hypotaste/hyposmell chew and
smell everything they can get – grass, play dough, perfume.
Hypotactility: Those with hypotactility seem not to feel pain or
temperature. They may not notice a wound caused by a sharp object or
may seem unaware of a broken bone.
Vestibular hyposensitivity: They enjoy and seek all sorts 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; are often unaware of their own body sensations (for
instance, they do not feel hunger). Children with hypoproprioceptive
systems appear floppy, often lean against people, furniture and walls.
Delacato (1974) was one of the first researchers to suggest that hyperand hyposensitivity experienced by autistic children caused all autistic
behaviours, namely withdrawal from social interaction and
communication, stereotypic behaviours (or stims, or self-stimulations). He
called these behaviours sensoryisms (sensorisms: blindisms – visual ‘isms’,
deafisms – auditory ‘isms’, etc.) and considered them as the child’s attempts
56 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
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
behaviours 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 behaviours (‘sensorisms’), which are
defined by non-autistic people as ‘bizarre behaviours’ (such as rocking,
spinning, flapping their hands, tapping fingers, watching things spin), 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 behaviours
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 behaviours, 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.
In order to recognise the presence of hyper- or hyposensitivities, one
should know what signs to look for. Below are some common signs
indicating the sensitivities in each sensory channel that can be helpful in
compiling a child’s sensory perceptual profile and choosing the methods
and environments suitable for each child.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 57
58 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
What to look for:
Hyper- HypoVision
constantly looks at minute
particles, picks up smallest
pieces of dust
dislikes dark and bright lights
is frightened by sharp flashes
of light, lightning, etc.
looks down most of the time
covers or closes eyes at bright
light
is attracted to light
looks intensely at objects or
people
moves fingers or objects in front
of the eyes
is fascinated with reflections,
bright coloured objects
runs a hand around the edge of
the object
perimeter hugging
Hearing
covers ears
is a very light sleeper
is frightened by animals
dislikes thunderstorm, sea,
crowds, etc.
dislikes haircut
avoids sounds and noises
makes repetitive noises to
block out other sounds
bangs objects, doors
likes vibration
likes kitchen, bathroom
likes crowds, traffic, etc.
tears paper, crumples paper in
his hand
is attracted by sounds, noises
makes loud rhythmic noises
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 59
Hyper- HypoTactility
resists being touched
cannot tolerate new clothes;
avoids wearing shoes
overreacts to heat/cold/pain
avoids getting ‘messy’
dislikes food of certain texture
avoids people
likes pressure, tight clothes
seeks pressure by crawling
under heavy objects
hugs tightly
enjoys rough and tumble play
prone to self-injuries
low reaction to pain and
temperature
Smell
toileting problems
runs from smells
wears the same clothes
moves away from people
smells self, people and objects
smears (plays with) faeces
seeks strong odours
bedwetting
Taste
poor eater
uses tip of tongue for tasting
gags/vomits easily
craves certain foods
eats anything (pica)
mouths and licks objects
eats mixed food (e.g. sweet and
sour)
regurgitates
60 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Hyper- HypoProprioception
places body in strange
positions
difficulty manipulating small
objects (e.g. buttons)
turns the whole body to look
at something
low muscle tone
has a weak grasp; drops things
a lack of awareness of body
position in space
unaware of their own body
sensations (e.g. does not feel
hunger, etc.)
bumps into objects, people
appears floppy, often leans
against people, furniture, walls
stumbles frequently; has
tendency to fall
rocks back and forth
Vestibular
fearful reactions to ordinary
movement activities (e.g.
swings, slides, merry-go-round
round, etc.)
difficulty with walking or
crawling on uneven or
unstable surfaces
dislikes head upside down
Becomes anxious or distressed
when feet leave the ground
enjoys swings, merry-go-round
spins, runs round and round
rocks back and forth
In my class there are four children suffering from hyper- or
hyposensitivities:
Alex’s vision is very acute (hyper-): he can see the tiniest particles in the
air, the smallest pieces of fluff on the carpet. These experiences distract
his attention from whatever he is supposed to do. He hates bright lights
and fluorescent light gives him headaches. What makes things even
more complicated is that Alex’s hearing is also very acute. He can hear
what is going on in the next room but one and always keeps me
informed about it – ‘The chair is being moved. The ruler has been
dropped. The bus is coming’, etc.
Helen’s vision is hypo-: she is attracted by any shining object, looks
intensely at people (that irritates Alex, who cannot tolerate any direct
look at him), is fascinated with mirrors. At the lessons she can move her
fingers in front of her face for hours. It seems she cannot get enough
visual stimulation and always switches on all the lights as soon as she
enters the classroom. (This is usually followed by a fight with Alex
who throws a tantrum every time the light is on.) Helen’s hearing is
also hypo-: she cannot tolerate silence, and if there is not enough noise
for her, she would produce sounds herself – banging doors, tapping
things, shouting.
John (hypoauditory) always joins in Helen’s ‘noise making’. However,
his hypersensitivity to smells prevents him coming too close to anybody
and makes any activities in the kitchen intolerable.
Vicky is hypersensitive to sounds, touch and smell. If she is being
touched by somebody, she immediately smells the place of touch, and
more often than not she takes off her jacket or dress with this ‘spoilt
spot’ and refuses to wear it again unless it is washed.
Hypersensitivity can also lead to two different experiences: disturbance by
certain sensory stimuli and its opposite – fascination with certain stimuli.
These experiences are very individual. The kinds of stimuli that are disPossible Sensory Experiences in Autism 61
turbing or fascinating vary from person to person. A sight/sound/smell
that causes one child pain may be pleasurable to another.
All senses can be affected. Some people might find many noises and
bright lights nearly impossible to bear; for others certain noises (children’s
voices, car horns, a kettle whistling) and the pitch of some sounds might
cause a lot of discomfort. A woman with Asperger syndrome cannot
tolerate somebody whistling. She describes it as a ‘physical abuse’ because
whistling causes her body to tremble and even ache. Besides, not only
certain sounds but also any sudden unpredictable sounds can be painful.
The fear of noise that hurts the ears is often the cause of many bad
behaviours and tantrums. Some autistic children, for instance, can break
the telephone because they are afraid it will ring (Grandin 1996b).
Consider the following example given by Marc Fleisher, a person with
Asperger syndrome, and try to imagine the ‘perceptual world’ of this
student at the moment of ‘ruler-danger’. No wonder, the possible
challenging behaviours of the person would seem as ‘coming out of the
blue’ and the ABC (Antecedent – Behaviour – Consequence) principles of
Applied Behaviour Analysis (when we look for triggers of challenging
behaviours) are useless in this case, as we should deal with ‘probable future
antecedent’ triggering the behaviour at present.
You are in a room with an autistic individual and you are trying to
give a math lesson. On the table, and among other items, you have a
wooden ruler. At one particular instant, you unintentionally brush
your arm against the ruler so that it now is only just balancing on the
table edge with almost half its length in the air with no support.
Provided there is no draught the ruler will probably still remain, but
shove it any more, and it certainly fall, making a loud clatter on the
stone floor…
…you probably would not even have been aware that you had
moved the ruler. Many autistic people are very susceptible to noise.
Suddenly their whole world is focusing on that ruler – all other
objects in the room seem to dim. The ruler! The ruler! That’s all that
matters. If it falls it will make a loud clatter on the floor. (Fleisher
2001, pp.323–4)
Some autistic people often find it impossible to touch some objects. Donna
Williams calls one of her particular texture problems ‘wool on wool’, i.e.
62 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
intolerance of hair rubbing against hair or cloth against cloth. It means that
it is difficult to her to tolerate people’s hair rubbing on her or their clothes
rubbing her clothes, and it is hard to tolerate putting a woollen jumper over
her head or walking on some carpets with certain types of socks (Williams
1996).
The most often reported visual sensitivities are sensitivity to bright
light, fluorescent light, colours and certain patterns (especially stripes).
The light sensitivity in autism coincides with the symptoms of Scotopic
Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome (SS/IS) identified by Helen Irlen (1991) (see
Chapter 6). Many autistic people confirm that bright lights and sunshine
disturb them and often cause distortions. For example, as a child, Nony
(1993) found it difficult to walk in town on a sunny day. Her eyes would
close and she would have to turn into a darker doorway or cover her eyes to
get them open enough to see; the glare of sidewalks and shop windows
was too much for her. Some people report that on bright days their sight
blurs (White and White 1987).
Alex, an autistic boy, cannot tolerate contrasts: it is impossible for him
to walk along the street in the dark with cars with bright lights passing by.
Even his tinted (very dark) glasses do not help much.
Fluorescent light has been reported by many autistic individuals to be
very difficult to tolerate, because they can see a 60-cycle flicker. Problems
with flickering can range from excessive eyestrain to seeing a room pulsate
on and off (Grandin 1996a). Some people report that they feel sleepy
when the fluorescent lights are on.
Sensitivity to colours and colour contrast is another visual problem for
some autistic people. For example, Liane Willey, a woman with Asperger
syndrome, finds it difficult to look at pastels as they make her feel icky,
queasy and uneven. They drown her (Willey 1999).
Some autistic individuals cannot tolerate food of some particular taste,
smell, texture or appearance (certain colours, for example), or even the
sound it produces when they chew it.
What to look for:

Squints or closes eyes in bright light
Gets easily frustrated/tired under fluorescent lights
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 63
Gets frustrated with certain colours
Gets frustrated with certain sounds
Tries to destroy/break objects producing sounds (clock,
telephone, toy, etc.)
Cannot tolerate certain textures
Cannot tolerate some smells/tastes
Cannot tolerate certain movements/body postures
Fears falling or height
Fascination with certain stimuli is an opposite of disturbance by certain
stimuli, caused also by hypersensitivity. These two features are like two
sides of one and the same coin. The only difference is, while disturbance
causes pain, fascination gives pleasant experiences and brings calm and
peace to autistic people (although at the cost of their withdrawal).
Sometimes people with autism, when they have given up fighting in an
incomprehensible world, rescue themselves from overload to an
entertaining, secure and hypnotic level of hyper-: watching the reflection
of every element of light and colour, tracing every patterned shape and
vibration of noise as it bounces off the walls (Williams 1994). Donna
Williams names it as the beautiful side of autism, sanctuary of the prison.
Autistic people can be fascinated with different sensory stimuli, such as the
smell of melting candles, rice cooking, the feel of velvet and marble, the
taste of smooth, satiny wood, the pit-pat of bare feet on tiles, the look of
clouds gliding high, the feel of a horse’s nose, the chalky taste of seashells
(O’Neill 1999).
The sources of fascinations are very individual. For example, to Liane
Willey (1999) such visual elements as linear lines, symmetry, balance,
straightness, perfect alignments, squares and triangles were appealing.
Wendy Lawson (1998) finds certain colours fascinating. Her favourite
colours are rich emerald green, royal blue, purple, and turquoise. A typical
picture of an individual with autism is when he is sitting staring transfixed
at the crystal, turning it around and around in front of his eyes, catching
rainbows (Oliver in Williams 1994).
64 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
One and the same stimulus can cause disturbance and fascination to
different children.
What to look for:
Is fascinated with coloured and shining objects
Is fascinated with certain sounds
Is fascinated with certain textures
Is fascinated with certain smells/tastes
Is often engaged in complex ritualistic body movements,
especially when frustrated or bored
Spins, jumps, rocks, etc. especially when frustrated or bored
Vicky hates the sound of running water, whereas John is fascinated with
it. Alex is disturbed by bright lights, whereas Helen enjoys looking at
them.
Inconsistency of perception (fluctuation)
One of the baffling features of autistic people is their inconsistent perception of sensory stimuli. Two types of this inconsistency can be distinguished: fluctuation between hyper- and hypo-; and fluctuation between
hyper-/hypo- and normal (‘in’ and ‘out’).
Fluctuation between hyper- and hyposensitivity is quite common. A
child who appears to be deaf on one occasion may react to an everyday
sound on another occasion as if it is causing acute pain; visual stimuli that
may appear so bright on one occasion will on another occasion appear
very dim. Similarly, reaction to pain may vary from complete insensitivity
to apparent ‘over-reaction’ to the slightest knock (Jordan and Powell
1990). Sometimes a particular food, which is one of the favourites, will be
rejected for no particular reason (Legge 2002).
Ornitz and Ritvo (1968) suggest that autism is characterized by
fluctuation between states of over- and underarousal resulting in a failure
to modulate sensory intake adequately and an unstable perceptual
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 65
experience. The authors argue that the individual’s sensitivity to stimuli
fluctuates and depends on whether the person is in a state of over- or
underarousal. Ornitz (1989) states that the disturbance of sensory
modulation involves all sensory modalities and is manifested as both
under- and overreactivity to sensory stimuli and as self-stimulation. Ornitz
suggests that optimal levels of stimulation will vary across autistic persons
as a function of developmental level, degree of familiarity with the
situation, and biologically based individual differences, including the
severity of autistic disorder. This model assumes that the disturbances of
sensory modulation are the primary symptoms and the impairments of
social interaction, communication, language and bizarre behaviour are
consequences of a dysmodulation of sensory input.
In personal accounts people with autism describe their experience of
‘unreliable’ perception, for example:
Sometimes when other kids spoke to me I would scarcely hear, then
sometimes they sounded like bullets. (White and White 1987)
It [hearing] gets louder sometimes… Things seem suddenly closer
sometimes. Sometimes things get suddenly brighter. (Oliver in
Williams 1994, p.189)
Fluctuation between hyper-/hypo- and normal (‘in’ and ‘out’). Dr
Freeman (1993, p.5) describes perception of the world by people with
autism ‘like an FM radio that is not exactly tuned on the station when you
are driving down the freeway. Sometimes the world comes in clearly and at
other times it does not.’
People with autism contribute to the explanation of this phenomenon.
Donna Williams (1994) compares autism with a seesaw: when it is up or
down she cannot see a whole life; when it is passing through in the middle
she gets to see a glimpse of the life she would have if she were not autistic.
J.G.T. VanDalen terms it as ‘suddenly falling out of autism’ and describes
his personal experience of this process as follows: ‘the stay in the
non-autistic condition lasts only a few minutes…the exit-procedure
occurs instantaneously, the return is gradual’ (1995, pp.13, 14).
Interestingly, it is these experiences that have brought VanDalen to the
conclusions that:
66 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome

Autism is primarily a perceptual deficit, as during these short
periods when his ‘perception was normalized’ he ‘noticed
above all the diffused fear (he constantly experienced) was
completely vanished…the habitual occupation with inanimate
physical objects disappeared in favour of all the (warm) feelings
that belonged to normal relationships’ (p.13).
‘The degree of autism within an individual can vary
considerably even to the point of ‘suddenly falling out of it’
(p.13).
What to look for:

Responds differently (pleasure – indifference – distress) to the
same visual/auditory/olfactory/gustatory/tactile stimuli,
movement activities (swings, slides, spinning, etc.)
May have different muscle tone (low – high)
Pencil lines, letters, words, etc. are uneven (e.g. sometimes too
tight, sometimes too faint)
Vicky can eat everything she is given one day, and refuses to eat even
her favourite food (sausage) on the other. Alex can respond differently
to the same visual (colours, patterns) or auditory stimuli (the sound of
heating system, fan) depending on his physical state and the value of
his ‘cup’.
(See Vulnerability to sensory overload below.)
Fragmented perception (perception ‘in bits’, stimulus
overselectivity)
Because of gestalt perception, when too much information needs to be
processed simultaneously, very often people with autism are not able to
‘break’ the whole picture into meaningful units and to interpret objects,
people and surroundings as constituents of a whole situation. Instead they
process ‘bits’ that happen to get their attention.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 67
This fragmented perception can affect all the senses:
I had always known that the world was fragmented. My mother was
a smell and a texture, my father was a tone, and my older brother was
something, which was moving about. (Williams 1992, p.11)
I remember being attracted to pieces of people’s faces. I might have
liked the color of the eyes, the texture of the hair or the straightness
of the teeth. (Willey 1999, p.23)
Sometimes people would have to repeat a particular sentence several
times for me as I would hear it in bits and the way in which my mind
had segmented their sentence into words left me with a strange and
sometimes unintelligible message. It was a bit like when someone
plays around with the volume switch on TV. (Williams 1992, p.61)
The perception of parts instead of wholes and utilizing only a very limited
amount of available information is known as stimulus overselectivity
(Lovaas et al. 1971). The result is that autistic people often react upon parts
of objects or people as being complete entities:
Where someone else may have seen ‘crowd’, I saw arm, person,
mouth, face, hand, seat, person, eye… I was seeing ten thousand
pictures to someone else’s one. (Williams 1998, p.21)
I did not see whole. I saw hair, I saw eyes, nose, mouth, chin, …not
face. (Alex in Williams 1999, p.180)
One of the theories attempting to explain this phenomenon is the central
coherence theory (Frith 1989; Happe 1994): people with autism lack the
‘built-in form of coherence’ and, as a result, they see the world as less integrated, i.e. analytically rather than holistically.
In contrast to weak central coherence hypothesis in autism, one may
hypothesize that people with autism possess a very strong drive for
coherence (i.e. holistic perception of the world) with the main difficulty
being to break the gestalt into meaningful units in order to analyse them
separately. Without perceiving separate units as integrated parts of a
whole, it is impossible to interpret the situation. Brad Rand, a person with
autism, suggests that one of possible causes for seeing things as
disconnected might be lacking the resource(s) to process all relevant parts
of a stimulus at once. This, in turn, could result in either overly narrow
68 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
attentional focus or insufficient memory resources to handle the task. In
this case, the relatedness of things disappears. Everything seems to be
conceptually a separate and unrelated entity; ‘on’ and ‘next’ and ‘in front
of ’ do not mean much anymore, because whatever something is ‘on’, ‘next
to’ or ‘in front of ’ no longer has a reality until it itself is focused upon
directly (Williams 1999).
Fragmented perception caused by inability to ‘break gestalt’ into
integrated and meaningful parts fits into the definition of weak central
coherence. Thus, we may conclude that weak central coherence theory
may be applied at later stages of sensory perceptual processing.
The perception ‘in bits’ can be clearly seen in drawings by some autistic
children. A 13-year-old verbal autistic boy was drawing a church (Figure
3.3). He was commenting while drawing: ‘I’m going to draw a church. A
flag on the church. A clock – twenty past two. And then I’m going to draw
a big window at the church. A bell – goes ding-ding. Done it!’
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 69
Figure 3.3 ‘Church’. Drawing by D., 13 years old
In the state of fragmented perception, the person has great difficulty in
dealing with people as they seem not only to consist of many unconnected
pieces but also the movements of these ‘bits of people’ are unpredictable.
The strategy to cope with the problem is to avoid people and never look at
them. It does not mean that they cannot see an entire person (perceptual
level). They seem to be unable to process the meaning of an entire person
but process them bit by bit instead. As a result the mental image of a ‘collection of bits’ is often meaningless and often frightening. Fragmentation
complicates the interpretation of facial expressions and body language and
thus hinders or even blocks the development of non-verbal communication.
Let us have a look at the children’s drawings again. Two autistic boys
drew ‘portraits’ of their mothers (Figures 3.4 and 3.5). It is no wonder that
these children find social interaction very difficult, if not impossible. We
often describe them as ‘aliens’, but don’t we look aliens to them?
70 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Figure 3.4 ‘Mother’s portrait’, by D.
This category also includes a sort of ‘tunnel vision’ experienced by some
people with autism:
I picked up his hand and looked at it closely. I traced it with my eyes
from the fingers to the shoulder, from the shoulder to the eyes, down
to the nose and mouth. Ian was a jigsaw of bits that my mind was in
no state to make sense of as a whole. (Williams 1999, p.21)
Fragmentation may be felt in all sensory modalities. For example, Alex is
sure that he (like everybody else) has two foreheads and always asks his
mother to kiss ‘both’ – ‘this one and that one’.
As some individuals with autism perceive everything in pieces they
need time to adjust to different surroundings. As the number of objects
seen by them is greater (because they see different images of one and the
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 71
Figure 3.5 ‘Mother’s portrait’, by Alex
same object from different angles – VanDalen 1995) – they do not feel safe
in this chaos of things and people. As a consequence of this fragmented
perception autistic individuals exhibit maintenance of sameness, resistance
to change, anxiety in unfamiliar places.
Perception ‘in bits’ means that autistic individuals define people and
places and things by these bits. They can suddenly find once familiar
things to be strikingly unfamiliar if slight components are changed, such
as when the furniture has been moved or someone does not wear the same
coat as usual (Williams 1996). As they process what they perceive piece by
piece and not as a whole, they recognize things and people by the ‘sensory
pieces’ they store as their definitions. For instance, they may ‘recognize’
their mother by the colour of her dress and may not ‘recognize’ her if she
wears a dress of different colour, or they may know people and objects by
smell, sound, intonation, the way they move, etc.
People with Asperger syndrome (especially women) are reported to
have a very poor sense of direction. When they approach even a familiar
street from an unusual direction, they do not immediately recognize it.
Another ‘side-effect’ of perception in bits is ‘a sense of fear that is not
specifically related to certain objects but is originated in the fact that [the]
first encounter with a physical object is a partial one’ (VanDalen 1995,
p.12). VanDalen compares this experience with a confrontation with a
silhouette in the dark: one knows that something is there but it is not
altogether immediately clear what it is.
It is difficult to identify the ‘sensory concepts’ the child has stored in
his memory. However, some parents intuitively ‘know’ what might upset
their child.
What to look for:
Resists any change
Selects for attention minor aspects of objects in the
environment instead of the whole scene
Gets lost easily
Does not recognize people in unfamiliar clothes, on
photographs
72 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Hears a few words instead of the whole sentence
Complains about some parts of the clothes, smells of some
pieces of food, etc.
Is confused with the food he used to like
Complains about limbs, part of the body
Resists new motor activities
Vicky often has problems with parts of her clothes – ‘It hurts here’
(trying to tear off her right sleeve while feeling comfortable with her
left one).
Alex ‘sees in bits’: ‘Her leg disturbs me’. ‘Dasha’s [the cat] head has
turned round.’
Distorted perception
Although fragmented perception can be also termed distorted, in this
book distorted perception means not fragmentation but rather change
(distortion) in the perception of the form, space, sound, etc. Distortions are
reported to become worse in the state of nervous overarousal and information overload.
In the field of vision the most common distortions reported by the
individuals with autism are poor/distorted depth and space perception,
seeing a 2D world, ‘double vision’, distortions of shape, size and
movement. Because of these distortions, their perception of space may be
different; space may seem to be expanded, or, on the contrary, look smaller.
Problems with proprioceptors may bring trouble with understanding
boundaries and relationships between objects in space and their own
bodies; sometimes they are confused about the parts of their bodies. For
example, Oliver (in Williams 1994, p.191) describes his experiences of
‘losing his legs’: ‘I had no sense of my body from my waist down. I feel like
I was flying.’ As a teenager, Donna Williams spent many hours trying to
shake a hand off an arm without the perception that both were part of her
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 73
body (1996, p.14). Some people experience difficulties in perception of
movement:
Occasionally I lost all sense of perspective. Something would seem
monstrously large if coming towards me at speed, or if I was unprepared. Someone suddenly leaning over me could frighten me enormously. I felt something was falling onto me and that I’d be crushed
underneath it. (Gerland 1997)
The bitumen floor of the school playground intrigued me and I
noticed that as I ran it seemed to run with me. (Lawson 1998, p.29)
One of the characteristic behaviours of autistic children is to spin themselves and enjoy swings without becoming dizzy. The individuals with
autism report that these activities help them normalize perception and a
vestibular system. Many autistic children would climb to great heights and
jump down in desperate attempt (though not consciously) to normalize a
vestibular system.
Russell (1994) suggests that one of the basic deficits in autism might
be disturbance at the stage of ‘efferent copying’. In normal development
the ‘efferent copying’ gives the sense of one’s own agency, i.e. the nervous
system does not only control movements of the head and eyes to scan the
environment or keep track of moving objects, but also records those
movements in order to distinguish the case where the movement is in the
person’s head and eyes, and the world is still. In autism, the researcher
suggests, the disturbance at the stage of ‘efferent copying’ prevents the
person having a sense of himself or herself as an agent. In this case the
person would not get dizzy in the normal way from spinning and,
moreover, might seek for the kinds of sensations that would give
movement stimulation free from recording head and eye movements in
relation to the world.
What to look for:
Fears heights, stairs, escalators
Has difficulty catching balls
Appears startled when being approached
74 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Compulsive repetitive hand, head or body movements that
fluctuate between near and far
Pronunciation problems
Unable to distinguish between some sounds
Hits eyes/ears/nose/oneself
Difficulty with hopping, jumping, skipping, riding a
tricycle/bicycle
Climbs high into a tree, jumps off tall fences, etc.
Helen does not seem to feel boundaries of her body and its position in
the classroom. She often hits herself when confused with the instruction
to move her body, for example, ‘Don’t lean over the table.’
Vicky has poor depth and space perception. She is afraid of descending
the stairs, and when ascending she lifts her feet too high above the stairs.
Sensory agnosia (difficulty interpreting a sense)
The consequence of being unable to filter sensory information and being
flooded with sensory stimuli at the rate the person cannot cope, is being
able to sense (see, hear, etc.), but unable to attach the meaning to (i.e. to
interpret) the sensations. The person is ‘blind while seeing’ (VanDalen
1995), ‘deaf while hearing’, etc. Donna Williams (1994; 1996; 1998;
1999) calls these experiences ‘meaning-blind/meaning-deaf/touchdead’. She compares this condition with being deaf-blind, the main difference being, the blind get meaning without seeing, while the
meaning-blind see without meaning. The deaf-blind may have lost their
sense but the meaning-blind/deaf lost the sense (meaning) (Williams
1994; 1998).
In the state of sensory agnosia, interpretation of any sense can be lost;
they often act as if they were really blind, deaf, numb, sometimes ‘dead’. It
is a very frightening experience. Each individual develops his/her own
strategies to cope with it.
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 75
What to look for:
Feels/acts blind/deaf/etc.
Rituals
Has difficulty in interpreting smells/tastes
Seems not to know what their body is doing
Becomes disoriented after a change in head position
Helen often behaves as if she were deaf; she does not react to any sound
at all and does not seem to understand what she is expected to do.
Delayed perception (delayed processing)
It is not uncommon for autistic children to exhibit delayed responses to
stimuli:
As a child…it appeared as though I didn’t feel pain or discomfort,
didn’t want help, didn’t know what I was saying, didn’t listen or
didn’t watch. By the time some of these sensations, responses or
comprehensions were decoded and processed for meaning and
personal significance, and I’d accessed the means of responding, I
was fifteen minutes, one day, a week, a month, even a year away from
the context in which the experiences happened. (Williams 1996,
p.90)
A person can be delayed on every sensory channel.
Concerning vision, VanDalen (1995) attempts to give one of the
possible explanations of this phenomenon: the acquisition of the full
meaning requires some observation time from different points of view;
besides, people with autism must translate perceptual configurations into
their proper terminology.
Perception by parts requires a great amount of time and effort to
interpret the whole. Many autistic individuals emphasize the amount of
‘thinking’ necessary to make sense of the world. VanDalen describes the
process as ‘thinking in the background’ – constructing an object by using
explicit trains of thought, whereas for non-autistic people this process is
76 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
automatic and effortless. To illustrate the point VanDalen describes how he
perceives objects:
When I am confronted with a hammer, I am initially not confronted
with a hammer at all but solely with a number of unrelated parts: I
notify a cubical piece of iron within its neighborhood a coincidental
bar-like piece of wood. After that, I am struck by the coincidental
nature of the iron and the wooden thing resulting in the unifying
perception of a hammerlike configuration. The name ‘hammer’ is
not immediately within reach but appears when the configuration
has been sufficiently stabilized over time. Finally, the use of a tool
becomes clear when I realize that this perceptual configuration,
known as ‘hammer’, can be used to do carpenter’s work. (VanDalen
1995, p.11)
The experience of ‘delayed hearing’ is termed by Dr Rimland ‘delayed
mental audition’: when the question has been sensed and recorded without
interpretation until the second (internalized) hearing. Rimland describes
the effect of ‘delayed mental audition’ as an echo; and the sound of the
echo-like voice is high-pitched, hollow and parrot-like, i.e. the internally
experienced voice duplicates precisely the classical manner of speech of an
autistic child. Rimland names it the ‘closed loop’ phenomenon when the
stimuli enter memory and later emerge unchanged (Rimland 1964,
pp.178–9).
In the most extreme cases, it can take years to process what has been
said. Sometimes it takes days, weeks or months. The words, phrases,
sentences, sometimes the whole situations, are stored and they can be
triggered at anytime. In less extreme cases, to process something takes
seconds or minutes. They may be able to repeat back what has been said
without comprehension that will come later.
Due to delayed processing autistic individuals may need some time to
process the question and their response. (Immediate responses are often
given on ‘autopilot’, triggered by memories.) Before proper response
autistic people must go through a number of separate stages in perception,
and if this long decision-chain is interrupted by the outside world, the
autistic person must start all over again because overselectivity has
changed the scene completely (VanDalen 1995). In other words, an
interruption effectively wipes away any intermediate result, confronting
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 77
the autistic person literally ‘for the first time’ with the same
object/event/situation. VanDalen suggests that autism could possibly be
understood as an extension of the processing time of impressions. This
definition implies the importance of giving autistic people time to enable
them to finish their perceptual work successfully and ‘to experience
meaning that is awaiting on the end of the long road of perception’
(VanDalen 1995).
All these ‘continuous obligatory thinking activities connected with
everyday object-perception’ (VanDalen) require much effort and energy,
that is another reason for autistic children to resist any changes, and to
prefer familiar surroundings where it is much easier for them to control
their perceptual world. Every step of perception they experience explicitly,
in a non-automatic way with a great mental effort involved. That is why
they are often unable to start the action immediately.
There are several consequences of delayed processing. One of them is
‘experiencing meaning’ out of the context it should have been
experienced, i.e. new experiences, no matter how similar to previous ones,
are perceived as new, unfamiliar and unpredictable, and responses to them
are poor regardless of the number of times the person has experienced the
same thing. Another one is that, as the amount of time needed to process
any experience often remains slow (or delayed), regardless of having had
similar experiences in the past, things do not get easier with time or
learning (Williams 1996). They are not able to generalize and apply
something they have learned in one situation to another.
Their subjective experience of time is also different from that of
non-autistics. For them, time might seem faster, whereas non-autistic
people may think that autistic children are slow in their decision-making.
What to look for:
Response to visual/auditory/gustatory/olfactory/tactile stimuli
is delayed
Echolalia in monotonous, high-pitched, parrot-like voice
78 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Any experiences are perceived as new and unfamiliar, regardless
of the number of times the person has experienced the same
thing
Very poor at sports
Seems oblivious to risks of heights, etc.
Holds head upright, even when leaning or bending over
All the children in the class display delayed perception to the auditory
stimuli; John, Helen and Vicky could respond to the question in a few
minutes; Alex sometimes gives responses even in a few days. It is very
difficult to connect his ‘announcements’ with the question he was asked
a few days before. To an outsider, these responses, unconnected to the
present situation, seem weird.
Vulnerability to sensory overload
Many autistic people are very vulnerable to sensory overload. They may
become overloaded in situations that would not bother other people
(Blackburn 1997; Lawson 1998; Morris 1999; Willey 1999). The causes
of information of overload can be:

the inability to filter out irrelevant or excessive information
delayed processing
if the person works in mono but is forced to attend to the
information from several channels
distorted or fragmented perception, resulting in anxiety,
confusion, frustration and stress that, in turn, may lead to
hypersensitivity.
Donna Williams (1996) emphasizes that sensory hypersensitivity can
happen both independently of information overload and as a direct result
of it. The overload can lead to hypersensitivity (with its resulting physical
pain, tantrums and difficult behaviour). Sometimes it can result in ‘accumulation of unknown knowing’, i.e. when information gets processed
outside of conscious awareness so that one is not aware of what one knows
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 79
nor able consciously or voluntarily to access that knowledge, though
sometimes it can be triggered or cued by something outside (Williams
1996); or might go further to ‘total systems shutdowns’ (Blackburn 1997;
Williams 1996). The process from hypersensitivity to systems shutdowns
may be fast (i.e. sensory discomfort may be short lasting or not experienced at all) or may be slow (i.e. sensory discomfort may be prolonged).
The information overload may be dispersed before it leads to systems
shutdowns or it may not. In the first case, a person may experience severe
sensory hypersensitivity (colours becoming too intense, light becoming
too bright, certain pitches becoming intolerable, certain patterns
becoming obtrusively distinct, touch may feel ‘prickly’ or ‘ticklish’, or
provoke ‘shock’) yet continue to process information. If information
overload is not diffused in time, it can result in temporal sensory agnosia –
a temporary inability to process touch, sound or visual information
(Williams 1996). For example:
Overload had set in. Explanations were just blah-blah-blah… My
vision started to climb… The lights became brighter. I was tickled
by the effect on my senses and began to giggle. The hypersensitivity…climbed even higher…I squinted and grinned, the strain and
the confusion of the sudden change from happy to excited to
tortured took place within the space of fifteen minutes with no cues
to tell me why or what I was feeling and no time to reflect. My ship
was sinking and no one knew. (Williams 1994, p.106)
Together, the sharp sounds and the bright lights were more than
enough to overload my senses. My head would feel tight, my
stomach would churn, and my pulse would run my heart ragged
until I found a safety zone. (Willey 1999, p.22)
The causes of information overload on auditory level are reported not to
do with the perception of pitch and volume but rather with the number of
simultaneous sound sources, the duration of these stimuli and the rate of
the bombardment relative to process capacity. Then hearing becomes
acute, sounds that are normally inaudible can be as audible as usual sounds,
the perception of these additional sounds can make them intensely
unbearable (Williams 1996). Donna Williams considers this reverberation
of sound as one of the biggest contributors to sound information overload.
80 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
The visual equivalent of sound reverberation, according to Donna
Williams, is light refraction (or ‘shine’) that can cause a visual effect of
shooting out streams or ‘sparks’ of light and ‘visually cutting up’ people
and objects. The same can happen with touch: when too much of visual
and auditory information has been taken in, the sense of touch can be
oversensitive, ‘sharp as a pin’, and to be touched can be ‘shocking’
(Williams 1996).
The threshold for processing sensory stimuli varies among autistic
persons, at different ages and in different environments. For example:
When I was a small child, my threshold for processing blah-blah was
only a few seconds. When I was about ten or so, my threshold…was
about five to ten minutes. When I was a teenager and up to my
twenties, this threshold was about fifteen minutes to half an hour.
Now it is about twenty to forty-five minutes. In a more accommodating environment…these thresholds could have been much higher
than they were. (Williams 1996, p.204)
Dena Gitlitz (cited in Donnelly 1999) names it Eight Ball Theory: Eight
Ball is similar to a juggler that can successfully juggle seven pins or balls
but if you throw in one more they will drop them all. Dena has a limited
capacity for ‘how many balls she can juggle’ successfully. This phenomenon could be called the ‘rule of the last drop’: if the child’s inner ‘cup’ is full
already (whatever the reasons for this may be) the slightest trigger (which
on the days when the ‘cup’ is empty would not be noticed by the child)
might produce an overload.
Each individual may cope with overwhelming stimuli in different
ways: mono-processing, avoidance of direct perception, withdrawal,
stereotypies.
What to look for:

Sudden outbursts of self-abuse/tantrums/difficult behaviours
Withdrawal
Tires very easily, especially when in noisy/bright places, or
when standing
Possible Sensory Experiences in Autism 81
Gets nauseated or vomits from excessive movements (swings,
merry-go-rounds, cars, etc.)
Alex is very vulnerable to sensory overload. The speed with which his
‘cup has been filled’ depends on the number and intensity of the stimuli.
For example, if there are two or more people talking at once, he is sure
to be overwhelmed; bright lights (especially fluorescent lights) and lots
of movement around him will cause his outburst in a few minutes.
Note
Gestalt is a shape, pattern, or structure, which as an object of
perception forms a specific whole and has properties, which cannot
be completely deduced from a knowledge of the properties of its
parts. The term was originally used by a ‘school’ of psychology –
Gestalt psychology, which emphasizes the relational aspects,
especially of perceiving, in strong opposition to atomistic concepts.
82 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Chapter 4
Perceptual Styles
Autistic children seem to develop (voluntarily or involuntarily) the ability
to control their awareness of incoming sensory stimuli in order to survive
in a world bombarding them with extraneous information. These compensatory or defensive strategies are reflected in acquired perceptual styles.
Most commonly reported perceptual styles are:

mono-processing
peripheral perception (avoidance of direct perception)
systems shutdowns
compensating for unreliable sense by other senses
resonance
daydreaming.
Mono-processing
To avoid overload of sensory information, only one modality is processed
consciously by the brain (though subconsciously a great amount of information may get in – ‘accumulation of unknown knowing’ – Williams
1994). The person might focus on one sense, for example, sight, and
might see every minute detail of the object. However, while his vision is
on, the person might lose awareness of any information coming through
other senses. Thus, while the person sees something, he does not hear
anything, and does not feel touch, etc. When the visual stimulus fades out,
the sound could be processed, but then the sound is the only information
83
the person is dealing with (i.e. disconnected from sight). As the person
focuses on only one modality at a time, the sound may be experienced
louder because it is all the person focuses on (hypersensitivity).
According to the number of senses working at a time the person can be
classified into ‘multi-track’ versus mono-processing (Williams 1996) or
‘being singly channelled’ (Lawson 1999). The ability to receive and
process information via multiple sources can also be referred to as
‘polytropism’, in contrast to ‘monotropism’ (using one channel at a time)
(Lawson 2001; Murray 1992).
Wendy Lawson believes that central coherence (the ability to draw
connections together from the ‘big picture’) can only occur with least
effort, when one has access to the big picture via many different channels
(polytropism). Wendy argues that in monotropism, where all the attention
is gathered into one place, there is an extreme central coherence but of
different type. ‘Monotropic central coherence’ excludes information from
outside the attention channel (Lawson 2001).
Most people use their senses simultaneously. When they are hearing
something, they are still aware of what they see and feel emotionally and
physically, because they are ‘multi-tracked’. For people who work in mono
to process the meaning of what they are listening to while being touched
may be to have no idea where they were being touched or what they
thought or felt about it. To process the location or special significance of
being touched while someone is showing them something means that they
see nothing but meaningless colour and form and movement (Williams
1996). For example, Donna Williams’s inner-body sense, like everything
else, was mostly in mono: if she touched her leg she would feel it on her
hand or on her leg but not both at the same time (Williams 1994). She had
big restrictions in being able to process information from the outside and
inside at the same time, for example, touching the furniture she could feel
the texture of the wood but would have no sense of her own hand. She
could also switch channels and feel her own hand but would lose sensation
of what her hand was in contact with. Without being able to process her
own body sensations in relations to textures it was, perceptually, as though
either she did not exist and other things did or she existed and they did
not. She was either in a constant state of jolting perceptual shifts or
remained on one sensory channel or the other (Williams 1998).
84 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Actually, this type of processing is taken advantage of by the parents of
some autistic children who are ‘picky eaters’. Children with very restricted
diets (hypersensitive to taste/smell, texture of the food) will eat better if
they are watching a video, listening to music or talking to someone.
Jared Blackburn (1999) describes the trouble he had processing many
things at once. For example, he could not take notes at the lecture because
he could either listen or write, but not both. Many of his teachers thought
he was being lazy or inattentive because he did not take notes and did not
look at them and had a blank look on his face, but he was actually almost
hypnotically focused on what they were saying. It is a matter of taking one
thing at a time (Kathy French cited in Donnelly 1999).
Individuals with autism define this mono-processing (monotropism)
as one of their involuntary adaptations to avoid sensory overload or
hypersensitivity:
If I’m looking at something and listening to something at the same
time, too much information might come in my eyes and ears at the
same time, so I might touch something. That gets information going
in a different sense, through my touch, and it lets my eyes and ears
have a rest. (Rand, undated)
It is a mechanism by which the time and energy that goes into processing
gets spread a little less thinly than it otherwise might: switching between
different channels gives them an opportunity to keep the remaining ones
going more efficiently (Williams 1996; 1998). Donna Williams illustrates
this phenomenon as follows:
This is like having one employee working in a huge department
store instead of having a whole staff. If a customer has a demand in
the shoe department whilst the worker is presently dealing with a
demand in the toy department, the customer in the shoe department
wouldn’t find anybody there…and sometimes (this single worker
closes) the shop in different departments when she can’t cope with
the demand. (Williams 1996, pp.99, 100)
We should be aware of this style of perception in order to give the child
information in a way he will be able to process. The matter is complicated
by the fact, that they could switch channels and our task is to find out
which channel ‘is open’ to get the information.
Perceptual Styles 85
What to look for:

Does not seem to see if listening/smelling/feeling
taste/touching, etc.
Does not seem to hear if looking/smelling/feeling
taste/touching, etc.
Does not seem to feel taste if
looking/listening/smelling/touching, etc.
Does not seem to smell if seeing/hearing, etc.
Does not seem to feel being touched if looking/listening, etc.
Fails to define the texture or location of touch
Does not seem to know the position of the body in space/what
the body is doing when looking at/listening to something
Does not seem to mind any movements when looking
at/listening to something
The teacher shows a card with number ten. John is looking at it very
attentively but he ‘loses’ the auditory instruction, ‘Say the previous
number’, and seems very confused without any understanding of what
is expected of him.
Peripheral perception (avoidance of direct perception)
One of the characteristics of autism is avoidance of eye contact. It is an
example of peripheral perception, as it turns out that avoidance of direct
perception is not restricted only to vision but also includes other sensory
systems.
One of the theories to account for this is that people with autism use
peripheral vision because their central vision is hypo- while their
peripheral vision is hyper-. However, analysis of the personal accounts of
individuals with autism shows that often they do not use their
direct/central perception because ‘it hurts’, i.e. it is hyper-. For instance,
86 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
for Nony eye contact was painful: ‘It was not quite like a broken bone or a
burn but it can only be described as pain’ (Nony 1993).
Jean-Paul Bovee describes eye contact as something that he always has
trouble with, as all of the stress that is put on doing it makes him more
nervous, tense, and scared. Jasmine O’Neill reports that ‘gazing directly at
people or animals is many times too overwhelming… Some autistic people
don’t even look at the eyes of actors or news reporters on television’
(O’Neill 1999, p.26).
Some of the problems autistic people have with making eye contact
may be nothing more than intolerance for the movement of the other
person’s eyes. Temple Grandin writes about an autistic person for whom
looking at other people’s eyes was difficult because the eyes did not stay
still (Grandin 1996a).
Direct perception in autism is often hyper. It can cause sensory
overload resulting in switching to mono:
I actually hear you better when I am not looking at you…eye contact
is…uncomfortable…[people] will never understand the battle I
have gone through to be able to do this. (Lawson 1998, p.11)
Perceiving sound, visual stimuli, etc. directly and consciously may often
result in fragmentation: the person can interpret the part but lose the
whole, and incoming information is interpreted piece by piece. Donna
Williams (1998) explains that when taking things indirectly, peripherally,
the fragmentation did not happen; things were more cohesive, they
retained context, whereas the mind-jolting senses of direct vision and
direct hearing could not be consistently relied upon as meaningful primary
senses.
Some autistic people seem to be hypersensitive when they are
approached directly by other people:
Dr Marek was ‘touching’ me with his eyes… I was afraid… I was
being hurt. (Williams 1994, p.121)
It can feel creepy to be searched with the eyes. (O’Neill 1999, p.26)
Someone looking directly into my eyes felt like an attack. (Nony
1993)
Perceptual Styles 87
When I look someone straight in the eye, particularly someone I am
not familiar with…I feel as if their eyes are burning me and I really
feel as if I am looking into the face of an alien. (Jackson 2002, pp.70,
71)
For some, if they are looked at directly (even if they do not ‘return the
gaze’), they may feel it as ‘a touch’ – sort of ‘distance touching’ with actual
tactile experience that can be painful. Avoidance of direct perception for
autistic people is another involuntary adaptation that helps them to survive
in a sensory distorted world by avoiding (or decreasing) information
overload.
Autistic children often seem to look past things and are completely
‘absent’ from the scene. However, it could be their attempt to avoid
experiencing a visual/auditory stimulus directly. This strategy gives them
the ability to take in sensory information with meaning.
They can often understand things better by attending to them
indirectly, for example, by looking or listening peripherally (such as out of
the corner of one’s eye or by looking at or listening to something else). In
this case it is a kind of indirectly confrontational approach in contrast to
the ‘normal’ directly confrontational one (Williams 1998). The same is
true for other senses if they are hypersensitive: indirect perception of smell
or ‘instrumental touch’ (Williams 1994) are often defensive mechanisms to
avoid overload.
What to look for:
Avoids direct eye contact
Reacts to the instructions better when they are ‘addressed to the
wall’
Can tolerate only ‘instrumental’ (not ‘social’) touch
Avoids direct smell/taste
A very careful eater
Has difficulty in imitating/copying movements
Avoids balancing activities
88 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Alex, John and Vicky ‘hear better’ (i.e. react to the instructions) if the
instructions are ‘addressed to the wall’. Alex and Helen often use their
peripheral vision and seem to see what is going on without directly
looking at it. Alex cannot tolerate it when someone is looking at him
directly and makes them turn away (‘Don’t look!’ ‘Turn away!’). He
even complains if the cat is looking at him.
Systems shutdowns
Too much sensory overload may result in systems shutdowns, in which the
person loses some or all of the normal functioning. Shutdown may feel different to different people, but is extremely unpleasant (Blackburn 1997).
When the person cannot cope with sensory information, he may shut
down some or all sensory channels. Many autistic children are suspected to
be deaf, as they sometimes do not react to sounds. Their hearing, however,
is often even more acute than average, but they learn to ‘switch it off ’ when
they experience information overload. A child with sensory overload
learns to avoid overwhelming sensory bombardment early in life. When
sensory input becomes too intense and often painful a child learns to shut
off his sensory channels and withdraw into his own world. Temple
Grandin (1996b; 2000) hypothesizes that by doing this the autistic child
creates his or her own self-imposed sensory deprivation that leads to
secondary central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities that happen as a
result of the autistic child’s avoidance of input. To back up her argument
Grandin (1996b) cited animal and human studies that show that
restriction of sensory input causes the CNS to become overly sensitive to
stimulation (Aftanas and Zubeck 1964; Melzack and Burns 1965; Simon
and Land 1987). The effects of early sensory restriction are often long
lasting. The brainwaves of autistic children also show signs of high arousal
(Hutt et al. 1964). The hypersensitivity caused by sensory deprivation
seems to be relatively permanent. Autopsy studies indicate that cerebellar
abnormalities occur before birth (Bauman 1991). However, the limbic
system, which also has abnormalities, is not mature until the child is two
years old. Temple Grandin argues that the possibility of secondary damage
of the nervous system may explain why young children receiving early
Perceptual Styles 89
intervention have a better prognosis than children who do not receive
special treatment do.
The research on primates has shown that early social isolation may
result in deficiencies in social behaviours among primates (‘primate
isolation syndrome’). Isolation early in life results in significant changes in
early experiences. These differences in experience may result in central
nervous system modifications related to social deprivation. ‘By the time
significant psychopathological systems demand intervention later in life,
some aspects of the disorder may be attributable to the primary process,
but others may reflect behavioural and neurobiological aspects of the
primate isolation syndrome’ (Kraemer 1985, p.154). This argument was
put forward by Kraemer in the context of schizophrenia. However, it could
be applied to autism as well.
Systems shutdowns may be considered as an involuntary adaptation
(compensation) when the brain shuts certain systems off to improve the
level of functioning in others (Williams 1996). Donna Williams
distinguishes three basic forms of systems shutdowns:
Shutdown in the ability to simultaneously process sensory
information and thought, feeling, body sensation or the
monitoring of intentional and voluntary expression: all
processing capacity may be diverted to processing incoming
sensory information and no connections may be made to
responding to that information. Donna Williams calls this state
‘all other, no self ’. For example, Temple Grandin (1996a)
remembers how at the age of three she was frustrated because
although she could understand what people said to her, she
could not get her words out. On the other hand, incoming
information, which has previously been processed, may be
responded to at the expense of being able to further process
any more information (‘all self, no other’).
Shutdown in the ability to simultaneously process sensory
information on several channels at once: Donna Williams
subdivides it into temporary partial and extended systems
shutdowns. Temporary systems shutdowns work by shutting
down the ability to process information on a number of
channels so that information can be efficiently processed on
90 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
whatever channel or channels are remaining. Temporary
systems shutdowns can affect the processing of body awareness,
touch, taste, smell, vision or hearing. They can be partial or
almost total for any one sense. Partial shutdown means that
only a part of processing may fall out of a particular sense
(partial meaning deafness, partial meaning blindness, partial
touch deadness, etc.). For example, a high-functioning person
with autism could work with overload and shutdown in a way
that never left him with any one system shutdown permanently
but his systems in a constant state of shift (Jim in Williams
1994). Total shutdowns mean that though, for instance, eyes
continue to see and ears to hear, the brain does not process any
meaning of what is being seen or heard. Temple Grandin
(1996a) calls these states visual/auditory tuneouts or whiteouts.
Extended systems shutdowns are where a particular systems
shutdown is a compensation to handle information overload
over an extended amount of time: days, weeks and, very
occasionally, a few months and even years.
Temporary or extended shutdown in the ability to maintain
conscious and voluntary processing leads to the accumulation
of the ‘unknown knowing’, i.e. the information is being
perceived unconsciously, without the person’s awareness of
receiving it.
What to look for:
Appears to be a mindless follower
Surprises with knowing ‘unknown’ information
Sometimes does not react to any tactile
stimuli/sounds/smells/tastes
Seems not to know how to move his body (unable to change
body position to accommodate task)
Perceptual Styles 91
Becomes disoriented in noisy/bright places
Rocks unconsciously during other activities (e.g. watching a
video)
There are times when John and Helen seem to be mindless followers
without any awareness of what is going on around them.
Compensating for unreliable sense by other senses
Because of hypersensitivity, fragmented, distorted perception, delayed
processing or sensory agnosia, one sense is never enough for autistic
people to make sense of their environment. Thus, in the case of visual distortions and meaning-blindness, they use their ears, nose, tongue or hand
to ‘see’, i.e. they compensate their temporary ‘blindness’ through other
senses. For example, a child can tap objects to produce the sound in order
to recognize what it is, because visual recognition can be fragmented and
meaningless. Some children smell people and objects to identify them. To
many autistic people the senses of touch and smell are reported to be more
reliable. Many autistic children touch and smell things, some constantly
tap everything to figure out where the boundaries are in their environment, like a blind person tapping with a cane. Their eyes and ears function,
but they are not able to process incoming visual and auditory information
(Grandin 1996a). Those who experience visual and auditory distortions
prefer using touch to learn about their environment – they ‘see’ the world
mostly through their fingers.
What to look for:
Tests visual/auditory/gustatory/olfactory/tactile information by other
senses:
Smells, licks, touches, or taps objects
Looks for the source of the sound
Inspects food before eating
Watches their feet while walking
92 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Watches their hands while doing something
Avoids climbing, jumping, walking on uneven ground
John and Alex smell, touch or tap objects to check their visual
perception of them. Vicky always inspects her food (smells it) before
eating it.
Resonance
Fascination with certain stimuli may culminate with ‘losing oneself ’ in
these stimuli to the extent that one can become ‘resonant’ with them.
These terms were introduced by Donna Williams (1994; 1996; 1998;
1999) to define a state when one ‘loses oneself in’/’becomes resonant’
with something else. Here they are used to denote the higher degrees of
fascination with sensory stimuli. The person can merge with (lose oneself
in) different sensory stimuli as if the person became a part of the stimulus
itself. These are very real experiences.
Wendy Lawson describes her experience when the colours and
fragrance were so vibrant to her senses that she could ‘feel’ them. While
watching some shiny things she felt a sense of connection, she felt safe, as
if she were part of them: ‘It was so intoxicating and I felt so alive’ (Lawson
1998, p.2).
Donna Williams describes how she could ‘feel’ colours:
These streetlights were yellow with a hint of pink but in a buzz state
they were an intoxicating iridescent-like pink-yellow. My mind
dived deeper and deeper into the colour, trying to feel its nature and
become it as I progressively lost sense of self in its overwhelming
presence. Each of the colours resonated different feelings within me
and it was like they played me as a chord, where other colours played
one note at a time.
It had been the same as long as I had known…some things
hadn’t changed…since I was an infant swept up in the perception of
swirling air particles, a child lost in the repetition of a pattern of
sound, or a teenager staring for hours at coloured billiard balls,
trying to grasp the experience of the particular colour I was climbing
into. (Williams 1999, p.19)
Perceptual Styles 93
Willey (1999) loved the sensation that came from floating with water: she
felt as if she was liquid, tranquil, smooth.
In the state of ‘resonance’ one can sense the surface, texture and
density of material without looking at it with physical eyes or touching it
with physical hands or tasting it with a physical tongue or tapping it to
hear how it sounds, i.e. sensing it with non-physical senses (the so-called
‘shadow senses’) (Williams 1999). Those who experience this condition
can be ‘in resonance’ with colours, sounds, objects, places, plants, animals,
people. For example:
I could resonate with the cat and spent hours lying in front of it,
making no physical contact with it. I could resonate with the tree in
the park and feel myself merge with its size, its stability, its calm and
its flow. (Williams 1998, p.44)
‘In resonance’ with people they can sense (‘see’, ‘hear’ etc.) thoughts,
emotions, pain, etc. of other people, for example:
It is rare that I know what anyone is actually thinking, but concurrent emotions are very common. (McKean 1994)
When I was younger I heard a lot of noises in my head, spoken
things and unspoken things. Tell me you can hear people think. I
wish I didn’t. If there is a medication that will kill people’s thoughts
I like (sic) to try it. (Walker and Cantello 1994)
I physically felt the pain when someone banged themselves. Around
someone with a broken leg, I felt their pain in my leg. (Williams
1998, p.59)
I…remember responding to people’s call by coming into the room,
sometimes answering their request by going and getting what they’d
wanted. People had seemed surprised at these behaviours because
they hadn’t been verbally called or asked or that I was busy with
things of my own at the time. (Williams 1998, p.27)
A woman with Asperger syndrome describes how she ‘feels’ people: ‘I
know when people do not like me, or find me strange and scary, no matter
how polite and friendly they try to look. I just physically feel their attitude
to me.’ Similar experiences have been reported by few other autistic indi94 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
viduals. Probably, some people are reluctant to share these experiences
because there is always a fear to be considered ‘psychic’.
Interestingly, cats and dogs seem to possess the similar sort of
‘telepathic’ ability. Sheldrake (1999) suggests it could be caused by some
force field (‘morphic field’) that is not yet fully understood. Donna
Williams (1998) offers her explanation of the phenomenon: the body is
more than a physical form. It is also an energy form. Some people’s energy
boundaries are more ‘open’ than for most people. These are the people
most prone to a wider range of ‘psychic’ experiences and ‘déjà vu’. This
state is involuntary, beyond their control. They can either give in to it or try
to fight it.
What to look for:
These experiences are very difficult for ‘outsiders’ to identify. There are
several reasons:

Even high-functional verbal autistic children often see no need
to describe these experiences as they assume that others
experience the same.
Autistic adults are often very unwilling to talk about these in
order not to sound crazy or psychic.
However, many parents do feel that their children are able to ‘read their
minds’ (not to be confused with the ‘Theory of Mind’), but they are afraid
to articulate their suspicions. Indeed, I have met two mothers who
confided in me about their feelings. Other indicators can be:

Seems to be absorbed with lights, colours, sounds, smells, etc.

Seems to feel pain of others

Seems to be absorbed with body movements

Appears to be in constant motion

Daydreaming

It is not uncommon among autistic people to experience so-called ‘daydreams’. Whether this phenomenon is the sixth sense, clairvoyance, precognition or another form of extra-sensory perception and whether we can explain it or not, it does exist. Personal accounts of autistic individuals contain quite a number of these experiences, for example:

At school strange things were happening. I would have daydreams inwhich I was watching children I knew. I would see them doing the trivialest of things: peeling potatoes over the sink, getting themselves a peanut butter sandwich before going to bed. Such daydreams were like films in which I’d see a sequence of everyday events, which really didn’t relate in any way to myself. I began to test the truth of these daydreams; approaching the friends I’d seen inthem and asking them to give me a step-by-step detailed picture of
what they were doing at the time I had the daydream. Amazingly, to the finest detail, I had been right. This was nothing I had controlled, it simply came into my head, but it frightened me. (Williams 1992,
p.63)

There were odd occasions at school when I seemed to know things about people before they did. One day when two children were skipping rope and the game was getting intense, I knew that one child would fall down – I had hardly seen the thought when it happened. I know this could easily be coincidence, but it happened many times. Sometimes I would dream of a place, in great detail, and then experience that very same place at some future time. (Lawson 1998, p.30)

Donna Williams emphasizes that these are not fantasies, these are real experiences, which she calls ‘unintentional out-of-body experiences’:

In my teens I lived in quite a dangerous and lonely state a lot of the time and this caused me to ‘visit’ non-physically people and places where I felt safe. I didn’t fantasize what I’d like to say or do. I simply
found myself feeling physically in these places or with these people… Yet I did feel myself moving up the stairs to my friend’s flat, through the front door and into the kitchen. I could sense the
smell of the room and the noises in the room. I could ‘hear’ and ‘see’ as my friends moved about and went on with things. (Williams 1998, p.34)

What to look for:

There are no general indications to this phenomenon. However, bearing in mind that it is possible, one might find that some behaviours or attempts to explain something ‘just fit’.
As the expressive language of the children is limited, it is difficult to say whether they experience this. Though, sometimes, Vicky’s mother ‘feels’ that her daughter ‘reads’ her emotions, no matter how hard she
tries to hide them.

Chapter 5 Cognitive Styles

I struggled to use ‘the world’ language to describe a way of thinking
and being and experiencing for which this world gives you no words
or concepts… (Williams 1994, p.84)
As the way a person perceives the world affects the way he stores and
utilizes information, we will discuss information processing problems and
differences in autism considering different cognitive styles; analysing
discrete functions specific to autism, such as attention, memory, concept
formation, categorizing/generalizing, types of thinking, imagination.
Subconscious, unconscious and preconscious cognitive
processes

Conscious mind implies the mental faculties are awake and
active.
Subconscious mind can be defined as part of the mental field
outside the range of attention, and therefore outside
consciousness.
Unconscious mind comprises those mental processes whose
existence is inferred from their effects.
Preconscious mind contains ideas or memories that can be
readily be made conscious.
The conscious mind is not the only way of receiving information about the
world. Even without conscious awareness we still continue to experience
things and accumulate information. Thus, even unconscious people (for
98
example, patients under anaesthesia) can hear conversations around them,
remember them and even repeat them later on (Ratey 2001). Research on
blindsight has established that unconscious processing can occur in the
absence of conscious realization of visual images (Cowey and Stoerig
1991; Weiskrantz 1986).
We are limited in our ability to process information consciously.
However, subconsciously and/or preconsciously it is possible to take an
infinite amount of information as we do not have to filter and interpret it.
Donna Williams (1994; 1998) describes the process of receiving
knowledge from subconscious to preconscious to conscious, where the
subconscious mind is a storeroom containing uninterpreted information
that is still accumulated within preconsciousness where it can be processed
later removed from its context, and becomes triggered voluntarily or
involuntarily and is perceived consciously after it has been expressed –
‘sort of listening in on oneself ’ (Williams 1998).
Preconscious (indirect) style versus conscious (direct) style
There seem to be two distinct styles of accumulating information, which
differ in ways of perceiving, storing and retrieving information. The first
one is a preconscious style (‘a waking subconscious mind’ – Williams
1998) receiving an infinite amount of unprocessed information which is
literal and objective, indirectly, without conscious interpretation. The
storing capacity is also unlimited. However, the access and retrieval of this
information is difficult: it can be triggered but not accessed voluntarily
(Williams 1998). Research (Farah and Feinberg 1997; Gazzaniga 1988)
has shown that different neural mechanisms appear to be involved in conscious and unconscious processing.
Some autistic people use the preconscious system to take in
information. They use their senses peripherally. It allows them to take in a
great amount of information though they themselves are ‘absent’ from the
process. That is, they do not know what information they have
accumulated, though it may be triggered from the outside and they
surprise us (and often themselves) with their knowledge we have never
thought they have. It is sort of ‘unknown knowing’ (Williams 1996). They
Cognitive Styles 99
might accumulate as much as 95 per cent of information preconsciously,
without learning (Williams 1994).
Dr Robyn Young, a psychologist at Finders University in Adelaide,
conducted very interesting experiments. Using a technique called
transcranial magnetic stimulation to switch off the frontal temporal lobe
(the thinking part of the brain), the researcher tested the savant skills in
volunteers. Five out of seventeen volunteers showed improvements in
memory, calendar calculating and drawing abilities. Young hypothesizes
that we all have the potential to develop skills that we did not know we
had. By shutting off the conscious part of the brain we can enter the
unconscious domain. However, there were serious side-effects. It appears
that those who undergo such a brain bombardment lose many abilities as
well as gaining some, for example, one person got lost on his way to work
the day after the experiment.
Nadia could draw as a professional artist at the age of three. But she
was autistic and could not communicate. The more she learned how to
communicate and the more ‘normal’ her functioning became, the more
‘ordinary’ became her drawing. She developed language but lost her ‘gift’.
However, some autistic individuals do not ‘lose’ their gift with their social
development (for instance, Stephen Wiltshire) but use it as a ‘key’ to open
the door to the social world around it.
Some autistic people take in information consciously and directly but
at the cost of its coherence, because they have to narrow their attention and
shut down any background information in order to cope with conscious
processing of whatever is in the focus of their attention. Some autistic
people seem to fluctuate between these two styles.
By distinguishing between preconscious and conscious perceptual
processing, we can distinguish between different types of intelligence –
conscious and preconscious, the latter with little conscious awareness
(‘unknown knowing’).
Attention in autism
Sensory issues and attentional issues are most likely both real and
both primary; in some cases one may help cause the other, but I
suspect that they are usually related only through similar
100 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
neurobiodevelopmental causes. Both attentional and sensory
problems may have developmental consequences that help to create
the full autistic syndrome. (Blackburn 1999, p.7)
The ability to attend selectively to meaningful stimuli while ignoring irrelevant ones is essential to cognitive functioning (Lane and Pearson 1982).
As we have discussed earlier, filtering of an infinite amount of information
is necessary to make processing of information effective and conscious.
Consciously we can process only a limited amount of stimuli, and the
decision on which stimuli are to be processed in each situation is of paramount importance. Impaired selective attention results in increased distraction and diminished cognitive functioning, because responses to irrelevant stimuli interfere with the processing of targeted information (Douglas
and Peters 1979; Lane and Pearson 1982).
Some researchers define selective attention as a component of directed
attention (Davies 1983; Posner 1975). According to their model, directed
attention includes:
a selective process for distinguishing the relevant from the
irrelevant
an intensive process for the distribution of different amounts of
attention across a set of stimuli, depending on their value
an alerting and sustaining process that involves vigilance, i.e.
the energy to sustain attention.
Ornitz (1989) adds a motor component to these perceptual processes,
enabling and modulating perceptual activity (for example, visual
scanning). Impairments or distortions of any of these components may
result in neglect. Ornitz hypothesizes that autistic behaviour can be better
understood as a disorder of directed attention involving neurophysiological mechanisms primarily, though not necessarily exclusively, in
the right hemisphere.
It is widely reported that autistic children appear to ignore relevant
stimuli in favour of apparently meaningless stimuli in their environment.
But we should remember that the decision which stimuli are relevant and
which are meaningless depends on the common stock of experiences and
knowledge. Autistic people might attend to what theythink important, but
Cognitive Styles 101
usually it turns out to be different from what non-autistic people think is
important (Rand), and described as ‘idiosyncratic focus of attention’.
Uta Frith (1989) applies the theory of weak central coherence in
autism to account for this idiosyncratic attentional focus. A good decision
about what to attend to would be based on large amounts of pooled
information, and if coherence at this central decision-making point is
weak, the direction of attention would be quite haphazard.
Blamires (1999) offers an alternative explanation to ‘central
coherence’. He suggests that people with autism attribute different
meaning to stimuli or ignore them as meaningless because they possess a
different stock of knowledge about the world from non-autistic people. It
is the stock of knowledge that dictates what aspects of the environment are
important. This view coincides with relevance theory introduced by
Sperber and Wilson (1986): our attention automatically turns to what
seems relevant in the environment.
Brad Rand, an autistic person, confirms this view, as he picks what he
thinks important, but usually it turns out to be different from what
non-autistic people focus on in the situation. As he has tunnel vision,
everything that is not at focus of his attention at the moment fades out. It
would be helpful for a person with this attention pattern to be told
explicitly what to look at or what to listen to, to create a shared attentional
focus.
Patterns of attention in autism
In order to avoid sensory information overload, autistic people acquire voluntary and involuntary strategies and compensations, such as monoprocessing, when they focus their attention to one single channel, or
so-called ‘tunnel perception’, when they concentrate on a detail instead of
a whole. They have very narrowly focused attention. Autistic individuals
often compare this attentional pattern with having ‘a mind like a flashlight’, ‘a laser pointer’ or ‘a laser beam’ that highlights only a single dot (an
area of high focus) that they see very clearly while everything around it is
grey and fuzzy (Blackburn 1999; O’Neill 1999; Rand undated). Murray
(1992) refers to this phenomenon in monotropism as ‘attention tunnelling’.
102 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Rimland (1978) believes that the various forms of autism represent
severe disorders of the attentional mechanism. The author assumes that
autistic savants’ attentional mechanisms are pathologically locked at the
indistractable, superintense end of the concentration scale. In Rimland’s
view an autistic savant is endowed with the capacity to deal with minute
details at the cost of being unaware of the background or context of the
detail: he is able to apprehend visual or auditory stimuli but not to
comprehend them.
We may try to imagine the problems a narrow attention focus might
create in autism by conducting a simple experiment. Cover a picture (of a
portrait/an object/a scene, etc.) with a sheet of paper with a small hole in
the centre. Ask somebody to recognize what is on the picture by moving
the sheet with a hole in any direction. The difficulty of recognition with a
narrow focus is obvious.
Another problem autistic children experience is difficulty in switching
attention. For many of them shifting attention from one stimulus to the
other is a relatively slow process that results in a sort of pause or delay of
reaction. This ‘too slow attention switching’ process may be caused by
delayed processing of each stimulus. Recent research (Courchesne et al.
1994) has provided some evidence that a simple delay in attentionswitching might account for many behaviours associated with autism.
In contrast to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),
which is characterized by short attention span, autism exhibits other
deviant attentional patterns such as problems in selectivity, too narrow
focus and slow shifting speed. One of the consequences of this is that
autistic people often see things in fragments, disconnected. However,
autism and ADHD can often overlap: people with autism may be very
hyper and have a short attention span, while individuals with ADHD can
exhibit autistic traits (Blakemore-Brown 2001).
There is some evidence that lack of Theory of Mind in many autistic
people is probably the result of their problems with attention-shifting,
their inability to attend to multiple cues.
The most common attentional problem in autism is the failure of
autistic people to establish and maintain joint attention, i.e. the ability to
attend to the same stimuli as the other person. That leads to the failure to
share experiences. As a joint attention task involves a divided attention
Cognitive Styles 103
task when a person should attend to both the object of the joint attention
and the person with whom the experience should be shared, an autistic
person often fails to monitor both of these (if he works in ‘mono’ or has
‘tunnel vision’) and either fails to attend to the object of joint attention or
to the other person’s shifts of attention. This results in the failure to
comprehend the meaning of the interaction and hinders social and cultural
development.
For learning language, joint attention is essential. A child connects a
new word with the object of joint attention. A deficit in joint attention
affects the way autistic children learn new concepts. They may hear the
word and remember it in connection with either a part of the object they
are attending to at the moment, or the whole object (different from the
object of joint attention but at their ‘flashlight’), or even the whole scene
(gestalt perception), or sensation they are experiencing at the moment.
Kanner (1946) describes the case of a child who always associated the
phrase ‘Peter eater’ with saucepans. The explanation lies in the way the boy
‘learned’ the phrase: his mother was saying this nursery rhyme in the
kitchen when she accidentally dropped a saucepan. The boy connected the
phrase with a saucepan and ‘learned’ it.
The main thing is not to assume that autistic children will always pick
the same thing as we might do. For example, a teacher shows a picture of a
car: ‘This is a car’, but a child might focus on the reflection of light on the
teacher’s earring and ‘learns’ the word with his private meaning; another
child might feel itchy and refer the teacher’s comment ‘this is a car’ to the
sensation he is feeling at the moment. In this case, all instructions should
be explicit (‘Look at what I am looking/what I am holding’, etc.); the child
should be given enough time to switch attention from what he was doing
to you, and then to the object you are talking about. If he looks in the same
direction as you do, do not assume he sees the same thing. Always try to
‘see’ from the child’s perspective (his perceptual and cognitive patterns).
Autistic people are reported often not to notice other people because
for them, people seem no more important (or even less) than objects. If
they have perceptual problems, people ‘look like shapes, like furniture and
trees are shapes’ and are not different ‘from any other sight or sound’
(Rand, undated, p.9). Autistic children appear to ignore people or use them
as ‘tools’ to get what they want. The explanation for this can be that
104 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
because of attentional and perceptual problems autistic children are unable
to divide their attention between the object they want and the person ‘on
their way’ and process separate ‘pieces of information’ (the person and the
object, or even parts of them) simultaneously. In this case they do not
‘perceive’ the person as a person or notice the presence of the person at all.
It is a typical description of autistic children that they are asking for
something (the phrases they have been taught to use) in an empty room, i.e.
addressing nobody. The child might concentrate all his attention and
energy on the learned phrase and performing it, and he cannot simultaneously appreciate that there should be someone to whom he is
supposed to address the request.
Memory in autism
The main characteristics of ‘autistic memory’ are gestalt and literalness.
Oliver Sacks notes that in such a memory there tends to be an immovable
connection of scene and time, of content and context (a so-called concrete
situational or episodic memory) that results in the astounding powers of
literal recall so common in autistic savants, along with difficulty extracting
the salient features from these particular memories, in order to build a
general sense and memory. The author describes this type of memory as
quasi-mechanical – ‘like a vast store, or library, or archive – not even
indexed or categorized, or held together by association, yet where
anything might be accessed in an instant, as in the random-access memory
of a computer’ (Sacks 1995, p.208).
Many people with autism do not remember verbally but while remembering they actually see, hear, feel, smell or taste the items (in their mind).
The thought about something produces real experiences they had when
encountering this thing or event for the first time. They store their visual,
auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile memories, which are very real. For
instance, the thought of textures they hate might cause goose bumps and
chills and a general sense of unease would follow (Willey 1999).
Most commonly reported are the feats of visual and auditory memory.
Well-known pictures by Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic savant, of
architectural buildings, contain the smallest details such as style and size of
windows, and this is despite the fact that he saw the original buildings
Cognitive Styles 105
only once for a few minutes and did not begin his drawings immediately. It
is so-called eidetic or photographic memory, which allows these people to
create visualizations that are as intense as those brought about by the
original stimuli (Carter 1998).
Some researchers (Rose 1993) suggest that up to 50 per cent of
five-year-olds have the ability to ‘see’ an imagined image as though it was
really there. Some adults are reported to retain this ability (see, for
example, Schatzman 1980). Clara Park (1967) says that her autistic
daughter’s eye is like a camera: she draws pictures of houses very
accurately, with finest detail. Temple Grandin (1996a) writes about
Barbara, a woman with autism, whose ability to recognize pattern has
made her one of the best technicians in the laboratory identifying cancer
cells. Her visual abilities enable her to spot abnormal cells instantly,
because they ‘just jump out at her’.
Some autistic individuals are reported to be able to spell excellently
thanks to their visual/photographic memory: as they read they quickly
memorize the spellings of words; when they misspell a word they can refer
to their mental catalogue of data to recall which spelling looks more
accurate (O’Neill 1999). Temple Grandin (1996a, p.24) compares her
process of remembering things with a computer: ‘I store information in my
head as if it were on a CD-ROM disc. When I recall something I have
learned, I replay the video in my imagination.’ Her memory patterns are
similar to those described by A. R. Luria (1987) who studied a man with
amazing feats of memory: when the man heard or read a word, it was at
once converted into a visual image corresponding with the object the word
signified for him.
Some autistic people, while having excellent memory, have problems
with recognition memory; for example, Jared Blackburn has trouble
recognizing faces, letters and objects without actively visualizing them
(Blackburn 1999).
Some have a very good auditory memory (‘sound memory’,
‘audiographic memory’ – Williams 1996), that enables them to repeat
(‘replay’) long strings of things they have heard. Some can record musical
pieces in their minds, then hum or play them flawlessly on an instrument
later on (O’Neill 1999). Some can ‘hear’ conversations in their memory
(Willey 1999) or even whole ‘sound situations’. ‘It is like replaying a tape
106 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
recording of conversations, songs heard and so on’ (Williams 1998). They
seem to have ‘audio tapes’ in their memory with detailed ‘sound pictures’
of objects, people, events.
Some autistic people store ‘smell images’ in their memory.
Despite their excellent rote memory many autistic people are very
forgetful. This is another paradox out of many in autism: on the one hand,
they have an inability to forget (Luria 1987), on the other hand they may
be very forgetful. For instance, they may forget what they need to buy at
the shop, but they are unable to forget the clothes someone was wearing or
the arrangement of the furniture in the house they moved from many years
ago.
Jordan and Powell (1995) consider the main memory difficulty in
autism as the failure to develop a personal memory for episodes, i.e. the
failure to experience self as a part of events that leads to a difficulty in
developing personal memories. They can remember things but they may
fail to remember these things happening to them. In order to recall they
need to be prompted with specific cues.
Ways to access memory (types of memory retrievals)
Many autistic people are unable to recall memories unless they are triggered. They often cannot voluntarily ‘get access’ to their stored information. However, if cued or prompted with particular words, intonation,
gestures, or surroundings they may astonish their parents (and even themselves) with the knowledge they have accumulated. They seem to have no
conscious control on their ‘database’ and are dependent on the ‘right triggers’.
Snyder and Mitchell (1999) hypothesize that in contrast to
low-functioning autistic people, autistic savants may have ‘privileged
access’ to their memory which allows them to produce outstanding results
in art, music, calculation. They are able to create their works by directly
accessing ‘primary memory areas’ at lower levels of information.
Cognitive Styles 107
Associative memory
Autistic memory is often described as associative memory (or ‘serial
memory’ – Williams 1996). It differs from ‘ordinary’ (verbal memory) in
the way it unfolds: verbal memory is linear, associative memory is
non-linear (Grandin 1996a), multi-dimensional, sort of ‘spatial’, and can
be triggered by sensory stimuli, such as smells, certain colours or patterns,
touch, physical movement, combination of sounds or words. For example,
the word ‘under’ triggered Temple Grandin to picture herself getting
under the cafeteria tables at school during an air-raid drill. Then she continued to ‘play video’ of the teacher scolding her after she hit Alfred for
putting dirt on her shoe, and then ‘saw’ submarines under the Antarctic
and the Beatles song ‘Yellow Submarine’. If she let her mind pause on the
picture of the yellow submarine, she then heard the song; then she would
start humming the song. When she got to the part about people coming on
board, her association would switch to the gangway of a ship she had seen
in Australia, etc. (Grandin 1996a). Seeing the black and white stripes on a
toy plane can trigger the memory of eating humbugs in a classroom many
years before and might run into who was in the class on that day and what
was being taught and the noise that the book made when snapped closed
and the exact path the teacher travelled across the room at a particular
point, etc. (Williams 1996). Touching the doorway to a room may trigger
the serial memory of touching the same door of the same room another
time and the events that happened after this (Williams 1996). Temple
Grandin (2000) compares this type of memory with a Web browser: a Web
browser finds specific words; by analogy, autistic people look for
memories (pictural, auditory, etc.) that are associated with the words they
hear or say.
Many autistic children use this serial/associative memory as a
compensation for their inability to process information quickly (delayed
processing): they do not process information at the time it happens, they
respond to the situation ‘from memory’ when something remembered in a
serial way is triggered. They often cannot keep track of conversation as in
the short break between two halves of a sentence, there may have been
triggered a huge number of tracks, leading to tracks, leading to tracks
(Williams 1996). They just cannot stop endless associations (Grandin
108 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
1996a) and often use songs, commercials, etc. to respond, or use
idiosyncratic routinized responses.
‘Alex, do you want broccoli?’ (The boy hates it.)
‘Yes, please.’
Mother puts the plate with broccoli on the table in front of him.
Alex screams and with a very loud ‘No!’ rushes out of the kitchen.
Concept formation. Categorization. Generalization
Before language, the symbol (concept) formation process operates in
sensory modalities. The aspects of perceived experience are stored in
long-term memory and form sort of ‘perceptual symbols’ files, to be used
later for reference. From vision, visual images are acquired. From hearing,
auditory perceptual symbols are stored. From olfaction, ‘smell pictures’ are
received. From gustation, a file of ‘tastes’ is filled in. From touch perceptual
symbols for textures, pressure and temperatures are formed. And from
proprioception, perceptual symbols for limb movements and body positions are mapped. The neuroscience research indicates that each type of
perceptual symbol is accomplished and stored in its respective brain areas.
If some areas are damaged, conceptualization of this particular modality
becomes disrupted (Damasio and Damasio 1994; Gainotti et al. 1995). By
the pre-verbal stage of concept formation, autistic children exhibit differences. As sensory dysfunction is present (whatever form it may take), perceptual symbols in autism will differ from non-autistic ones. The symbol
formation process in autism often depends on the channel(s) the person
uses, or which particular channel is ‘on-line’ at the moment. As a result of
differences in perception (such as described in Chapters 3 and 4) the information about objects, people and events is not organized into a coherent
picture. That is why perceptual images (of any modality) are not established into categories and remain as separate entities. Thus, different perceptual systems develop different conceptual systems and result in different intelligence systems.
With the appearance of language, the concept formation system
changes. Any word generalizes. ‘Labels’ enable us to categorize and
generalize. We may ‘file’ our mind with representations of the outside
world, and easily operate with them creating new ideas. The content of a
Cognitive Styles 109
linguistic symbol (a word) does not resemble its referent. In contrast
perceptual ‘words’ refer clearly to specific objects, states, events. Because
autistic ‘words’ contain different perceptual content, they are not
functionally equivalent to non-autistic concepts. Autistic ‘words’ are very
concrete and specific. Instead of storing general meanings of things and
events (which is a prerogative of a verbal language) they construct sensory
perceptual mental images. They store the experiences (sensory
impressions/templates). Once a perceptual image is stored in long-term
memory, it becomes a representation of physical input. It becomes a
symbol for a certain referent and can represent the object in its absence. It
means that if a person has stored ‘a ball’ by smell, then if it does not have
the same smell as the one he stored for the first time, it cannot be identified
as ‘a ball’, even if it looks like a ball, sounds like a ball, etc. To be identified,
the thing should ‘feel right’, i.e. be exactly the same as in the first
experience. Thus, autistic people store sensory impressions (taste, smell,
colour, shape, feel, etc.) which they use later for reference and
‘identification’.
Tito, an autistic boy, could not find any association between things that
change places. He could identify a picture of a dog on the book as a dog,
but a dog in the park could not be identified. It took years, and a lot of
practice by him and the patience of his mother who kept asking him
questions, comparing pictures of a dog and a cow with the living animals
on the road (Mukhopadhyay 1999).
This phenomenon is brilliantly described by Donna Williams:
I would learn how to tackle a given situation in one context but be
lost when confronted by the same situation in another context.
Things just didn’t translate. If I learned something while I was
standing with a woman in a kitchen and it was summer and it was
daytime, the lesson wouldn’t be triggered in a similar situation if I
was standing with a man in another room and it was winter and it
was nighttime. Things were stored but the compulsive
overcategorization of them was so refined that events had to be
closed to identical to be considered comparable. (Williams 1994,
p.62)
Paradoxically, sometimes different stimuli may ‘feel’ the same and become
‘unconventional personal synonyms’. For example, to Donna Williams
110 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
some words have a similar shape, pattern or rhythms without being similar
in meaning, e.g. ‘Margaret’ and ‘Elizabeth’ have the same feel and seem
similar to her (Williams 1996). To Alex, an autistic boy, the words ‘Oliver’
and ‘cinema’ are the same.
What to look for:

Displays a good
visual/auditory/gustatory/olfactory/tactile/kinaesthetic
memory
Reactions are triggered by some stimuli (lights, colours, sounds,
words, textures, smells, movements, etc.)
Uses songs, commercials, etc. to respond
Uses idiosyncratic routinized responses
Cannot keep track of conversation
Alex displays a very good visual and auditory memory. John is good at
recognizing ‘smell messages’. Vicky can distinguish the slightest
difference between very similar textures.
Helen can start reciting poems, triggered by one word, then ‘jumps’ to
the recollection of her visit to her grandma, triggered by the word in the
poem, etc. It is very difficult to keep her ‘on track’.
Perceptual thinking
There appear to be two basic types of thinking in autistic people: totally
perceptual (usually visual) thinkers and the music, math and memory
thinkers (Grandin 1999). Research findings (Farah 1989; Zeki 1992)
show that verbal and visual thinking work via different brain systems.
These studies reveal that in brain-damaged patients one system can be
damaged, while another system may be normal. In autism, the systems that
process visual-spatial information are intact (Grandin 1996b). The
research on frontal temporal lobe dementia has provided scientific
Cognitive Styles 111
evidence for the idea of hidden visual thinking under a layer of verbal
thinking (Grandin 2000).
One of the characteristics of autism is the remarkable ability of most
autistic people to excel at visual-spatial skills while performing very poorly
at verbal skills. For those who have visual thinking (‘thinking in pictures’ –
Grandin 1996a), words are like a second language; their thought processes
are different from language-based thinkers. Temple Grandin, for example,
translates both spoken and written words into full-colour movies,
complete with sound, which run ‘like a VCR tape’ in her head (Grandin
1996a). When she lectures, the language is ‘downloaded’ out of memory
from files that are like tape recordings. To describe the process Temple
Grandin uses the computer analogy:
I use slides or notes to trigger opening the different files. When I am
talking about something for the first time, I look at the visual images
on the ‘computer monitor’ in my imagination, then the language
part of me describes those images. After I have given the lecture
several times, the new material in language is switched over into
‘audio tape-recording files’. (Grandin 2000)
The ideas are expressed as images for visual thinkers. They can take things
apart and put them together in different designs completely in their imagination. They can manipulate images to solve most problems. Jared
Blackburn, for instance, can often measure objects by visualizing a ruler
moving along the object (Blackburn 1999). ‘Visual thinkers’ actually see
their thoughts. Things happen like a movie in their minds, to provide a
concrete basis for understanding what is going on around them (O’Neill
1999). Jasmine O’Neill, a non-verbal woman with autism who has established herself as a talented writer, musician and illustrator, can see the
colour and feel the texture of her emotions against her ‘mind’s eye like a
projector’ (O’Neill 2000).
‘Visual thinkers’ often have difficulty with long verbal information,
and prefer written texts:
When I read, I translate written words into color movies or simply
store a photo of the written page to be read later. When I retrieve the
material I see a photocopy of the page in my imagination. (Grandin
1996a, p.31)
112 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Visual thinking is very fast, and not sequential. Very often autistic people
have poor auditory short-term memory. They have difficulty in remembering auditory instructions consisting of three or more steps. However, when
these instructions are presented in ‘visual steps’ – pictures, photographs,
etc. it is much easier for them, as it helps them to ‘translate’ from ‘auditory’
into their internal visual mode.
Autistic children usually learn nouns first, as nouns are easily
associated with pictures in their minds. Words that have no concrete visual
meaning, such as ‘put’, or ‘on’, or ‘over’, have no meaning for them until
they have a visual image to fix them in the memory (Grandin 1996a, b;
Park 1967). For example, Donna Williams became frustrated when she
could not find an ‘of ’ button on her calculator to calculate percentages. To
understand verbs and adverbs Temple Grandin has learned to visualize
them:
The word ‘jumping’ triggered a memory of jumping hurdles at the
mock Olympics held at my elementary school. Adverbs often trigger
inappropriate images – ‘quickly’ reminds me of Nestle’s Quik –
unless they are paired with a verb, which modifies my visual
image… As a child, I left out words such as ‘is’, ‘the’, and ‘it’, because
they had no meaning by themselves. Similarly, words like ‘of ’ and
‘an’ made no sense… To this day certain verb conjugations, such as
‘to be’, are absolutely meaningless to me. (Grandin 1996a, pp.30,
31)
Autistic people have trouble with words that cannot be constructed into a
mental picture. Ron Davis has identified ‘trigger words’ which cannot be
mentally ‘seen’, such as ‘the’, ‘of ’, ‘for’ (Davis 1997).
To get the idea of how they might hear (create mental understanding
through producing mental images), read the passage below in which all
unimaginable (i.e. incomprehensible for them) words are omitted, and try
to imagine how confusing it might be for an autistic child:
Alex…tidy…room Look…sister’s room…see…nice girl…people
say…want…say…lazy boy…go…room…help…tidy…
[Alex, why don’t you tidy up your room? Look at your sister’s room.
Everything is in order. Everybody can see what a nice girl she is. And
Cognitive Styles 113
what would people say about you? You don’t want them to say that you
are a lazy boy, do you? Let’s go to your room and I will help you to
tidy it up.]
However, visualization thinking patterns are different from one person to
the other. Some ‘visualizers’ can search the memory pictures like searching
slides and can stop on any picture to study. They are able to control the rate
at which pictures ‘flash’ through their imagination. Some people are
unable to control the rate and end up with overloaded images coming all at
once. Still others are slow to interpret the information. Thus, for a ‘visual
thinker’, not being able to visualize quickly what is said, or mentally hold
visual images together, means that verbal messages are not translated and
remained meaningless. That is why autistic people often have problems
learning abstract things that cannot be thought about in pictures. To
understand abstract concepts they use visual images. For example, to
understand personal relationships some autistic individuals used the image
of sliding doors (Grandin 1996a, b; Park and Youderian 1974).
Besides, the ‘quality’ of visual thinking may depend on the state the
person is in, and even the time of the day. For instance, for Temple Grandin
(2000) pictures are clearer and with the most detailed images when she is
drifting off to sleep; her language part of the brain is completely shut off at
night.
Visual thinkers, as a rule, can pass simple ‘Theory of Mind’
(understanding other people’s thoughts and intentions) tests as they can
visualize what the other person would see. As for more complex ‘Theory of
Mind’ tasks, the problem is often with the short-term working memory
and not with their lack of ‘Theory of Mind’. For example, Temple Grandin
can solve these tests if she is allowed to write down the sequence of events
(Grandin 1999).
Not all people with autism are highly visual thinkers. They appear to
be on a continuum of visualization skills ranging from next to none, to
seeing vague generalized pictures, to seeing semi-specific pictures, to
seeing, as in the case of Temple Grandin, in very specific pictures (Grandin
1996a). Unlike most people who think from general to specific, ‘visual
thinkers’ move from video-like, specific images to generalization and
concepts, for example:
114 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
…my concept of dogs is inextricably linked to every dog I’ve ever
known. It’s as if I have a card catalogue of dogs I have seen, complete
with pictures which continually grows as I add more examples to my
video library. (Grandin 1996a, p.28)
‘Perceptual thinkers’ can experience thought as reality. It means that when
they think about something, they relive it visually, auditorily, etc. and emotionally. O’Neill (1999) compares it with ‘watching a movie: a
mind-movie’ – the pictures of thoughts in this movie ‘transport you and
create emotions as you view scenes’. It is not uncommon to see an autistic
child giggling to himself. One of the reasons might be that the child relives
some funny moment, using recorded, stored sensory images. What is very
difficult for the parents to comprehend (and accept) is that a child might
laugh or giggle non-stop when someone is crying. It might be one of the
defensive strategies used by the child – when he is sad he tries to lessen it
by ‘feeling the cheerful emotions of a happy mind-movie’ (O’Neill 1999).
Perceptual thinking can account for some language idiosyncrasies,
observed by Frith (1989), such as that an autistic child may say ‘French
toast’ when he is happy, etc.
Some autistic people who are not visual thinkers may think in ‘audio
tape clips’: instead of using visual images, they operate with specific audio
clips (Grandin 2000). They ‘see’ better with their ears as they store ‘audio
pictures’ with detailed sound information, and ‘read’ these audio texts. For
‘auditory thinkers’ sound signals are much easier to understand than any
visual ones, such as body postures, facial expressions and gestures.
The examples of gustatory and olfactory images can be ‘gustatory/
olfactory hallucinations’, reported by some autistic people.
In all the cases, a whole or gestalt is visualized/heard, etc. and the
details are added in a non-sequential manner. For example, when Temple
Grandin designs equipment, she often has a general outline of the system,
and then each section of it becomes clear as she adds details (Grandin,
2000).
Perceptual thinking may be a slow method of thinking as it takes time
to ‘play the video/listen to the tape’, etc.
Cognitive Styles 115
What to look for:
Easily solves jigsaw puzzles
Remembers routes and places
Memorizes enormous amounts of information at a glance
Poor at mathematics
Learns nouns first
Has difficulties with adverbs and prepositions
Idiosyncratic patterns in language development, e.g. names one
thing to denote the other, etc.
Composes musical pieces, songs, ‘sound pictures’
Complains about being touched/wearing certain
clothes/heat/cold when the stimuli are not present
Complains about smells/tastes in the absence of the stimuli
Mimics actions when instructions are being given
Experiences movement while being still (e.g. ‘I am flying’ while
being in bed)
John and Helen are very good at jigsaw puzzles. Helen can easily solve
a jigsaw puzzle of 120 pieces even if the picture is upside-down. Alex,
Helen and Vicky easily memorize enormous amounts of information at
a glance (though its reproduction should be properly triggered, e.g.
instructions given by the same person with the same intonation, etc.).
‘Inertia’ (executive function deficit)
Another problem autistic people are reported to experience is ‘inertia’
(Dekker 1999) – difficulty in starting and planning the task. But once they
start, they find it hard to stop until they finish.
Autistic people tend to be rigid and inflexible, perserverative, narrowly
focused on details and deficient in the ability to inhibit familiar or
116 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
overlearned responses (Ozonoff et al. 1994). For example, Alex cannot
stop doing something until he has finished the task, no matter how tired
he is. He will cry and exhibit some destructive behaviours (kicking the
chair, throwing things from the table) but continue with the task until he
completes it.
Alternatively, some autistic children may have difficulty persisting at
the task and move quickly to something else and something else and
something else. Deficits in planning, inhibition of prepotent responses,
flexibility, and working memory are known as deficits in executive
functioning. Executive functioning impairment has been proposed as a
potential underlying deficit of autism because the symptoms demonstrated
by patients with prefrontal cortical dysfunction are similar to autistic
behaviours (Ozonoff, Roger and Pennington 1991). One difficulty with
this hypothesis is that autism is not the only disorder with potential
executive function impairment and further research is needed to find out
how executive function deficits in autism differ from those of other
disorders.
Deficits in executive function are reflected in speech and language
impairments. For non-autistic people this process seems to be almost
automatic. However, for a person with executive function deficit it is a
difficult process including many stages to come through. Thus a thought
has to be held in working memory while the response is being organized
and produced. Autistic children may have something to say, but they have
difficulty in finding the words they want, getting them formed and
produced. Generally they have less difficulty in familiar environments,
with familiar persons, in familiar situations, but they may not be able to do
it in other environments, with unfamiliar people or situations, though they
know how to do it.
Imagination
One of the diagnostic characteristics of autism is a lack or impairment of
imagination. Yet autistic individuals do not agree with this description.
There are many examples of ‘unimpaired imagination’ to be found in beautifully written prose or poetry full of poetic images, drawings, painings,
equipment created by people who are supposed to lack imagination.
Cognitive Styles 117
Imagination is defined as a mental faculty forming images of external
objects not present to the senses; creative faculty of the mind. The
differences in perception and memorizing information inevitably bring
differences in imagination.
The quality of memory influences our ability to imagine. We do not
remember things in detail; we fill in the blanks by imagining the details.
The better the memory, the poorer the imagination. This paradox has
attracted attention of many researchers. Langdon Down (1887) noted that
extraordinary memory is often combined with great impairments in
reasoning power. Sir Francis Galton, one of the founders of the field
psychology stated that scientists in general have poor imagery. He
specifically highlighted the antagonism between sharp mental imagery
and abstract thought. The memory of autistic people is too good.
However, they do possess imaginative abilities. Oliver Sacks (1995)
noticed that Stephen Wiltshire’s drawings, though accurate in some ways,
contained additions, subtractions, revisions, etc. They by no means
resembled copies or photographs, and always showed Stephen’s peculiar
style. A more precise definition of impairments in imagination, therefore,
would be that imagination in autism is qualitatively different from
non-autistic imagination. Autistic people find it difficult to invent stories
or conversations (non-autistic characteristic of creativity) but they may be
very creative in ‘solving better defined problems’ (Blackburn 1999). They
can write poetry and prose filled with graphic images ‘inside’ their head
and then type, speak, sing or play it (Kochmeister 1995).
We cannot deny the imaginative powers and creativity that enables
them to write poetry and prose, to invent equipment, compose music, etc.
And another proof of imagination in autism is that many autistic
individuals try really hard to imagine how non-autistic people experience
the world, think and feel. (Why don’t we use our imagination in order to
understand these people?)
118 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Chapter 6
Other Sensory Conditions
There are other sensory related conditions which appear to be quite
common in autism:

synaesthesia
prosopagnosia
central auditory processing disorder
Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome
sensory integration dysfunction/disorder.
Synaesthesia
Synaesthesia (Greek syn – ‘together’ and aesthesis – ‘perception’) or ‘joint
sensation’ or ‘cross-sensory perception’ is an involuntary physical experience of a cross-modal association, i.e. the stimulation of one sensory
modality triggers a perception in one or more different senses.
Synaesthesia can be of two types:

Two-sensory synaesthesia, when stimulation of one modality
triggers the perception in a second modality, in the absence of
direct stimulation of this second modality. The examples of this
type are:

coloured-hearing or chromaesthesia: when a sound
triggers the perception of a colour
119
coloured-olfaction: when a smell triggers the perception
of a colour
coloured-tactility: when a touch triggers a colour
coloured-gustation: when a taste triggers the perception
of a colour
tactile-hearing: when a sound triggers tactile sensation
tactile-vision: when a sight triggers feeling shapes and
textures pressing the skin
tactile-gustation: when a taste is experienced as a shape
audiomotor: when the sounds of different words trigger
different postures or movements of the body etc.

Multiple sensory synaesthesia:

coloured-numbers: when numbers are heard or read they
are experienced as colours
coloured-letters: when letters are heard or read they are
experienced as colours
coloured-graphemes: when words are heard or read they
are experienced as colours
shaped-numbers: when numbers are heard or read they
are experienced as shapes, etc.
In synaesthesia there can be thirty possibilities of different combinations
of senses, but usually two senses are involved. Some synaesthetes smell
sights or taste shapes, others see sounds. Practically every combination has
been reported.
More often synaesthesia is unidirectional, i.e. for example, sight may
be experienced as touch but touch does not trigger visual perceptions.
One in every 25,000 people is reported to have synaesthesia (Cytowic
1989), but this estimate might be far too low. Simon Baron-Cohen (1996),
an experimental psychologist at Cambridge University, suggests that
perhaps one in 2000 people is synaesthetic. Women synaesthetes
predominate: a ratio is reported from 3:1 (Cytowic 1989) to 8:1
120 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
(Baron-Cohen et al. 1993). Synaesthesia appears more frequently among
left-handed people and is believed to be genetic. Fifteen per cent of people
with synaesthesia are reported to have a history of one of their first-degree
relatives having dyslexia, autism or ADD (Cytowic 1995). Synaesthetic
experience is very individual, for example, among people who see
coloured sounds there is no specific colour for each sound from person to
person. Learning disabilities seem more common in synaesthetes, however,
the actual incidence of autism among synaesthetes is not known at present.
Cytowic (1995) defines the following five diagnostic features of
synaesthesia:

Synaesthesia is involuntary. It is a passive experience that
happens to someone. The sensations cannot be suppressed or
incurred, though the intensity is influenced by the situation
they occur in.
Synaesthesia is projected into the environment: it is not just in
the head but the individual actually sees a sound, hears a sight,
etc.; it is perceived externally in peri-personal space, the
limb-axis space immediately surrounding the body.
Synaesthetic perceptions are durable and generic, i.e. they do
not change over time or situation and they are always
experienced with the stimulus.
Synaesthesia is memorable: the synaesthetic sensations are
remembered best.
Synaesthesia is emotional: having this experience causes ecstasy.
One of the most common features of synaesthetes is their superior memory
(due to their parallel sensations). They remember conversations, verbal
instructions and spatial location of objects in every detail. They usually
perform in the superior range of the Wechsler Memory Scale (Cytowic
1995). Synaesthetes often remember the secondary perception better than
the primary one. A typical complaint is ‘I can’t remember his name, but I
know it’s purple’ (Lemley 1999). The most famous Russian synaesthete,
referred to as S., described by Luria in his book The Mind of a Mnemonist
(1987), accounts for his ability to remember words:
Other Sensory Conditions 121
…I recognize a word not only by the images it evokes but by a whole
complex of feelings that image arouses. It’s hard to express…it’s not
a matter of vision or hearing but some over-all sense I get. Usually I
experience a word’s taste and weight, and I don’t have to make an
effort to remember it – the word seems to remember itself.
However, this phenomenal experience, though very useful in remembering things, could lead to complications. S.’s understanding of spoken or
written speech was literal. Each word evoked images that distracted him
from the meaning of the sentence as a whole. He could only understand
what he could visualize (Luria 1987).
Synaesthetes are observed to have uneven cognitive skills. They are
reported to prefer order, neatness, symmetry and balance. They are more
prone to unusual experiences such as déjà vu, clairvoyance, etc. (Cytowic
1995). Among their deficiencies the most commonly reported are
right-left confusion (allochiria), poor math skills and a poor sense of
direction. Here we can see some similarity between the synaesthetic and
autistic features. In some autistic individuals their resistance to changes,
insistence on order and routine, echolalia (triggered by some stimuli), an
exceptional memory for details, a poor sense of direction, etc. might be
caused by synaesthesia.
There are several theories concerning the origin of synaesthesia. The
most recent one is the Neonatal Synaesthesia (NS) hypothesis proposed by
Maurer (1993). The author states that all human babies (neonates) have
synaesthesia, i.e. experience undifferentiated sensory input, probably up to
about four–six months of age. This hypothesis refutes Piaget’s
developmental theory that the different sensory systems are independent
at birth and only gradually become integrated with one another. Maurer’s
hypothesis needs more evidence to be proven, however, there are some
indirect data that support his idea, for example, neonates of other species
(kittens, hamsters, etc.) have similar transient connections between visual,
auditory, somatosensory and motorcortex (Dehay, Bullier and Kennedy
1984). Maurer (1993) suggests the same could be true of human babies.
Some autistic people also believe that synaesthesia is an earlier phase of
sensory systems development: it ‘comes from a time before fixed sensory
integration, before taste was taste and smell was smell, sound was sound,
touch was touch and vision was vision’ (Williams 1998, p.127).
122 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
If, according to the NS theory, synaesthesia is a normal phase of
development, then adult synaesthesia, as was suggested by Baron-Cohen et
al. (1993), might represent a breakdown in the process of modularization.
Thus, following an early initial phase of normal synaesthesia, a different
(adult-like) pattern of the differentiation of the perceptual system is
developed because of the development of more rapid and efficient
information processing and adult synaesthesia, therefore, represents a
failure to develop differentiation of the senses.
We can draw a parallel. In autism there are some phases of
development that do not follow a common path. For example, infantile
reflexes that are meant to become inhibited naturally in early infancy
through feedback to the brain regarding changes in growth and
adaptations to the environment, sometimes fail to be replaced by more
functional ones and are still present in autistic adults (Williams 1996).
Probably, synaesthesia in autism is another ‘remnant’ that fails to become
inhibited.
Most people with synaesthesia do not complain of their condition
because for them it is their normal perception of the world and they are not
aware of it causing any disadvantages. Moreover, they often enjoy it and
think that losing their unique perception would be upsetting, ‘just like
losing one of your senses’ (Duffy cited in Lemley 1999). This leads to the
paradoxical conclusion that dysmodularity is not always maladaptive
(Baron-Cohen 1996). Though it is true only if synaesthesia is
unidirectional, whereas in case of ‘two-ways’ synaesthesia (when, for
example, a synaesthete not only sees colours when he hears sounds, but
also hears sounds whenever he sees colours) the individual really suffers
from the condition. Baron-Cohen (1996) enumerates possible ill-effects of
this type of synaesthesia: stress, dizziness, information overload, avoidance
of noisy or colourful places, that lead to social withdrawal and interference
with ordinary life.
Sometimes synaesthetic experiences can hinder understanding of the
situation. For example, S. reported: ‘If, say, a person says something I see
the word; but should another person’s voice break in, blurs appear. These
creep into the syllables of the words and I can’t make out what is being
said’ (Luria 1987).
Other Sensory Conditions 123
Though the fact that synaesthesia does occur in autism is recognized, it
is considered to be rare (Cesaroni and Garber 1991). Probably, the
reported low incidence of synaesthesia in autism can be accounted for by
the fact that it is not easily detected in the autistic population. There are
several reasons for this:

Communication problems: even verbal individuals have
difficulties in expressing their experiences.
Even non-autistic synaesthetes find it difficult to realize that
they experience the world differently and it might be hard for
them to imagine that others cannot, say, hear sounds while
seeing colours. It is we who must find out whether they
experience synaesthesia.
The analysis of the personal accounts of autistic individuals shows that
synaesthesia is not rare in this population and practically all combinations
of senses have been found. Such senses as sight, sound and touch are
involved more often than smell and taste. Below are descriptions of experiences that can be defined as synaesthetic.
Tactile-hearing
I loved the way most words play on my tongue…[some words] hurt
my ears. (Willey 1999, p.20)
…words that tickled, words that warmed when I spoke
them…(some voices, especially with heavy nasal or high shrill qualities, or extreme eastern or southern accents) sting my ears like a wet
towel slapped against my eardrum would. (Willey 1999, p.31)
Tactile-visual
I would refuse words that looked ugly by virtue of being too
lopsided or too cumbersome or too unusual in their phonetics.
(Willey 1999, p.20)
I knew I had written something great when I found words that
looked, sounded or felt good. (Willey 1999, p.31)
124 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Olfactory-visual
It is possible…not only to see colours, but almost to smell them, too.
(O’Neill 1999, p.29)
Gustatory-olfactory
[As a reaction to the perfume] my mouth tasted like I had eaten a
bunch of sickly smelling flowers. (Williams 1999, p.57)
One individual with autism (cited in Cesaroni and Garber 1991) describes
the experience of sounds as ‘vague sensations of colour, shape, texture,
movement, scent or flavour. It is as if information was received in several
modes even though the signal comes from one source.’ Jim Sinclair (1998)
speaks about the colours of voices and the tactility of music. Donna
Williams (1996) experiences some people (‘fluffy people’) ‘causing her
lemons’ because ‘it triggers a sensation that feels exactly how eating
lemons’ makes her feel:
Though the taste isn’t there, the response in my mouth and neck and
muscles is the same. These people cause a ‘sour taste’ that is as
extreme and of the same type that lemons cause me when eaten.
(Williams 1996, p. 90)
What to look for:
Vision:

Covers/rubs/hits/blinks eyes in response to a
sound/taste/smell/touch
Complains about (is frustrated with) the ‘wrong’ colours of
letters/numbers, etc. written on coloured blocks, etc.
Hearing:
Covers/hits ears in response to a visual
stimulus/taste/smell/touch/texture
Complains about (is frustrated with) a sound in response to
colours/textures/scent/flavour/touch
Other Sensory Conditions 125
Taste:
Makes swallow movements in response to a visual/auditory
stimulus/smell/touch
Complains about (is frustrated with) taste in response to a
visual/auditory stimulus/smell touch
Smell:
Covers/rubs/hits, etc. the nose in response to a visual/auditory
stimulus/taste/touch
Tactility:
Complains about (is frustrated with) feeling colours/sounds,
etc. while being touched
Complains about (is frustrated with) feeling being touched
when being looked at
Complains about (is frustrated with) backache, etc./heat/cold
in colourful/crowded, etc. places with lots of movement
Proprioception/Vestibular:
Involuntary movements/postures of the body in response to a
visual/ auditory stimulus/smell/taste
Helen and Alex seem to ‘see’ sounds. Alex even tries to describe this
experience: ‘I was scared. I saw a yellow “z-z-z” sound’, ‘The eyes saw
the wrong word’ (in response to a verbal instruction). When Alex is in
a state of sensory overload his synaesthetic experiences aggravate his
condition and can lead to ‘panic attacks’ and aggression. After one of
these ‘incidents’ Alex tried to give his explanations of what had
happened: ‘In the shop I heard black then the word broke down into
pieces and they entered my eyes. I became blind because everything was
black.’
John displays involuntary movements of the body in response to some
auditory stimuli (vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers).
126 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Prosopagnosia (‘face-blindness’)
Some autistic people are reported to be prosopagnostic (Blackburn 1999;
Grandin 1996a), i.e. they have trouble recognizing people’s faces. This
condition makes them blind to all but the most familiar faces.
Prosopagnosia may be genetic and runs in families, or may be caused by
strokes, head injuries or severe illnesses. Face-blindness may co-occur with
autistic spectrum disorders. Hans Asperger reported the example of an
astronomer with Asperger syndrome who could not recognize his friends
and relatives. Some researchers (Kracke 1994) even suggest that
prosopagnosia may be an essential symptom in autistic spectrum disorder,
perhaps a specific subgroup of Asperger syndrome.
The exact effects and severity may vary between people. Temple
Grandin (1996a), for example, often got into embarrassing situations
because she did not remember faces unless she had seen the people many
times or they had a very distinct facial feature, such as a big beard, thick
glasses or a strange hairstyle.
Some experimental studies of autistic people’s capacity to process faces
suggest that they use abnormal processing strategies and experience less
difficulties when faces are presented to them upside-down. Whether it is
true for their perception of the whole environment needs further
investigation.
Non-autistic prosopagnostics state that face-blindness tends to isolate
them from people in general, as being unable to recognize others interferes
with making and maintaining relationships (Bill 1997). They work out
their own recognition system. Most common features that seem to work
best for face-blind people are casual clothes, long hair and facial hair, and
movement. Bill, who is face-blind, describes his method of recognizing
people by their jeans, gait, movements and hair (as the inability to
recognize faces does not extend to hair, particularly if it is long enough to
extend out of the face area). He can see a pattern in hair texture and process
hairlines. Interestingly, many autistic people are reported to be fascinated
by people’s hair, and many do not recognize their relatives if they wear
unfamiliar clothes. A prosopagnostic autistic boy, despite knowing the
names of his classmates, more often calls them ‘a boy’ or ‘a girl’.
Interestingly, when one of the girls had her hair cut short, he ‘moved’ her
to the ‘boy’ category.
Other Sensory Conditions 127
Another problem prosopagnostic people experience is difficulty in
understanding and expressing emotions. The main ‘tools’ to express
emotions are not words but facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice.
For people who cannot ‘read’ faces because of face-blindness or cannot
‘hear’ emotions in voices because of their central auditory processing
disorder (see below) it is extremely difficult not only to understand
emotions in others but also to express emotions themselves otherwise than
using words. Bill (1997) calls it ‘emotion blindness’. Being prosopagnostic
Bill was struck by the similarity of emotional expressions of blind people
and prosopagnostics. He assumes that not seeing what emotions are
supposed to look like when coming in, both the blind and prosopagnostics
never acquired a large repertoire of emotions to send out. It is no wonder,
therefore, that autistic people experiencing all sorts of sensory processing
problems find it most difficult to understand the emotional states of other
people and their own.
In addition to their difficulties in ‘reading’ facial expressions, some
prosopagnostic people have problems with understanding gestures and
sign language, which involves a lot of facial expression (Bill 1997).
Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD)
Autism is often associated with auditory processing disorders (problems).
Auditory problems in autism investigated in the literature include hypersensitivity (Delacato 1974; Grandin 1996a, b; 1999; Grandin and
Scariano 1986); hyposensitivity/unresponsiveness to certain sounds
(Kanner 1943; Koegel and Schreibman 1976); inability to modulate
certain sounds (Ornitz 1974); delays in auditory processing (Condon
1975; Rimland 1964) and others. These problems may be covered by a
single definition – auditory dysfunction.
This dysfunction is often undetected, as a conventional hearing test
may not show any problems, especially in older children and adults who
have acquired strategies to cope with their difficulties, such as blocking out
sounds.
Recently a subtype of auditory dysfunction has been singled out and
described as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). CAPD is
defined as a neurological dysfunction responsible for impairments of
128 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
neural pathways of the brain that link the ear with the central auditory
system when the ear works properly but the parts of the brain that interpret
and analyse the auditory information do not. The child can hear but has
problems with listening. The causes of CAPD are unknown.
French otolaryngologist and psychologist A. A. Tomatis has developed
Audio-Psycho-Phonology as a multi-disciplinary science (hearing,
speech/language development and psychological attitudes) and the
Tomatis Method to affect speech, language, learning and social
interaction. Dr Tomatis conducted research in the ability to hear in two
groups of people: factory workers in war plants daily subjected to auditory
overload, and professional opera singers who had lost the ability to sing.
Paradoxically, audiometric testing showed that both groups displayed
similar patterns: hearing loss in the same frequencies. Tomatis formulated
his theory – the Tomatis Effect – ‘a person can only reproduce vocally
what he is capable of hearing’, i.e. auditory and vocal organs are part of the
same neurological loop and changes in the auditory system will
immediately bring changes in the voice, and vice versa. Tomatis
hypothesized that the ear can be ‘retuned’ to hearing faulty frequencies
and that, in turn, can alter one’s self-listening and production of sounds.
Tomatis developed the Tomatis Method to use sound stimulation in order
to provide corrective auditory opportunities.
Tomatis distinguished between hearing (the ability to perceive the
sound) and listening (the ability to filter irrelevant sounds and focus on
sounds we are listening). According to Tomatis, listening problems (if they
are not physiological) are psychological. Listening abilities are vital for the
development of communication. The researcher thought that
psychological problems such as difficult birth, disruptive home
environment, physical and emotional abuse could cause shutting out
auditory stimuli and thus, create a relaxation of the muscles of the middle
ear. If the muscles of the ear are inactive for too long, they lose their
tonicity. As a result, the sounds are distorted and incorrectly analysed
(Tomatis 1991).
Tomatis worked out the Tomatis Listening Test aimed to find out the
person’s level of good listening criteria:
Other Sensory Conditions 129

hearing within normal range
absence of auditory distortions
the ability to analyse and compare sounds of different
frequencies (‘auditory selectivity’)
the ability to identify the source of the sound; a right-sided
auditory dominance, etc.
The failure of one or several of these characteristics results in impaired listening. Tomatis developed special techniques to restore ‘good listening’,
i.e. functional effectiveness of the ear. (See the Tomatis Method in Chapter
7 below.)
Guy Berard, a French otolaryngologist, originally trained by Tomatis,
disagreed with his teacher on a number of points and developed his own
approach to the problem. In contrast to Tomatis, who assumed
psychological causes of the disorder, Berard suggested biological causes.
According to Dr Berard, processing problems may occur if a person hears
some frequencies better than the others and develops ‘auditory peaks’
(frequencies to which a person is hypersensitive).
Some indicators of CAPD (from different sources) are:
may seem deaf at some occasions but hears the slightest sounds
at other occasions
covers ears even if there are no loud sounds (seems to hear
sounds which other people do not hear)
a very light sleeper
produces sounds (banging doors, tapping things, making
vocalizations, etc.)
cannot concentrate in noisy environments
speech problems.
Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome (SS/IS)
The idea that vision must have something to do with difficulty in reading
and spelling has been highlighted from the earliest times. The first neurologist who investigated this problem was Samuel Orton. He called this phe130 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
nomenon ‘strephosymbolia’ (i.e. ‘twisted symbols’), applying it to people
without identified visual impairments who, nevertheless, saw a printed text
in a distorted way (Orton 1928).
In the 1970s–1980s the idea that visual perception might influence
the reading performance was investigated again. The visual perception of
dyslexics was stated to be different from that of normal readers (Jordan
1972). Distortions of print when reading were reported by Meares (1980).
The researchers found out that visual acuity did not necessarily correlate
with reading performance. In the following decades there have appeared
some studies that identified particular types of visual abnormalities as
possible factors in reading difficulties. Wilkins (1995) investigated the
effects of visual stimuli on epilepsy. The researcher suggested that
fluorescent lights and certain patterns (especially stripes) might cause
problems for people with epilepsy.
In 1983, perceptual problems caused by light sensitivity were
identified by Helen Irlen, an educational psychologist, who worked with
adults with dyslexia. She discovered that a visual perceptual dysfunction,
unrelated to visual skills normally assessed by ophthalmic examination,
may cause distortions with print and environment. Helen Irlen suggests
that there are people whose problem is not in the processing of
information but in the inability to get it through one of the channels,
namely vision. She states that these individuals are highly sensitive to
particularwavelengths and frequencies of the white light spectrum leading
to rapid fatigue after only short periods of reading, thus giving rise to a
reading disability, headaches and stress. Irlen called the cluster of
symptoms of this dysfunction Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (now known
as Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome – SS/IS). SS/IS is a visualperceptual problem that occurs in some people with learning/reading
disorders, autism, and other developmental disorders. The symptoms
include (Irlen 1989; 1991; 1997):

Light sensitivity: difficulty concentrating or discomfort in
fluorescent lighting, bright sunlight, glare or lights at night.
Contrast and colour sensitivity: problems with high contrast
such as black on white, bright colours and busy patterns such as
stripes and polka dots.
Other Sensory Conditions 131
Poor print resolution: difficulty reading print, numbers or
musical notes. Problems may include print that shifts, shakes,
blurs, moves, doubles, swirls, sparkles, shimmers or disappears.
Restricted span of recognition: inability to read letters, numbers,
musical notes or words in groups, or to see objects in the
environment together. This results in problems tracking,
correctly identifying words, or the ability to skim or speed read.
Attention deficit: problems concentrating while doing tasks
such as reading, writing, computer use, looking and even
listening.
Poor depth perception: inability to judge distances or spatial
relationships affecting small and gross motor coordination. May
be unsure or have difficulty with such things as escalators,
stairs, ball sports or driving.
Strain and fatigue: physical symptoms are varied and include,
but are not limited to, fatigue, tiredness, headaches, fidgetiness,
distractibility and hyperactivity.
Irlen (1991) identified a variety of ways in which a printed page might be
perceived by a person with SS/IS, such as the rivers effect, the washout
effect, the swirl effect, the blurry effect, the halo effect, etc.
The symptoms described by Irlen were not identified in the previous
investigations because questions were not asked about how reading
disabled people see the print. It has appeared that they are usually not
aware that what they are seeing is abnormal (Irlen 1991; Jordan 1972).
Optical professionals failed to identify this dysfunction as they had never
directed their questioning to how a child sees print (Meares 1980). A
number of probable causal mechanisms have been suggested: the transient
system deficit, magnocellular/central processing deficit theory, the retinal
sensitivity theory, the biochemical anomalies theory (for a review see
Robinson 1998).
Originally, SS/IS was considered a visual-spatial subtype of reading
disability. Recent research (Riley 1999) has shown that SS/IS (in a milder
degree) affects about 20 per cent of the general population as well. They
experience difficulties with a normal working environment, particularly
132 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
fluorescent lighting and computer screens, resulting in fatigue, eyestrain,
headaches, poor concentration, inefficiency and stress. SS/IS can be
associated with other disorders. Most research has been devoted to SS/IS
in people with dyslexia. However, in the 1990s there arose an interest in
SS/IS in autism.
In 1993 Donna Williams and her husband were screened for SS/IS
and got the Irlen lenses. Although Donna was aware of the fact that she
saw differently from other people, for the first time was she able to
experience how great this difference was: for the first time she could see
other people’s faces and the world around her clearly and as a whole
(Williams 1999).
It was these changes in the visual perception of individuals with autism
by means of the coloured lenses that highlighted new perspectives in the
research of SS/IS. After several years experience of working with autistic
individuals Helen Irlen has come to the conclusion that though the
symptoms displayed by people with autism are not any different from
those of individuals with learning and reading problems, autistic people
experience more severe perceptual difficulties. The sensory overload
caused by bright lights, fluorescent lights, colours and patterns makes the
body react as if it is being attacked or bombarded, resulting in negative
biochemical changes. This may result in such physical symptoms as
headaches, anxiety, panic attacks or aggression. In order to lessen the stress
caused by ‘sensory bombardment’, individuals use their ‘defensive visual
behaviours’ – looking away, looking in short glances, looking through
fingers, looking down, or shut down their visual channel altogether.
Sensory integration dysfunction
About 10 per cent of people are estimated to have sensory integration dysfunction. Sensory integrative problems are found in up to 70 per cent of
children with learning difficulties. Sensory integrative difficulties have
been identified in people with autism and other developmental disabilities.
But what exactly is sensory integration dysfunction?
The theory of sensory integration dysfunction (SID) was formulated
by A. Jane Ayres (1979), an occupational therapist, to describe a variety of
neurological disorders. It attempts to account for the relationship between
Other Sensory Conditions 133
sensory processing and behavioural deficits, and is known as a ‘theory of
brain-behaviour relationships’ (Fisher and Murray 1991). At present SID
still remains a theory and has little recognition and support from the fields
outside occupational therapy (OT). There is still much scepticism and
criticism of SID. Below we will try to answer the ‘why is it so’ question and
see whether scepticism is justifiable or not. There seem to be several
reasons to account for the criticism received by the theory of SID.
To start with, the choice of the term ‘sensory integration dysfunction/
disorder’ was very unfortunate. On the one hand, SID allows a very broad
interpretation as it was introduced to cover a variety of neurological
disorders. On the other hand, it effectively narrows the investigation, as it
excludes any other disorder labelled by a different term, for example,
sensory processing disorders. As a result, despite the theory having been
actively developed within the field of OT, it has inevitably ignored a great
amount of research in the field of sensory and information processing as
being outside the scope of OT interests. It is no wonder, therefore, to find
such statements as ‘the state of knowledge regarding modulation of
sensation was in its infancy during the 1980s’ in a review of OT literature
(Wilbarger and Stackhouse 1998). On the contrary, quite a lot of research
was being carried out in the field of sensory dysfunction, including
sensory modulation problems, in the 1960s–80s.
In the 1960s, Bernard Rimland (1964) wrote about impairments in
perceptual abilities of autistic children. Edward Ornitz (1969) described
disorders of perception in autism. In the early 1970s, Carl Delacato (1974)
put forward the theory of sensory dysfunction in autism, and proposed a
classification of abnormal sensory experiences of autistic children.
Delacato also pioneered the treatment of sensory abnormalities by
‘normalizing’ sensory processing. Though his book was published more
than three decades ago, his basic ideas about sensory dysfunction are still
relevant today. Actually, these ideas have ‘re-appeared’ in many works of
OT research in the 1980s–90s as ‘new discoveries’.
In 1989, Ornitz extended the notion of a disorder of sensory
processing to the notion of disorders of sensory and information
processing. This approach allowed him to clarify and identify separate
stages and functions of sensory perception and consider information
134 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
processing in terms of more discrete functions, such as attention, memory
and learning.
Another drawback of the SID theory was that it was presented to
describe a new phenomenon that had not been investigated before.
Consequently, it ignored much of the previous research in the field of
sensory processing, and limited itself to the field of OT.
It is important to remember that the SID theory was not new, but its
name was. Before SID, the same concepts were described under the names
of ‘sensory perceptual impairments’, ‘sensory processing disorders/
problems’, ‘sensory dysfunction’, ‘disturbances of sensory modulation/
information processing’, etc. Even now, after several decades of intensive
research in the field of OT, there is great confusion about definitions,
concepts and notions related to SI and SID.
In the OT literature I have been unable to find a single, commonly
accepted definition of SI(D). Different people either use different
terminology to discuss identical phenomenon, or apply one and the same
term to cover different meanings, depending on the views, expertise and
research interests of the person who uses it. Current works are based on the
writings of A. Jane Ayres but the concepts of the theory have been further
developed by OT researchers.
In order to trace the development of the concept and define the current
understanding of SI(D), we shall briefly discuss the definitions presented
in the OT literature. They can be roughly divided into broad and narrow.
The broad definitions
Ayres (1989) defined SI as ‘the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and from the environment and makes it possible
to use the body effectively within the environment. The spatial and
temporal aspects of inputs from different sensory modalities are interpreted, associated and united’ (Ayres 1989, p.11). In accordance with this
broad definition, some authors describe SI as the process by which the
nervous system receives, organizes, files and integrates sensory information in order to make an appropriate response (Herron 1993); the ability to
take in information through senses, to put it together with prior informaOther Sensory Conditions 135
tion, memories, and knowledge stored in the brain, and to make a meaningful response (Stephens 1997).
And now let us compare these definitions with those of perception and
sensory processing: perception is the process by which an organism
collects, interprets and comprehends information from the outside world
by means of senses. Sensory processing is the ability of the brain to process
all sensations so we can interact adequately with our environment.
Confusing? You bet!
This broad interpretation of SI leads to broad interpretation of SID,
such as the ineffective neurological processing of information received
through the senses. (Though some occupational therapists do distinguish
between sensory processing dysfunction and SID, where sensory
processing is the way the body takes in ‘raw data’ of sensations from the
environment through all of the sense organs, and sensory integration refers
to the way the brain combines and utilizes that raw information in order to
provide useful information with which we can make a decision.)
The narrow definitions
Below are just few examples of narrower interpretations of SI(D). SI is distinguishing between sensory experiences, such as touch, movement, body
awareness, sight, sound, smell, taste and the pull of gravity (Kapes 2001).
SID is a disruption in the process of intake, organization and output of
sensory information. Inefficient sensory intake is taking in too much or too
little information. With too much information, the brain is on overload and
causes an individual to avoid sensory stimuli. With too little information,
the brain seeks more sensory stimuli (Kranowitz 1998, p.55). This latter
explanation coincides completely with Delacato’s classification of hyperand hyposensitivities (however, Delacato distinguished a third possibility
– ‘white noise’, as well).
In a narrow sense, SID is nowadays often used interchangeably with
sensory modulation disorder/disruption. This brings even more
confusion, as this ‘interchange’ is not accepted by all the researchers, and
some authors interpret ‘modulation’ as a separate process.
Similarly, we find broad and narrow meanings of ‘modulation’ in the OT
literature. Ayres defined modulation as the ‘brain’s regulation of its own
136 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
activity’ (1979, p.182), and placed the role of vestibular system in a key
position in modulation.
Other examples of the understanding of the notion of sensory
modulation and sensory modulation disorder/problems include the
following ideas.
Sensory modulation is ‘a tendency to generate responses that are
appropriately graded in relation to incoming sensory stimuli rather than
underreacting or overreacting to them’ (Parham and Mailloux 1996).
Modulation is the critical balance or regulation of facilitating and
inhibiting effects (Myles et al. 2001). ‘When an individual overresponds,
underresponds or fluctuates in response to sensory input in a manner
disproportional to that input, we say that the individual has a sensory
modulation disorder’ (Koomar and Bundy 1991, p.268). Wilbarger and
Stackhouse (1998), having failed to discover a satisfying definition of
sensory modulation, propose their own conceptualization of it: sensory
modulation is the intake of sensation via typical sensory processing
mechanisms so that the degree, intensity and quality of response is graded
to match environmental demand and so that a range of optimal
performance/adaptation is maintained. In their review of OT literature on
sensory modulation they regret that there is limited information written
about sensory modulation, and emphasize the necessity to update ‘our
theories to incorporate the new findings in order to facilitate acceptance of
our unique perspective on central nervous system functioning as it relates
to human occupation’. One should add, it is equally important to
incorporate the ‘old findings’ from the outside of OT, such as, for example,
those described by Ornitz (1983; 1985; 1989) – the disturbances of
sensory modulation manifested as both underreactivity and overreactivity
to sensory stimuli.
As we will see further, all these different interpretations of SID allow
for highlighting different characteristics and categories. As any aspect of
sensory processing and information processing can be covered by the term
of SID, it gives a researcher a free hand to choose whatever they want to
study, describing it as SID. Stephens (1997), for instance, discusses various
characteristics of SID under four categories: attention and regularity
problems, sensory defensiveness, activity patterns and behaviour. Herron
(1993) includes in the end products of SI such characteristics as the ability
Other Sensory Conditions 137
to register and modulate stimuli, motor coordination, attention, motor
planning ability, balance, eye control, emotional stability, behavioural
control, body scheme and self-esteem. Kranowitz, the author of The
Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction
(1998) describes modulation, inhibition, habituation and facilitation.
Myles and colleagues distinguish five stages of the SI process: registration,
orientation, interpretation, organization and execution of a response. They
also suggest that sensory modulation (not included by them in the five
stages of the SI process) supports the effective performance by further
integrating the information to result in a behaviour or action that matches
our intent (Myles et al. 2001, p.13). Still others enumerate such ‘common
sensory-processing problems’ as registration, modulation, defensiveness
and integration.
Originally, Ayres limited her investigation with three senses – tactile,
vestibular, and proprioceptive – defined as the basic ones. Later OT
researchers included all the senses in the theory.
Ayres introduced the concepts of tactile defensiveness (for tactile
sense), gravitational insecurity (vestibular system) and postural insecurity
(proprioception). She defined tactile defensiveness as avoiding or negative
reactions to non-noxious tactile stimuli (Ayres 1964) and as an imbalance
between discriminative and protective sensory processing. Tactile
defensiveness is manifested in ‘fright, flight, or fight’ response or reaction.
However, the concept of defensiveness in the context of SID seems to be
misleading as it implies the reaction (i.e. the behaviour caused by
something) rather than the cause of this reaction.
This concept has been expanded and developed into a broader
category by numerous OT researchers and placed on all sorts of continua.
To name just a few:

sensory defensiveness (= an imbalance of inhibitory and
excitatory forces) as opposed to sensory dormancy (‘too
much…inhibition of incoming sensory stimuli’ (Knickerbocker
1980, p.32))
tactile defensiveness – registration problems continuum (Fisher
and Dunn 1983)
138 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
sensory defensiveness and sensory dormancy (as sensory
modulation disorders) as opposing ends of a sensory
responsivity/registration continuum with overorientation at
one end and a failure to orient on the other (Royeen 1989)
sensory defensiveness on a continuum of approach and
avoidance behaviours (Wilbarger and Wilbarger 1991)
registration problems – sensory defensiveness (Parham and
Mailloux 1996).
Gradually, the shift from sensory defensiveness to sensory modulation
problems (a person’s threshold for sensory events and responsiveness to
sensation) was made. It seems quite logical, as hypersensitivity
(overarousal, overreactivity) experienced by the individual causes defensiveness (reaction/behaviour). This turn of attention from behaviours to
experiences probably prevented such terms as ‘visual defensiveness’/’auditory defensiveness’/’vestibular defensiveness’, etc. from being spread in
the research literature. That is why, though OT researchers still write about
tactile defensiveness, while describing problems in other sensory modalities they prefer to use ‘hyper-/hyposensitivities’, ‘registration/modulation/integration’ problems, i.e. the concepts of sensory dysfunction and
sensory modulation disturbances introduced by the researchers in the field
of sensory and information processing.
The better prognosis for children ‘who register sensory input but failed
to modulate it’ than for children who fail to register sensory input,
suggested by Ayres and Tickle (1980, p.375) also coincides completely
with the prognosis by Delacato (1974) for children with hypersensitivities
as opposed to those with hyposensitivities.
Common classifications of ‘original’ SIDs include:
Decreased discrimination of vestibular and proprioceptive information:
poor posture, frequent falling, clumsiness, poor balance,
constant moving and fidgeting, poor attention. Treatment
generally focuses on providing intense vestibular and
proprioceptive stimulation and improving postural responses
(Koomar and Bundy 1991).
Decreased discrimination of tactile information: a poor body scheme,
difficulty with praxis and poor hand skill development.
Other Sensory Conditions 139
Treatment generally focuses on providing a variety of deepand light-touch experiences (Koomar and Bundy 1991).
Somatodyspraxia: poor tactile and proprioceptive processing,
clumsiness, frequent tripping, falling and bumping into objects,
difficulty with motor and manipulation skills, poor
organization (Cermak 1991).
Impaired bilateral motor coordination: difficulty with bilateral
activities such as clapping, hopping, skipping, keyboarding;
difficulty developing a hand preference. Treatment generally
focuses on providing vestibular and proprioceptive experiences
and graded bilateral activities (Koomar and Bundy 1991).
Tactile defensiveness: an aversive response to a variety of tactile
experiences.
Gravitational insecurity: limited participation in gross motor play;
avoidance or fear of escalators, elevators, cars or planes;
resistance of being off the ground. Treatment focuses on
providing proprioceptive input and graded vestibular input
(Koomar and Bundy 1991).
Projected action sequences: inability to plan and initiate movement
in response to changing environmental stimuli. These
difficulties are thought to be connected with inefficiencies in
processing vestibular and proprioceptive input (Koomar and
Bundy 1991).
Nowadays, the OT researchers extend SID to the problems in all senses.
According to Sensory Integration International, the following are some
signs of SID:
oversensitivity to touch, movement, sights, or sounds
underreactivity to touch, movement, sights, or sounds
tendency to be easily distracted
social and/or emotional problems
activity level that is unusually high or unusually low
physical clumsiness or apparent carelessness
140 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
impulsive, lacking in self-control
difficulty making transitions from one situation to another
inability to unwind or calm self
poor self concept
delays in speech, language, or motor skills
delays in academic achievement.
These signs are often complemented by more specific symptoms from all
sensory modalities and often coincide with the symptoms of CAPD or
SS/IS described above.
At present there are two distinct views on the ‘status’ of SID. Some
authors argue that numerous psychological, psychiatric and neurological
disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, ADHD, ADD, autism, PDD,
Tourette syndrome, etc. appear the same as SID, and that many symptoms
of SID look like symptoms of other common disabilities, making it
difficult to differentiate one difficulty from another (Nelson undated). The
others (Wilbarger and Stackhouse 1998) think that referring to the cluster
of SI problems as a disorder may be premature as SID has not been
identified as having universal and persistent features that are distinct from
other established disorders.
One can make some suggestions. Instead of trying to embrace all
sensory processing and information processing disorders under one
umbrella term, wouldn’t it better to investigate specific patterns of sensory
perceptual problems in different ‘established disorders’? For example,
though sensory perceptual problems have not been incorporated into
diagnostic classifications, very specific and easy-to-describe unusual
responses to sensory stimuli have been reported in most autistic children
when they are observed prior to six years of age or when their parents are
questioned about specific behaviours (Ornitz 1969; 1974; 1983; 1985).
Before the age of six, specific behaviours caused by sensory perceptual
problems were observed with almost the same frequencies as behaviours
related to social and communicative impairments (Ornitz, Guthrie and
Farley 1977; 1978; Volkmar, Cohen and Paul 1986). It would be useful to
compile specific patterns of sensory perceptual problems for different
Other Sensory Conditions 141
developmental disorders in order to find out whether there are differences
in their manifestations.
To make the process easier, one could clearly specify and define
separate sensory processing and information processing phenomena. For
instance, sensory integration dysfunction can be defined as difficulty
processing and interpreting information from more than one sensory
channel at a time; sensory modulation disturbances – the difficulties to
modulate optimal arousal, that is manifested as both under- and
overreactivity (hyper- and hyposensitivities) to sensory stimuli, or
fluctuation between the two; etc.
Then probably SID, sensory modulation problems, as well as CAPD,
SS/IS and similar conditions, will fit perfectly into the theory of sensory
perceptual disorders/problems/difficulties.
142 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Chapter 7
Treatments
When a child is diagnosed autistic, educational priorities focus on behavioural interventions aimed at development of social and communicative
skills, while the child’s ‘sensory needs’ are often ignored. Paradoxical as it
may seem, sometimes autistic children benefit from being misdiagnosed as
having visual and/or auditory impairments. It especially applies to the
so-called low-functioning (or ‘severely autistic’) children whose sensory
perceptual problems are usually very severe. Being placed in an environment where their sensory difficulties are addressed these children might
respond to social and communication interventions better than if they
were placed in autistic units/schools where the main emphasis is only on
training in social/communicative behaviours.
In the case of such disabilities as blindness/deafness the main
emphasis is on providing sensory substitution in order to replace one
sensory input the person lacks (vision/hearing) by another (for example,
tactile aids: Braille alphabet) and adjusting the environment to facilitate
functioning of people with visual/auditory impairments. The problem
with autism specific sensory perceptual difficulties is that they are often
‘invisible’ and undetected. The first step to make in the direction of
addressing these problems is to recognize that they do exist. The matter is
complicated by the fact that autistic individuals are very different in their
sensory perceptual profile. Treatment programmes that are appropriate
and beneficial for one child may be painful and harmful for another. Thus,
if the ‘right problem’ is addressed, the child gets more chances to benefit
from the treatment. A widely known example of this is described by
Annabel Stehli (1991) concerning her daughter Georgiana who suffered
143
from extremely acute hearing. After the Auditory Integration Treatment
her hypersensitivity to sound diminished and this enabled her to cope with
other perceptual problems to such an extent that she is no longer
considered autistic.
The sensory perceptual profile of a child could be a starting point for
selection of methods and, probably, working out new ones, in order to
address the individual needs of each particular child.
Without treatment children learn to compensate, and use systems and
methods available to them, such as stereotyped behaviours, self-injury,
aggression, tantrums and withdrawal.
There are different treatments available to address sensory problems.
These do not offer a ‘cure’ for autism and do not have 100 per cent success
for all who undergo them. In this chapter the basic principles of
interventions addressing sensory perceptual problems in autism are
discussed.
Auditory Integration Training (AIT)
Auditory Integration Training (AIT) was developed by French otolaryngologist Guy Berard. It is based on the work of Berard’s supervisor and
colleague Alfred Tomatis but differs from it at some very important points.
Both methods – the Tomatis Method and Berard’s AIT – are used at
present. They have been reported to be beneficial in hypersensitive
hearing, dyslexia, ADHD and autism, though there is still some controversy in the reports.
The Tomatis Method
The Tomatis Method works at three levels: functional, emotional and relational.
First, the initial assessment is conducted to evaluate the ability to listen,
listening strengths and weaknesses. This assessment consists of a battery of
tests, which are administered using electronic equipment. The ability to
hear specific sound scale frequencies (from 125 to 8000 Hz) is tested and a
curve is derived for each ear (threshold evaluation). The curves are
examined in three ranges: bass (125–800 Hz), middle (800–3000 Hz),
and treble (3000–8000 Hz). In the normal condition, the curves rise at a
144 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
specific rate between specific frequencies. Disturbances in the curves can
be caused by different problems. Then the ability to recognize pitch
differences between frequencies is tested for each ear (selectivity
evaluation) by using a sound input of about 45–50 db. This ability should
be developed by the time a child is eight–ten years of age. In order to
discover problems with orientation within one’s environment, the ability
to orient spatially is tested (spatialization evaluation). Leading ear
evaluation is conducted to determine the dominant ear.
Additional tests include examination of lateral dominance, figure
drawing (the tree test, family test, human figure test).
After analysis of the test results and a detailed developmental history, a
specific individual listening programme using the Electronic Ear (the
apparatus developed by Tomatis in 1953) is implemented. The Electronic
Ear consists of four mechanisms: filters, electronic gate, balance control,
and bone and air conduction reception. It is used to retrain the ear.
The programme consists of two stages: auditory (i.e. receptive, when
the person is trained to develop better listening skills) and audio-vocal (i.e.
expressive, when the person is trained to develop a voice of good quality
and tone to maintain listening skills). The person listens to the sounds of
music and voice through the Electronic Ear. Electronically modulated
music is administered through earphones. This ‘auditory input’ is filtered
and modified according to the specific auditory problems of each
individual. The Listening Training Programme is aimed to simulate five
stages of listening development with special attention to the stages where
the person displays difficulties. These five stages are: filtered high
frequency listening (prenatal listening); integration of low frequencies
(sonic birth); humming (prelanguage); repeating words and phrases
(language); reading aloud. The first two phases (prenatal listening and
sonic birth) are passive, where the child listens to filtered music (usually
Mozart) and their mother’s voice while they are engaged in some activity
(painting, doing puzzles, talking or even sleeping) for two hours a day. The
last three phases are active, where the child has to repeat filtered sounds
modified by the Electronic Ear. The whole programme usually lasts for 30
days (2 hours a day).
The Tomatis Method is claimed to be beneficial for a number of
‘psychological disorders’, including autism.
Treatments 145
The Berard method of AIT
The AIT method was developed by Guy Berard, who was originally
trained by Alfred Tomatis. The publication of Stehli’s book The Sound of a
Miracle, A Child’s Triumph over Autism (1991) brought AIT a great attention
and interest. Annabel Stehli described the remarkable results of AIT on her
daughter Georgiana who had been diagnosed autistic and spent the first
11 years of her life in special residential schools and institutions. The treatment was so effective for Georgie that she could live independently, graduated from the college with a degree and got married.
AIT is based on two theories:
Behaviour is a direct result of how well a person hears.
The hearing mechanism can be retrained. As a result, improved
hearing leads to improved behaviour.
The principle of AIT originated from the concept of possibility of cure by
mechanical needs. For example, if the movement of a limb is restricted, it
can be cured (trained) by special physical exercises to increase mobility.
This ‘mechanical’ treatment influences not only the related muscles but
also the related area of the brain. Berard implies this principle in his ‘ear
training’: if one of the areas of the auditory system is stimulated (trained)
by certain sound training (with frequencies causing hypersensitivity
having been filtered out) hearing is normalized. Research has shown that
in order for the nervous system to develop normally, it must receive
adequate sensory input that stimulates the development of corresponding
areas in the brain.
Berard developed an AIT device – Audiokinetron Ears Education and
Retraining System. It selects on random high and low frequencies from
music and sends the sounds via headphones.
The AIT procedure involves:
Audiometric testing to find out whether the person has
‘auditory peaks’. According to Berard, these auditory peaks can
be reduced or eliminated by AIT.
The filtering out of sounds at certain selected frequencies in
accordance with the individual audiogram. Where an accurate
audiogram cannot be obtained, the basic modulation system
without specific filters is used.
146 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
The modulation of the music by alternatively dampening and
enhancing, on a random basis, the bass and treble musical
output. Each session lasts for 30 minutes, 2 sessions a day for
10 days.
After five days, another assessment of the person’s hearing to
find out whether the auditory peaks are still present and
whether there is a need to readjust the filters. If the person has
speech and/or language problems, after half the sessions the
volume level for the left ear is reduced to stimulate the
language development in the left hemisphere.
After AIT, the person should perceive all the frequencies equally well and
have no auditory peaks.
During the treatment and for some time after it some people exhibit
temporary behavioural problems, such as hyperactivity, rapid mood swings
and even aggression. It seems that the more severe the side-effects, the
more beneficial the treatment is for the person. Typically, these behaviours
do not last long (from two days to two months). Dr Berard explains AIT
and summarizes case histories of some of his patients, with copies of their
hearing tests before and after the treatment, in his book Hearing Equals
Behavior (published in France in 1982; the English translation, 1993).
Numerous pilot studies of the method demonstrated significant
results: a reduction in self-stimulatory behaviours, hyperactivity, anxiety,
social withdrawal, distractibility and echolalia, and an increase in
attention, comprehension, articulation and auditory memory. There are
very few immediate changes after the treatment. Usually positive changes
take several months to be noticed. Most common positive changes are in
the areas of social, emotional and cognitive development. Lower
functioning individuals typically show greater improvement. It is not
known yet how AIT affects a person’s behaviours.
The report on the efficacy of AIT summarizing the results and critiques
of 28 studies (January, 1993–May, 2001) was prepared by Edelson and
Rimland (2001). The report covers 28 studies of AIT with 23 concluding
that AIT benefits various population subgroups, 3 claiming no benefit, and
2 with contradictory results. Dr Rimland considers that the Berard
Method is more effective than the Tomatis therapy, which is more likely to
produce side-effects, and is more expensive and intrusive. Besides,
Treatments 147
Tomatis’s emphasis on supposed psychological and/or emotional causes
of the disorder can be misleading.
The treatment is used with people with auditory processing problems,
including those with autism, dyslexia, learning disabilities, PDD, ADHD
and others. However, some researchers feel strongly against the treatment
and warn that AIT can be harmful for children as the sound level of the
processed music used in AIT might well exceed the maximum allowable
levels as specified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
in the USA.
So why does the treatment work with some children and harm others?
As there is no definite answer to this question at present, we may suggest
the following hypothesis. We know that many people with autism do
suffer from auditory problems (especially hypersensitivity to certain
sounds). AIT aims to reduce this hypersensitivity by retraining the ear to
tolerate certain frequencies and pitches. However, we should always
address the causes of auditory hypersensitivity and not the symptom per
se. Very often hypersensitivity is caused not by certain frequencies or
certain sounds but by the number of auditory stimuli, the rate of auditory
processing the person has to cope with and even other ‘non-auditory’
stimuli (lights, movements, etc.) that can contribute to sensory overload
and result in auditory hypersensitivity. Training the ear to tolerate certain
frequencies may bring some improvement in the short term but as it does
not address the improvement of sensory processing of other channels that
may be the main source of the person’s overload, it is short-lived. AIT
administered to the person whose main difficulties are rooted in auditory
problems (i.e. they are the causes and not the symptoms) may produce
‘miraculous’ results, as it happened with Georgiana Stehli. When the
primary problem is addressed and eliminated (or lessened), we can see
immediate improvements in other systems as well, as they do not need to
compensate for the impaired auditory channel and may get on with ‘their
own job’. On the other hand, if auditory problems result from the auditory
system being compensation for other sensory systems with primary
impairments, AIT does little to ‘cure’ the condition.
148 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Irlen method
Helen Irlen has developed two methods to treat SS/IS: the use of coloured
overlays to improve reading; and tinted glasses to improve visual perception of the environment.
Overlays are used to reduce perceptual distortions of printed text, such
as, for instance, the dominance of the white background when the black
print may fade into background. The optimal colour of the overlay is very
individual and depends on each person’s unique visual-perceptual
sensitivities.
Irlen argues that visual-perceptual distortions can be minimized by the
use of tinted non-optical lenses (Irlen filters) and has developed the Irlen
Differential Perceptual Schedule to identify symptoms of SS/IS. It is
believed that the lenses filter out those frequencies of the light spectrum to
which a person may be uniquely sensitive (Irlen 1997). The use of colour,
usually worn as tinted glasses (Irlen filters) appears to change the rate at
which visual information is processed by the brain, thus reducing overload
and hypersensitivity.
The Irlen Method consists of two steps:
Screening: Irlen has designed a special questionnaire, which serves as a
screening instrument. The questionnaire has to be completed by either the
individual themselves or a family member. Each questionnaire is evaluated
to determine whether an individual is a candidate for the Irlen Method.
Testing: The correct colour is found. Usually it takes one to two sessions
to determine the right colour. Irlen has designed a standardized set of
procedures to determine the correct colour prescription for the overlay and
the tinted lenses.
A large number of studies have reported positive results in using
coloured filters (Robinson 1996). However, negative results have been
reported (Winter 1987) and mixed outcomes (Cotton and Evans 1990) as
well. At present there is no doubt that using coloured filters reduces print
distortions experienced by many ‘poor readers’. However, these filters do
not solve the problem: improved print makes learning more effective but
will not teach reading skills, and must be accompanied by appropriate
reading correction methods.
Recently there have appeared reports about positive changes people
with autism experience while using Irlen coloured lenses (see, for example,
Treatments 149
Bogdashina 2001; Pemberton 1999; Waterhouse 2000) that give
evidence that there are some visual-perceptual abnormalities in autism.
The type of visual-perceptual deficits associated with autism is unique, and
the distortions are varied, unpredictable and constantly changing.
Quite a few autistic individuals have reported positive changes in their
visual hypersensitivity brought by the tinted filters (Blackman 2001;
Sinclair 1998; Williams 1999). The positive changes are: perception with
depth instead of a two-dimensional world; no fragmentation of visual
information (coherence); meaning-blindness is rare; improvement in eye
contact, reduced sensitivity to auditory stimuli; increased ability to
understand language; the ability to use several channels at the same time
(for example, to see and to hear). Vision becomes a reliable sense, the other
senses do not need to compensate any more. As there is no need to
compensate for visual overload, there is better processing of sound, touch
or body connectedness. Autistic individuals who have benefited from the
Irlen Method report seeing better, feeling more relaxed, less sensitive to
bright lights; having fewer perceptual distortions; better small and gross
motor coordination.
The Irlen Method is not a ‘cure’ for autism but rather one of the tools or
compensatory strategies. It seems to work for those whose visual problems
are overwhelming and helps slow down visual processing, thus helping to
filter the information and in turn reducing the overload of other systems
that compensate for unreliable vision.
At the age of eight, Alex, a boy with autism, was also diagnosed as
suffering from SS/IS, and since the age of nine he has been wearing his
Irlen lenses for six–eight hours a day. He was very hypersensitive to
bright lights and could not tolerate fireworks, lightning and bright
sunshine (Figure 7.1). After having worn his Irlen glasses for a few
months his light sensitivity has considerably decreased and now he
enjoys watching fireworks and theatrical performances, bright sunshine
(Figure 7.2) but demands to wear his glasses while watching. However,
it is still difficult for him to be in places where fluorescent lights are on.
After 30–40 minutes he exhibits anxiety, aggression or sometimes
sleepiness, even if he is wearing his glasses. When he is ‘overloaded’ his
150 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
anger is directed at…the glasses. He hits them, complaining ‘The
glasses are not working.’
In the case of Alex, the decrease of visual distortions and light sensitivity
led to the improvement of auditory sensitivities, the increase of an attention span, reading abilities and the improvement in motor coordination. It
means that all senses are interconnected and one should work at the evaluation of the ‘distortions’ of the sensory system as a whole and find the ways
to correct possible perceptual abnormalities of all the senses. Only if we
know what needs correction can we find the ways to correct it.
Behavioural optometry
There have been suggested other methods to improve visual processing.
One of these is behavioural optometry.
Behavioural optometry or vision therapy (sometimes it is also called
‘occupational therapy for the eyes’) is based on the principle that vision is a
learned process and can be developed or enhanced at any age. Just as motor
development, vision must follow certain steps of progression that may be
Treatments 151
Figure 7.1 Alex could not tolerate bright lights
hindered, distorted or even stopped due to injury, illness, sensory
deprivation or other still unknown causes. If any disruption in visual
development occurs it could be corrected by the use of special lenses,
prisms, and vision therapy to enhance visual capabilities, reduce visual
stress, prevent and rehabilitate vision problems. This approach is aimed at
‘retraining’ the eyes and the brain so they work together.
Vision dysfunction is often unrecognized and undiagnosed as the
individuals may have 20/20 eyesight but distorted visual patterns. What
makes the matter even more complicated is that many people have
acquired compensatory strategies to cope with their visual difficulties.
Specifically trained behavioural optometrists can identify visual
152 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Figure 7.2 Alex is enjoying his day out in bright sunshine
dysfunctions, which are not identifiable by conventional eye tests. The
symptoms of possible visual dysfunction include (from different sources):
eyes that cross or turn
tilting, turning the head
closing or covering one eye in order to use only one eye
peripheral vision
blinking, grimacing, squinting the eyes
finger flicking, spinning things and other visual stimulation
behaviours
short attention span, avoidance of close work
headaches, dizziness, car sickness
light sensitivity.
Vision therapy can be done at weekly sessions, with ‘homework’ assignments to train the skills learned during the sessions.
This approach has its sceptics who say that there is little proof that
behavioural optometry can accomplish such a difficult task as organizing
the brain by retraining eyes. However, anecdotal successful cases have been
reported.
Holding therapy
In the late 1980s holding therapy was popularized and described as a
‘miracle cure’ for autism. These two magic words did inspire the parents to
try it with their children. Though it brought extreme distress and suffering
to both the child and the parents who had to observe the suffering of the
child they were trying to help (cure?), the parents were told this was the
price they had to pay for a ‘miracle’. When the ‘therapy’ did not work, the
therapist would simply tell the parents that they were not doing it often
enough or that their hearts were not really in it when they did it (Siegel
1996).
When it works… Is it beneficial for the child? Let us listen to those for
whom it ‘worked’. Therese Joliffe wrote about her experience of
‘successful holding therapy’:
Treatments 153
To me the suffering was terrible and it achieved nothing… A claim
by proponents of this therapy is that the children are much quieter
and better behaved for a little while afterwards. My quietness was
due to exhaustion and to my being disturbed so much as a result of
the experience that I was shocked into a state of terrified quietness,
where I could not think or do anything much for a while. (Joliffe,
Lakesdown and Robinson 1992)
Isn’t the price too high? The same (or even better) beneficial effect can be
achieved by less stressful methods.
Claire Sainsbury (2000), a person with Asperger syndrome, believes
that forced holding is not only not ‘therapy’, it is a form of abuse, a form of
‘sensory rape’. Some professionals trying to justify holding therapy
compare it with Temple Grandin’s squeeze machine or describe it as a form
of desensitization. It could not be further from the truth. The main
differences are: the squeeze machine allows the user to control the touch
and pressure and to be able to stop the stimulation when it becomes too
overwhelming or intense. It is never forced.
Many autistic people are hypersensitive to tactile stimuli, especially
light touch. Both hypersensitive and hyposensitive children benefit from
deep pressure and often seek it themselves. They might crawl under tables,
cushions, quilts and prefer tight clothes (Jackson 2002). Desensitization
technique presupposes gradual exposure to touch and pressure in a way
which is safe and enjoyable for a child. Forced holding has nothing to do
with these techniques. It has nothing to do with bonding with mother,
either.
‘Hug machine’
Temple Grandin, who is very hypersensitive to touch, has discovered that
deep pressure can help her reduce her hypersensitivity and the anxiety it
causes. When a child, Temple would crave deep pressure, crawling under
the sofa or wrapping herself in blankets. She could not get the ‘right’
amount of pressure from people because they were uncontrollable and
either gave her too much or too little deep pressure.
The idea to create her ‘hug/squeeze box’ or ‘hug/squeeze machine’
came from her observation of cattle being branded in a squeeze chute at
the farm of her relatives. Temple noticed that the cattle calmed down as
154 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
soon as pressure was administered to them in the chute. She then designed
and built her own device to administer pressure and control the amount
and duration of it to achieve this calming effect. Gradually she was able to
tolerate the machine holding her and her hypersensitivity to touch was
slowly reduced.
The ‘hug machine’ is a device consisting of two padded side-boards,
which are hinged near the bottom to form a V-shape. The person crawls
inside and, by using a lever, provides the deep pressure stimulation. The
lever operates an air cylinder, which pushes the sides together. The person
can control the level of pressure he wants to stimulate.
Studies of the effectiveness of the ‘hug machine’ have produced some
positive results. The researchers found a reduction of tension and anxiety
resulted from the ‘hug sessions’; the number of stereotypies decreased,
more relaxed behaviour followed afterwards. The best candidates to use
the machine are those with tactile hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity
(seeking for deep pressure experiences) and those who cannot regulate
their arousal state.
Some people need time to desensitize themselves while inside the
machine (letting the sides touch them). When the nervous system becomes
desensitized through gradual and slow stimulation, the experience of
touch becomes pleasurable.
Sensory integration therapy
The goal of sensory integration therapy is described as facilitating the
development of the nervous system’s ability to process sensory input in a
more normal way. The main principles of sensory integration therapy were
introduced by Delacato (who called it treatment of sensory dysfunction)
and Ayres. They were based on the assumption that many autistic children
could be helped through gently applying sensory stimulation through five
senses (Delacato 1974) or tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular stimulation (Ayres 1979). At present, some occupational therapists still rigorously
follow Ayres’s recommendations to work at the ‘three major senses’, while
there are others who recognize the necessity to involve other senses as
well.
SI approaches may be of various types:
Treatments 155
1 Multi-sensory integration – the use of senses (vision, hearing,
tactility, smell, taste, proprioception and vestibular system) in an
integrated way, i.e. the use of several systems at once, for
example, look and listen, rather than being single-channelled
(mono-processing). However, it is important to remember that
mono-processing is a strategy to avoid overload by using one
channel at a time that is caused by the inability to filter out
background and foreground information. In this case it is a
symptom of the overload not the cause of it. That is why the
original causes of sensory overload (which might be different
for each individual) should be addressed.

Desensitization, though not a cure, does provide more
tolerance, increase speech and eye contact and decrease
stereotypical, self-injurious and aggressive behaviours in some
children. The sensory activities are aimed to raise the children’s
threshold for arousal. They are never forced but introduced
gently in the form of games and pleasurable exercises. The
therapist typically analyses the child’s processing of vestibular,
proprioceptive and tactile sensations in relation to the child’s
ability to learn and move and incorporates meaningful activities
that provide specific sensory stimuli to elicit an adaptive
response, thereby assisting the child in overall motor and
conceptual learning (Fisher and Murray 1991). The change in
environment is also recommended. To have an optimum effect,
the sensory diet should be designed for the child’s unique
sensory processing needs (Wilbarger 1995).
Sensory diet is defined as a type of therapy that involves a planned and
scheduled activity programme implemented by an occupational therapist.
Each diet is designed to meet the needs of each particular child’s nervous
system. ‘Just as the five main food groups provide daily nutritional requirements, a daily sensory diet fulfils physical and emotional needs’
(Kranowitz 1998, p.187). A sensory diet stimulates the ‘near’ senses
(tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive) with a combination of alerting,
organizing and calming techniques.
For instance, hypersensitivity to touch is addressed through stroking a
child with different textures (Ayres 1979). It should be done by an
156 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
experienced therapist. A light touch increases arousal and overstimulation
of the central nervous system. The pressure should be firm but gentle. Deep
pressure stimulation is proved to be calming (Ayres 1979; King 1989).
Different techniques are used to desensitize the child. For example, the
Wilbarger Brushing Protocol, also known the Deep Pressure
Proprioceptive Touch Technique, involves the use of a small brush and a
massage protocol. With a special surgical brush the therapist makes firm,
brisk movements over the body, especially the arms, hands, legs and feet.
The brushing is followed by a technique of deep joint compression. As the
child receives deep touch pressure the tactile receptors that are
hypersensitive to light touch are depressed. Eventually, the child’s
tolerance to tactile stimulation increases.
Other techniques used in sensory integration therapy are tactile play
(shaving cream and soap foam play, play dough); ‘heavy work’ activities
(pushing and pulling a heavy box around the room; tug-of-war games;
‘sandwiches’ when a child is placed between two couch cushions and
‘squished’); vestibular activities (large therapy balls for bouncing, rolling,
jumping on).
An occupational therapist teaches the parents to use these techniques
with a child at home for three to five minutes, six to eight times a day. As
the child starts responding to touch more normally, the time of the sessions
is reduced. The therapist should monitor the child’s responsiveness to the
strategies and, should any adverse reactions occur, the therapist should
discontinue the activity and modify the treatment approach accordingly
(Koomar and Bundy 1991).
Very often tactile stimulation may help different sensory systems work
together and become more integrated. That can explain the necessity to
feel the facilitator hand even on the shoulder to be able to communicate via
facilitated communication. The supporters of SI therapy hypothesize that
SI treatment can influence brain organization and brain change. As it is
difficult to observe any changes in the brain, the only means to evaluate the
effectiveness of the therapy is limited to observable behaviours. To
complicate the matter, there is still no agreement about what to consider
‘truly sensory integrative’ treatments. As there are no clear definitions of SI
and SID, the principles of the ‘truly SI therapy’seem to change from author
to author. For example, Cermak and Henderson (1999) exclude any
Treatments 157
studies which involve ‘pure sensory stimulation’ from the ‘truly sensory
integrative’ treatments because they are inconsistent with the principles of
SI the authors opted to choose as ‘truly sensory integrative’ ones, i.e. the
characteristics of sensory integration procedures, proposed by Kimbal:

active participation
child directed
individualized treatment
purposeful activity
need for adaptive response
input varies based on child’s response
activity rich in proprioceptive, vestibular and tactile input
implied or stated goal of improving processing and
organization of sensation (not the teaching of specific skills)
administered by a trained therapist (OT or PT). (Cermak and
Henderson, 1999)
These characteristics restrict treatments to the ‘main three senses’ leaving
vision and hearing out of the ‘truly sensory integrative’ interventions. It is
necessary to mention, though, that many researchers and occupational
therapists do include other senses in SI therapy.
In SI research, factors influencing the effectiveness of SI therapy have
been identified:
the child’s age: children under six were reported to make rapid
progress in therapy
the diagnosis
the severity of responsiveness to certain kinds of sensory input.
(Ayres and Tickle 1980)
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a therapeutic treatment using essential oils and massage. It
stimulates the senses of smell, tactility and proprioception and can often
bring relaxation. The repeated association of a particular smell with
158 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
feeling calm and relaxed during a sensory-massage session can ‘teach’
relaxation (Longhorn 1993).
Autistic individuals who operate with ‘smell pictures’ and define
objects, places and people by smell can be taught to react to particular
smells (for example, to relax during sensory overload or anxiety).
This method is also used with music or ‘cue’ words – the same word or
phrase repeated softly during relaxation sessions – and can be used at
‘difficult times’ when the person is distressed (Ellwood undated).
Sensory-massage can help to develop tolerance to touch and body
awareness.
Treatments 159
Chapter 8
Sensory Perceptual Profile
Differences in perception lead to a different perceptual world that inevitably is interpreted differently. We have to be aware of these differences and
help autistic people to cope with painful sensitivities and develop their
strengths (‘perceptual superabilities’) that are often unnoticed or ignored
by non-autistic people.
Teachers and other professionals who work with autistic children need
to recognize sensory differences in autism in order to select appropriate
methods and plan intervention for these children.
As all the senses are integrated, deficiency in one may lead to
disturbances in the other(s). It is, therefore, necessary to find out which
senses and to which extent are deficient, and which senses can ‘be relied
on’.
In the 1960s–70s the batteries of ‘perceptual tests’ and screening tools
were developed in order to identify ‘perceptually handicapped’ children.
These tests were aimed at identifying lack of such skills as ‘laterality’,
‘directionality’, ‘visual closure’, ‘ocular pursuit’, ‘temporal-spatial
relations’ but never addressed such perceptual phenomena as hyper- or
hyposensitivity, inconsistency of perception, mono-processing, delayed
perception, etc. The conventional auditory and visual acuity tests do not
detect these problems.
There exist several standardized instruments for evaluating sensory
integrative dysfunction, for example, the Sensory Integration and Praxis
Tests for children between the ages of four years and eight years eleven
months (Ayres 1989), the DeGangi-Berk Test of Sensory Integration for
children aged three to five (Berk and DeGangi 1983), but these tests are
160
sort of ‘office tests’. They do not assess the child in natural settings and are
aimed only at identifying deficits. Besides, the age limit does not allow
assessment of the trends of sensory development and compensatory
strategies acquired by the individual.
As it is difficult for autistic children to tolerate the test situation or
understand what they are expected to do, these tests are not suitable for
autistic children.
Recently quite a few informal assessments have been developed as
screening tools for SI problems in the form of parent questionnaires that
are aimed to reveal sensory-related problems.
The Sensory Profile Checklist-Revised (SPCR, Appendix 1) has been
organized into a screening tool for compiling a Sensory Profile of an
autistic child. Its descriptors are based on the information from personal
accounts of autistic individuals and close observations of autistic children.
The SPCR includes 20 categories through all 7 sensory systems to cover
possible patterns of autistic people’s sensory experiences. This ‘inside-out’
approach to the problem reveals that not all sensory experiences are
dysfunctional, and some of them might be classified as ‘superabilities’ and
considered as strengths rather than weaknesses. It has been found very
useful to ‘narrow’ the terms to describe different sensory perceptions. For
example, the statement ‘the child is hypersensitive to visual stimuli’ does
not say much about this particular child’s visual experiences, as the child’s
vision might be distorted, peripheral, too acute, etc. Distinguishing
between different ‘hypersensitivities’ allows us to address that particular
child’s deficits while using his strengths.
Table 8.1 summarizes possible sensory experiences in autism singled
out for the Sensory Profile.
Sensory Perceptual Profile 161
162 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome Table 8.1 Possible Patterns Of Sensory Experiences In Autism Vision Hearing Tactility Smell Taste Proprioception Vestibular 1. Gestalt perception Inability to filter visual stimuli Inability to screen out background noise Inability to distinguish between tactile stimuli of different intensity Inability to distinguish between strong and weak smells Inability to distinguish between strong and weak tastes Inability to coordinate body position and movements of body parts Inability to distinguish between ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ movements 2. Intensity with which the senses work Hyper-, hypo- Hyper-, hypo- Hyper-, hypo- Hyper-, hypo- Hyper-, hypo- Hyper-, hypo- Hyper-, hypo- 3. Sensitivity to(disturbance by) some stimuli Light/colour sensitivity Disturbance by some patterns Disturbance by some sounds Sensitivity to certain textures Disturbance by some olfactory stimuli Disturbance by some gustatory stimuli Disturbance by some body positions Intolerance of certain movements 4. Fascination with certain stimuli Fascination with patterns, lights, colours Fascination with sounds Fascination with tactile stimuli Fascination with smells Fascination with flavours Fascination with certain body movements Excessive physical movements
5.
Inconsistency
of perception
(fluctuation)
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Fluctuation
between hyperand hypo-; ‘in’
– ‘out’
Sensory Perceptual Profile 163

Fragmented
perception
(Partial
perception)
Seeing ‘in bits’,
prosopagnosia
Hearing ‘in bits’ Feeling touch,
cold/hot ‘in
bits’
Smelling ‘in
bits’
Tasting ‘in bits’ Feeling only
some parts of
the body
‘Uneven’
movements
Distorted
perception
Poor/distorted
depth and space
perception;
seeing 2D
world;
distortions of
shape, size
Hearing
distorted
sounds, etc.
Distorted tactile
perception
Distorted
olfactory
perception
Distorted
gustatory
perception
Distorted
perception of
body
Distorted
perception of
body
movements
‘Sensory
agnosia’
(difficulty
interpreting a
sense)
‘Meaning-blindness’;
feeling/acting
‘blind’
‘Meaning-deafness’;
feeling/acting
‘deaf ’
‘Touch
deadness’
Difficulty
interpreting
smells
Difficulty
interpreting
tastes
Difficulty
interpreting
body position,
body sensations,
etc.
Difficulty
interpreting
body/head
movements
Delayed
perception
Delayed
processing of
visual stimuli
Delayed
processing of
auditory stimuli
Delayed
processing of
tactile stimuli
Delayed
processing of
smells
Delayed
processing of
tastes
Delayed
processing of
body postures,
body sensations
Delayed
processing of
movement of
head/body
10.
Vulnerability
to sensory
overload
Visual overload Sound overload Tactile overload Olfactory
overload
Gustatory
overload
Proprioceptive
overload
Vestibular
overload
164 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome 11. Mono- processing (number of channels working at a time) Shutting down other senses while seeing Shutting down other channels while hearing Shutting down other channels while touching or being touched Shutting down other senses while smelling Shutting down other senses while tasting Shutting down other senses while being aware of body position Shutting down other channels while aware of body movements 12. Peripheral perception (avoidance of direct perception) Peripheral vision, avoidance of eye contact Hearing if listening to somebody indirectly Peripheral tactile perception Peripheral olfactory perception Peripheral gustatory perception Peripheral proprioceptive perception Peripheral vestibular perception 13. Systems shutdowns Visual ‘whiteouts’ Auditory ‘tuneouts’ Tactile ‘tuneouts’ Olfactory ‘tuneouts’ Gustatory ‘tuneouts’ Proprioceptive ‘tuneouts’ Vestibular ‘tuneouts’ 14. Compensating for unreliable sense by other senses Checking visual perception by other senses Checking auditory perception by other senses Checking tactile perception by other senses Checking olfactory perception by other senses Checking gustatory perception by other senses Checking proprioceptive perception by other senses Checking vestibular perception by other senses 15. ‘Losing oneself ’ in stimuli. Resonance Merging, getting in resonance with lights, colours,
patterns
Merging,
getting in
resonance with
sounds
Merging,
getting in
resonance with
tactile stimuli;
feeling pain of
other people
Merging,
getting in
resonance with
smells
Merging,
getting in
resonance with
tastes
Merging,
getting in
resonance with
movements
In constant
motion
Sensory Perceptual Profile 165
16.
Daydreaming
‘Seeing’
thoughts,
emotions of
other people;
events that do
not relate to
oneself
‘Hearing’
thoughts of
other people;
events
‘Feeling’ events ‘Olfactory
hallucinations’
‘Gustatory
hallucinations’
Experiencing
physical
movements
while being still
Experiencing
movements of
head/body
while being still
17.
Synaesthesia
Seeing sounds,
smells,
temperature, etc.
Hearing colours,
flavours, touch,
etc.
Seeing colours,
hearing sounds
while being
touched
Smelling
sounds, colours,
etc.
Tasting shapes,
colours, sounds,
etc.
Involuntary
body postures
in response to
visual, auditory,
tactile, etc.
stimuli
Involuntary
body
movements in
response to
visual, auditory,
tactile, etc.
stimuli
Perceptual
memory
Visual
(‘photographic’)
memory
‘Audiographic/
sound’ memory
Tactile memory Olfactory
memory
Gustatory
memory
Proprioceptive
memory
Vestibular
memory
Associative
(‘serial’)
memory
Triggered by
visual stimuli
Triggered by
auditory stimuli
Triggered by
tactile stimuli
Triggered by
smells
Triggered by
tastes
Triggered by
body positions,
movements
Triggered by
motor activities
Perceptual
thinking
Visual thinking
(‘thinking in
pictures’)
Thinking in
‘auditory
pictures’
Thinking in
‘tactile images’
Thinking in
‘olfactory
images’
Thinking in
‘gustatory
images’
‘Body positions,
movements
images’
Relating to
head/body
movements
The SPCR is completed by the parents of the child. However, while the
input from the parents is very important, particularly regarding the child’s
sensory history and behaviour at home, it is also necessary to observe the
child during sessions at school or at the clinic in order to consolidate the
parental information and check some points marked in the SPCR as ‘not
sure’. The observation is conducted in the form of ‘incident’ sampling –
each time the target behaviour occurs a box is ticked. To organize and summarize the observations Observation Checklists prove to be very useful.
They include a list of behaviours (sensorisms) which should be checked for
the child. At the stage of interpretations of the findings, the parents and the
children should be actively involved. The discussions with the parents are
vital as they help not only to compile the SPCR for their child but also to
interpret the child’s behaviours. The children should be encouraged to
analyse their own behaviours and give their own interpretation of them
through verbal explanation and/or drawings (how they feel and perceive
the world).
The Sensory Perceptual Profile compiled for each child helps to:

Identify the areas in which the child has (or had) problems but
has learned to cope with them either by normalizing
(desensitizing) the channel or by having acquired
compensatory strategies. Using the data from ‘Was True’
column we can trace the history of the child’s sensory
development and identify the acquired strategies to cope with
certain deficits.
Identify domains of strength which will be used both to
provide compensatory techniques for coping with painful and
meaningless input paths and to provide ‘communication
channels’ to bring the information to the child.
Identify ‘problem domains’ in order to be desensitized or
accommodated.
Identify the preferred sensory modality that will be used as the
‘gates’ to bring information to the child. (For the majority of
autistic children it is vision. However, some children exhibit
preference for auditory, tactile or olfactory channels.)
166 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Select the appropriate intervention strategies in accordance
with the child’s strengths and weaknesses.
The data obtained from the SPCR can be presented in the form of specially
worked out graphs – ‘rainbows’ – with the boxes, representing specific
features experienced by the individuals, coloured in. The numbers in the
graph coincide with the characteristics enumerated in the table. Different
colours can be used for each sensory channel: for example, red for vision,
orange for hearing, yellow for tactility, green for smell, blue for taste,
indigo for proprioception, and violet for vestibular sense. The extent to
which each channel is affected is demonstrated when the ‘rainbows’ are
coloured in as the number of coloured sections correspond to the number
of characteristics experienced by the individual. As all the senses are integrated, the deficiency in one may lead to disturbances in the other(s).
‘Rainbows’ are supposed to assist in finding out which sense(s) and to what
extent are deficient and which ones are ‘reliable’ or ‘superior’.
The reason the symbol of a rainbow was chosen to indicate probable
sensory experiences was that many autistic people compare autism with a
rainbow and describe the autistic world as a rainbow prism. Besides, it
seems appropriate to show the Sensory Profile of an autistic individual in
the form of curved lines rather than a straight line, as not all sensory
differences are deficits; some are better described as superabilities (or gifts)
that could be successfully used in the treatment of autistic people. Figures
8.1–8.4 show the ‘rainbows’ compiled for four children diagnosed as
having autism. The graphs reveal the diversity of sensory problems
experienced by each child, while the symptoms ‘on the surface’ (DSM-IV,
ICD-10) are the same.
Treatment programmes that are appropriate and beneficial for one
child may be painful and harmful for another. Thus, if the ‘right’ problem
is addressed, the child gets more chances to benefit from the treatment.
Sensory Perceptual Profile 167
168 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Figure 8.1 Alex’s Rainbow
Figure 8.2 Vicky’s Rainbow
Sensory Perceptual Profile 169
Figure 8.3 Helen’s Rainbow
Figure 8.4 John’s Rainbow
Chapter 9
Recommendations:
Rainbows and Umbrellas
The role of professionals should be to help people use their natural
processes to learn and grow. This might mean helping people
develop strategies for dealing with sensory oversensitivities: using
earplugs or colored lenses, adapting clothing to accommodate tactile
sensitivities, providing opportunities for deep pressure or vestibular
stimulation, etc. It might mean teaching self-monitoring and
self-management of behavior and emotions. (Jim Sinclair 1998)
The ability to perceive stimuli in the environment accurately is basic to
many areas of academic, communicative and social functioning. As autistic
people do have ‘differences’ in this area, it is important for those who work
and/or live with autistic children to be able to identify these and to understand how these differences might relate to the problems autistic individuals experience in learning and in general functioning. This will enable the
provision of more effective programmes of learning and treatment.
The sensory problems in autism are often overlooked. As children are
unable to cope with the demands of the world they are not equipped to
deal with, they are likely to display behavioural problems, such as
self-stimulation, self-injury, aggression, avoidance, rigidity, high anxiety,
panic attacks, etc. It is important to remember that these children have no
control over their problems, as they are caused by neurological differences.
The so-called low-functioning autistic individuals may have a
near-normal brain trapped inside a sensory system that does not work
properly and, as a result, not enough undistorted information gets
through. It may be that the child’s abnormal sensory functioning leads to
170
secondary abnormalities in the brain development because of distorted
sensory input or lack of sensory input (Grandin 1996a). The more the
child shuts down the incoming stimuli, the more sensory deprivation he
creates and the less opportunity he has to learn to interact with the world.
Because autism is a neurological disorder it causes some behaviours
that a child cannot change without specific help. This is similar to hearing
aids for deaf children, glasses for children with vision problems and
wheelchairs for cerebral palsy children. Just as we never blame a blind child
when he cannot name the colours of the pictures we show him, or expect a
deaf child to come when we call him from two rooms away, we should not
demand from a child whose disability is not straightforwardly visible to
‘behave himself ’, but should try to find out the reason for his
‘misbehaviour’. We accept that we cannot cure blindness and we do not
waste time and effort teaching a visually impaired child to recognize
colours using a bar of chocolate as a reward. We see our task to help a blind
child function using different ways and compensatory strategies, and
adjusting the environment to make it easier for him to orient in space. We
accept and respect his disability, which, if appropriately addressed, does
not interfere with the quality of life.
While people with ‘visible’ disabilities, such as, for example, visual
/hearing impairments or cerebral palsy, are provided with special tools to
lessen their problems (glasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs) autistic children
with ‘invisible’ sensory processing problems are often denied any support
to accommodate their difficulties. Whatever educational approach is
implemented, sensory interventions are vital in order for the child to
benefit from it. To effectively teach and treat autistic children it is necessary
to understand how the qualitative differences of sensory perception
associated with autism affect each particular child. Often it is not the
treatment and the number of hours you work with your child, but in ‘what
perceptual world’ you both are, i.e. whether you are in one and the same
perceptual world or in two different ones.
First, we must understand how the child experiences the world
through each of the channels and how he interprets what he sees, hears
and feels, in order to design treatment programmes in accordance with his
perceptual abilities and deficits. Understanding each particular person’s
specific difficulties and how they may affect this person’s functioning is
Recommendations: Rainbows and Umbrellas 171
vital in order to adopt methods and strategies to help the person function
in the community.
Analysing the information from the SPCR, along with observations
and reports from people who know the child will provide an accurate
picture of each particular child’s strengths and weaknesses. It gives
information about what the child currently can and cannot do, and allows
setting priorities in his treatment programme.
There is a continuum of sensory processing problems in autism. Some
people have severe sensory distortions while others may experience only
mild but nevertheless confusing sensory problems. Nonverbal people
usually have more severe sensitivities. The unique characteristics of each
child will require unique individual strategies, techniques and
environmental adjustments to be implemented. There is no single strategy
for all autistic children as each of them exhibits a very individual sensory
profile. Moreover, with age the strategy that was very useful for this
particular child may not work any more and should be replaced by another
to reflect the changes in the child’s abilities to function.
There are two major sets of factors which may influence the child’s
level of functioning: negative factors and positive factors. Each set falls
into two categories. The first category comprises personal (internal)
characteristics of the child – both positive (the child’s strengths and
abilities) and negative (the child’s weaknesses and deficits) characteristics.
The second category is composed of environmental (external) factors:
positive factors (resources and conditions helping the child to cope with
his weaknesses and to develop his strength) and negative ones (interfering
with the child’s ability to cope). The aim of any intervention programme
should be to create and/or develop both internal and external positive
factors in order to counterbalance the negative ones.
The internal positive factors represent the child’s strengths,
preferences and interests. The internal negative factors include painful
hypersensitivities and acquired strategies to cope with them that may lead
to secondary impairments, for example, shutdowns. The balance between
positive and negative characteristics may change with age and
development though some general features are typically found in all
people with autism (such as perceptual thinking/perceptual memory).
While developing programmes it is necessary to keep in mind the child’s
172 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
strengths. Building on the child’s natural resources and the strategies he
has acquired will increase the child’s competence and level of functioning.
The preferences and interests will serve as motivators, reinforcers and ‘first
aid’ in the case of sensory overload. Often the behaviours that seem
challenging may hide the child’s strengths and may be ‘shaped’ into assets
rather than problems.
Using the SPCR we may identify the negative factors within and
outside the child in order to eliminate them and we may explore the ways
to use positive factors available in order to help the child to learn and
function in the community. This information will also help parents and
professionals who work with the child learn how to relate to the child in
order to avoid undesirable ‘by-products’ of sensory processing difficulties
– tantrums, aggression, etc.
We can get a lot of information from watching repetitive behaviours.
These behaviours are the key to understanding the way the child
experiences the world, the problems he faces and the strategies he has
acquired to cope with his difficulties. Consciously or unconsciously the
child tries to regulate the environment and his responses to it and acquires
defensive strategies and compensations for his deficits. The child shows us
his way to cope with his problems.
However, one of the difficulties in interpreting the child’s behaviour
caused by sensory processing differences is our own ‘non-autistic’ sensory
function. We have to train ourselves to perceive and understand the world
from the individual’s perspective. Only then will we join the person ‘on his
territory’, in his perceptual world, and will not have to function in two
parallel ones.
Repetitive behaviours in autism are multi-functional. They may be:
defensive: in order to reduce the pain caused by
hypersensitivities
self-stimulatory: to improve the input in the case of
hyposensitivity
compensatory: to interpret the environment in the case of
‘unreliable’ channels
just pleasurable experiences that help to withdraw from a
confusing environment.
Recommendations: Rainbows and Umbrellas 173
These behaviours will change with the child’s changing abilities. As
deficits in one area interact and affect other areas, improving functioning
in one sensory modality may bring improvements in the others. For
instance, reducing visual hypersensitivities (with the help of tinted glasses,
for example) may make auditory and tactile stimuli less overwhelming.
By looking at how the child reacts, it is possible to reconstruct and
assess the child’s problems in various sensory channels. The child’s
‘self-prescribed’ movements (rocking, flapping hands, jumping) give a
very clear idea of what the child needs.
For example, if a child frequently covers his ears (even if you do not
hear any disturbing sounds) it means his hearing is hypersensitive, and it is
your job to find out which sounds/noises disturb him. If a child flicks his
fingers in front of his eyes, he might have problems with hypersensitive or
hyposensitive vision. Children who like crowds and noisy places either
have mild sensory problems or are hyposensitive. Autistic children are
often engaged in stereotyped activities. If these activities serve as a
protective mechanism to shut down the sensory stimuli because they are
painful or overwhelming, the job of an educator (or a parent) is to decrease
sensory bombardment.
Let us look at some possible interpretations of the SPCR.
‘Gestalt’
Difficulty in filtering background and foreground information caused by
gestalt perception leads to rigidity of thinking and lack of generalization.
Autistic people can perform in exactly the same situation with exactly the
same prompts but fail to apply the skill if anything in the environment,
routine or prompt has been even slightly changed. For instance, the child
can perform the task if he is being touched on the shoulder and fails if he
has not been given the prompt. Alternatively, a familiar room may seem
different and threatening if the furniture has been slightly rearranged.
These children need sameness and predictability to feel safe in their environment. If something is not the same, it changes the whole gestalt of the
situation and they do not know what they are expected to do. It brings
confusion and frustration. The strategy is to always communicate to the
child beforehand, in a way he can understand (i.e. visual, tactile, etc.) what
174 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
and why will be changed. Changes should be gradual, with the child’s
active participation.
On the perceptual level the inability to filter foreground and
background information may bring sensory overload. Children are
bombarded with sensory stimuli. They are ‘drowned’ in them. For
individuals with ‘auditory gestalt’ perception, for example, a lot of effort
has to be made to understand what is being said if there is more than one
conversation going on in the room or more than one person speaking at a
time. They are bombarded with noises from all directions. If they try to
screen out the background noise they also screen out the voice of the
person they try to listen to. The task should be to find out which modality
does not filter the information and make the environment
‘visually/auditorily, etc. simple’. The next step would be to teach the
person ‘to break the picture (visual/auditory/tactile/olfactory/
gustatory)’ into meaningful units.
Hyper-/hyposensitivities
Each of the senses (vision, hearing, tactility, smell, taste, proprioception,
vestibular system) should be assessed to determine if the child is hyper- or
hyposensitive. Depending on the sensitivity, the objectives should be both
to desensitize the child’s ability to tolerate the stimuli (internal factors) and
to provide the aids to help him cope with ‘offensive’ stimuli (tinted glasses,
earplugs, etc.). Desensitization is aimed to increase sensory tolerance very
gradually through pleasurable activities.
There are many challenging behaviours (self-injury, tantrums,
aggression) that can be dealt with effectively by simply changing the
environment. Consider the level of ‘sensory pollution’. In the case of
hypersensitivities, even a ‘visually/auditorily’ quiet environment may
cause overstimulation and challenges for the child. Autistic people must be
protected from painful stimuli. For example, fluorescent lights might be
replaced by ordinary bulbs (in the case of visual hypersensitivity); school
bells might be disconnected until the child’s auditory hypersensitivity is
reduced, etc. If the child is hypersensitive, it is important to keep visual and
auditory distraction to a minimum. We should always remember that if we
Recommendations: Rainbows and Umbrellas 175
cannot hear/see/smell/feel some stimuli, it does not mean that the child
‘is being stupid’ if distressed by ‘nothing at sight’.
Tactile hypersensitivities should be addressed by choosing clothes and
fabrics the child can tolerate. Wearing tight clothes that apply pressure
helps to reduce self-stimulatory behaviours. As hypertactile children are
frightened by light touch, especially if it is unpredictable, always approach
the child from the front to prepare him visually for possible touch.
Always monitor a number of simultaneous stimuli. If there are several
conversations in the same room, plus fans working, plus people moving
around, plus a fan working two rooms away…the child with sensory
hypersensitivities is sure to be overwhelmed.
If a child is hyposensitive, provide extra stimulation through the
channels that do not get enough information from the environment.
Encourage physical exercises (swinging, climbing), pushing/carrying
heavy objects.
As each child is unique, we very often find children with hyper- or
hyposensitivities in one and the same classroom. The knowledge of each
child’s sensitivities can help the teacher to plan the activities and address
each child’s particular needs. It is often very difficult to adjust the
environment to satisfy the needs of several children as the same stimuli may
cause pain in some children and bring pleasurable experiences in others.
Sensitivity to (disturbance by) some stimuli
Identify which sensory stimuli may interfere with the child’s capability to
cope and either reduce or eliminate them or, if impossible, provide ‘sensory
aids’ (tinted glasses, earplugs) or protect the child with a ‘sensory umbrella’
– modifications and adaptations of the environment to meet the child’s
needs. Remember, what we think is enjoyable (for example, fireworks) may
be fearful or overwhelming to an autistic child.
Reported strategies to cope with light sensitivity are turning off any
unnecessary lighting (especially fluorescent lighting), using lamps rather
than overhead lights, low wattage light bulbs and tinted lenses.
Be aware of the colours and patterns of the clothes you are wearing and
of your perfume.
176 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
The fear of a stimulus that ‘hurts’ is often the cause of many
challenging behaviours. The antecedents cannot be easily identified.
Sometimes we cannot see/hear/feel them as our senses are too ‘normal’.
Sometimes these are ‘possible future antecedents’. Some autistic children
try to break things (telephone or alarm clock, for example) that can
produce painful stimuli. They do it as a protective reaction. The staff
working with the child must consider not only immediate environmental
threats for the child but also any potential factors that can cause painful
experiences. It is useful to make a list of possible threatening/painful
stimuli for each child, no matter how common and unthreatening they
might seem to us: school bells, fire alarms, fans, dogs barking, babies
crying, etc. Always warn a child about the possibility of the stimulus he is
fearful of and show the source of it.
Joe, an 11-year-old autistic boy, could not tolerate the high-pitched
voice of one of his classmates. As soon as Mike appeared in the doorway,
Joe would rush outside covering his ears and screaming. If the door was
locked he got under the table with his hands over his head. Mike, a
teenager with AS, was very upset: ‘I didn’t even say anything. Why is he
afraid of me?’ Very gradually Joe was ‘desensitized’ to Mike’s voice: Joe
was encouraged to watch Mike’s lips. Though he still found it difficult to
tolerate the voice, the predictability and watching the source of it made it
easier for Joe to cope with it.
Fascination with certain stimuli
Make a list of pleasant stimuli, to be used in the ‘case of emergency’ – to
calm down the child after a painful/stressful experience. If you think the
activities (behaviours) or materials the child uses for ‘self-treatment’ are
inappropriate, identify their function and replace them with more appropriate ones. Remember that the stimulus that is pleasurable for one child
may be a cause of distress for the other.
Inconsistency of perception (fluctuation)
The impact of environmental factors (both positive and negative) will vary
with the age and circumstances of each child. At times it may appear that
Recommendations: Rainbows and Umbrellas 177
everything goes well, at other times the child may exhibit challenging
behaviours under similar environmental conditions.
Fragmented perception
Routine and rituals help to facilitate understanding of what is going on
and what is going to happen. Introduce any change very slowly and always
explain beforehand what and why is happening differently. Structure and
routines make the environment predictable and easier to control.
If a person is prosopagnostic, introduce yourself each time you see him.
Wearing the same clothes and hairstyle facilitates ‘recognition’.
Sensory agnosia (difficulty interpreting a sense)
Though they can see adequately, some autistic people may often have
limited comprehension of what is seen when they are focused on something else. For example, they may be able to recognize the location of
pieces of furniture in space to avoid bumping into them, but may not be
able to identify what these objects are unless some cues (verbal or otherwise) are provided. Sometimes they cannot even identify people as people
and may be startled by unexpected movements of ‘noisy objects’. In the
state of sensory agnosia they need similar aids as visually/auditory
impaired people.
Delayed processing
Give people time to take in your question/instruction and work out their
response. Do not interrupt. Be aware that autistic people require more time
than others to shift their attention between stimuli of different modalities
and they find it extremely difficult to follow rapidly changing social interactions.
Vulnerability to sensory overload
A child vulnerable to sensory overload needs to be in control of his environment. Learning to recognize early signs of coming sensory overload is
very important. It is better to prevent it than to ‘deal with the conse178 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
quences’. A child may need a quiet place (the ‘isle of safety’) to recover,
where he can go to ‘recharge his batteries’ from time to time.
Teach the child how to recognize the internal signs of the overload,
how to control the state of his ‘inner cup’ and how to use strategies (for
example, relaxation) to prevent the problem. A ‘First Aid Kit’ (for sensory
overload) should always be at hand. Possible contents might be sunglasses,
earplugs, squeezy toys, favourite toys, ‘I need help’ card.
Mono-processing (number of senses working at a time)
A child with mono-processing may have problems with multiple stimuli.
Find out which channel ‘is open’ at the moment. Always present information in the child’s preferred modality. If you are not sure what it is or which
channel ‘is on’ at the moment (in the case of fluctuation), use multi-sensory
presentation and watch which modality ‘works’. Remember that they
could switch channels.
Peripheral perception (avoidance of central/direct perception)
Never force eye contact. Use an indirectly confrontational approach, especially involving hypersensitive modalities. Indirectly confrontational communication can mean that if something needs explaining or showing, the
person explaining or showing can do so as if out loud to themselves,
addressing the wall or the floor, or his shoes, or the objects relating to the
demonstration. The person with a problem of overload should be allowed,
similarly, to address and interact with you through speaking out loud with
you ‘in mind’. Gradually, bridges can be built from indirectly to more
directly confrontational interaction and communication (Williams 1996).
When hypersensitivity of the affected sensory channel is addressed
and lessened, direct perception becomes easier. For example, an autistic
boy whose visual hypersensitivity was intolerable and often painful was
prescribed Irlen tinted glasses. After having worn them for a few months
his eye contact improved from none to several seconds, and his ‘visual
behaviour’ (using his eyes to look instead of using other senses to
compensate for painful, and therefore often useless visual perception)
became apparently better.
Recommendations: Rainbows and Umbrellas 179
Systems shutdowns
If the sensory stimulation is overwhelming autistic people can shut their
systems off. To avoid painful sounds they shut down hearing. (Though
certain frequencies cannot be shut down.) Continuous noises (fans, microwave, heating) that do not bother other people may be very annoying. To
shut down the painful channel they may engage in stereotypic behaviours,
or deliberately distract themselves through other channels (for example,
touching objects when hearing is overwhelming) or withdraw altogether.
Compensating for unreliable sense by other senses
Let the child use the sensory modality he prefers (for example, smell,
touch) to ‘check’ his perception. With appropriate treatment and environmental adjustments to decrease hypersensitivities they gradually learn to
use their sense organs properly – eyes to see, ears to listen, etc.
‘Resonance’, synaesthesia
In many ways ‘autistic perception’ is superior to that of non-autistics.
Autistic individuals with their heightened senses can often appreciate
colour, sound, texture, smell, taste to a higher degree than people around
them. Their gifts and talents should be nurtured and not ridiculed, as is
often the case. Let them use their ways to explore the world.
Perceptual memory. Perceptual thinking
Choose methods of instruction to match the child’s learning style, for
example, visual aids for ‘visual thinkers’, audiotapes for ‘auditory thinkers’,
learning through movements, etc. The preferred channel will be our ‘gate’
to reach the child. Autistic children learn better with concrete information,
whether it is visual, auditory, tactile, etc.
180 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Conclusion
As some sensory dysfunction is present in all individuals with autism it
would benefit parents of autistic children and professionals working with
them to become more knowledgeable about the sensory perceptual
problems they experience and possible ways to help them.
However, we need to stop trying to change them into ‘normals’ and to
adapt to our world. The aim of any intervention should be to help autistic
individuals to cope with their problems and to learn to function in the
community. Whatever treatment programme or therapy is used, it does not
make them less autistic. However, increased self-knowledge can lead to
better compensations for one’s difficulties, which in turn may decrease
symptoms and make the autism less disabling (Gerland 1998). There is
usually some natural progress in autistic children as they grow (Kanner
1971). Some of Kanner’s patients became very high-functioning as adults
even though they were not given any special treatment. These people
found ways to cope with their problems and could function quite
successfully.
The type of intervention should depend on the type and severity of
sensory problems the child experiences. The intensity of treatment should
be in direct proportion with the child’s ability to cope with sensory
stimulation.
As the Sensory Profile of each individual is unique, what works for one
child may be not only painful but also harmful for another. That is why
some methods (like, for example, Lovaas’s Applied Behaviour Analysis
Programme) work for some children and bring no improvement in others.
181
Parents often confess that what was intolerable about their child’s
behaviour was that it seemed meaningless. When they could understand
the reason for this behaviour it did not seem strange or disturbing any
more. This brings acceptance and respect for the autistic person’s efforts to
‘make sense’ of the world.
Whatever approach/treatment is chosen, the person working with the
child should make the environment sensorily safe for the child and try to
‘move in the same sensory world’. Many behaviours that interfere with
learning and social interaction are in fact protective or sensory defensive
responses of the child to ‘sensory pollution’ in the environment.
Autistic people are vulnerable to being abused. They have to live in a
world which is not designed for them, and they have to deal with people
who, while being aware of the difficulties they experience, often overlook
the effort they are making trying to survive in the world which is not
designed for them. If we look at their ‘bizarre’ behaviours and responses
through their eyes, they make sense. Our behaviours may equally seem
‘bizarre’ to autistic persons. For example, how could one enjoy fireworks if
your eyes are hit with ‘bunches of bright arrows’ and the sound in your ears
‘tears them raw’? We often do not understand the ‘autistic perspective’, the
problems they experience. And sometimes our ‘treatment’ does more harm
than good. Let us take some examples.
A family were struggling to find the solution to a challenging
behaviour of an eight-year-old autistic boy. The boy removed his clothes at
any opportunity no matter where he was. The mother asked for advice
from a ‘specialist’. And the advice was to encourage (?) the boy to keep his
clothes on and reward him (with a chocolate biscuit) when he complies. If
we look at this situation from the ‘autistic perspective’, tactile processing
problems are obvious. The boy himself was aware of which fabric would
‘hurt’ him and tried to protect himself. His ‘clues’ were not recognized by
the people involved. We could interpret the intervention as follows: a
person with broken legs is encouraged to run and promised a reward of a
chocolate biscuit. Would you run?
Another situation: at one of the autistic provisions, a teaching support
assistant is happily whistling and singing. Joe, an 11-year-old autistic boy,
is rocking back and forth. He covers his ears with his hands, but it does not
seem to work and he pushes his index fingers inside his ears. No effect.
182 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Then he pleads with his ‘helper’: ‘Laura, stop singing, please. Stop it!’ The
reaction of the support worker? ‘Why should I? Don’t be stupid, Joe.’ If we
look at the same situation from Joe’s perspective, we could interpret it as a
sensory assault of the child. For this boy the ‘singing’ (whether it was the
pitch of the voice or the sounds of whistling he could not tolerate)
physically hurt his ears, as if the helper threw stones or litter at him. So
why should she stop?
The sensory environment is very important for autistic people. They
lack the ability to adjust to sensory assaults other people accept as normal.
If we accommodate it and try to ‘keep it clean’ in order to meet their very
special needs, the world could become more comfortable for them. With
sensory needs met, problem behaviour becomes less of an issue. If there
were no risk of being attacked, you would not need defence. To make the
world safer for autistic individuals the price would not be too high – ‘just
stop singing’ when they ask you to. And if they cannot ask because of their
communication problems, use your knowledge and imagination to find
out what they need.
Some questions remain: How many of the behavioural characteristics
listed as diagnostic criteria for autism are symptoms of sensory dysfunction? How could children develop if these problems are addressed as early
as they are labelled autistic? How could we enter their perceptual world
and bring them into ours?
This book shows a possible direction to follow in the field of sensory
perceptual dysfunction in autism. Besides, it could be a starting point for
selection of methods and, probably, working out new ones, in order to
address the individual needs of each particular child. And last, but not
least, I hope this reconstruction of the sensory world of autism will give
the readers some idea of the way autistic people perceive the world and
will make non-autistics understand that the way they see the environment
is not necessarily the only way to see it.
Conclusion 183
Appendix 1
Sensory Profile Checklist
Revised (SPCR)
Name of child_______________________Birthdate _
Diagnosed ________When? __ Where? __
PURPOSE: This checklist is designed for completion by parents of children
who have been diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
The SPCR is intended to clarify the sensory experiences of such children
and to draw a sensory profile (’Rainbow’) in order to identify possible
sensory strengths and weaknesses that would be helpful in selecting
appropriate methods of teaching and treatment.
INSTRUCTIONS: Please tick the appropriate answer to indicate the statement described as:
WT – was true in any time in the past: in brackets, specify the
age of the child when the statement was true, e.g. (two–five
yrs)
T – true now (if it was true and is true now, tick both answers)
F – false (if the statement is not true)
NS – not sure or do not know.
Additional information is welcome: write it near the question, or copy the question
number on a blank sheet of paper and add the information there.
Please try to answer all questions.
184
Appendix 1: Sensory Profile Checklist Reviced (SPCR) 185
No Behaviours WT T F NS
1 Resists any change
2 Notices every tiny change in the environment
3 Does not recognize a familiar environment if
approaches it from a different direction
4 Does not recognize people in unfamiliar clothes
5 Is not fooled by optical illusions
6 Constantly looks at minute particles, picks up smallest
pieces of fluff
7 Dislikes dark and bright lights
8 Is frightened by sharp flashes of light, lightning, etc.
9 Looks down most of the time
10 Covers, closes, or squints eyes at bright light
11 Is attracted to lights
12 Looks intensely at objects and people
13 Moves fingers or objects in front of eyes
14 Is fascinated with reflections, bright coloured objects
15 Runs a hand around the edge of the object
16 Perimeter hugging
17 Gets easily frustrated/tired under fluorescent lights
18 Gets frustrated with certain colours (Specify: )
19 Is fascinated with coloured and shining objects
(Specify: )
20 May respond differently (pleasure – indifference –
distress) to the same visual stimuli (lights, colours,
visual patterns, etc.)
21 Selects for attention minor aspects of objects in the
environment instead of the whole thing (e.g. a wheel
rather than a whole toy car, etc.)
22 Gets lost easily
23 Fears heights, stairs, escalators
186 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
24 Has difficulty catching balls
25 Appears startled when being approached suddenly
26 Makes compulsive repetitive hand, head, or body
movements that fluctuate between near and far
27 Hits/rubs eyes when distressed
28 Feels/acts blind
29 Ritualistic behaviour
30 Response to visual stimuli is delayed (e.g. fails to close
eyes when the light is being switched on, etc.)
31 Any experiences are perceived as new and unfamiliar,
regardless of the number of times the child has
experienced the same thing
32 Sudden outbursts of self-abuse/tantrums or
withdrawal in response to visual stimuli
33 Does not seem to see if listening to something
34 Avoids direct eye contact
35 Appears to be a mindless follower
36 Surprises with knowing ‘unknown’ information
37 Smells, licks, touches, or taps objects
38 Seems to be absorbed (merged) with lights, colours,
patterns
39 Seems to know what other people (who are not
present) are doing
40 Covers/rubs/blinks, etc. eyes in response to a
sound/touch/smell/taste/movement
41 Complains about (is frustrated with) the ‘wrong’
colours of letters/numbers, etc. on coloured blocks,
etc.
42 Displays a good visual memory
43 Reactions are triggered by lights, colours, patterns
44 Easily solves jigsaw puzzles
45 Remembers routes and places
Appendix 1: Sensory Profile Checklist Reviced (SPCR) 187
46 Memorizes enormous amounts of information at a
glance
47 Poor at mathematics
48 Learns nouns first
49 Has difficulties with adverbs and prepositions
50 Idiosyncratic patterns in language development (e.g.
names one thing to denote the other, etc.)
51 Gets easily frustrated when trying to do something in
a noisy, crowded room
52 Does not seem to understand instructions if more
than one person is talking
53 Covers ears at many sounds
54 Is a very light sleeper
55 Is frightened by animals
56 Dislikes thunderstorm, sea, crowds
57 Dislikes haircut
58 Avoids sounds and noises
59 Makes repetitive noises to block out other sounds
60 Bangs objects, doors
61 Likes vibration
62 Likes kitchen and bathroom
63 Likes traffic, crowds
64 Is attracted by sounds, noises
65 Tears paper, crumples paper in the hand
66 Makes loud rhythmic noises
67 Gets frustrated with certain sounds (Specify: )
68 Tries to destroy/break objects producing sounds
(clock, telephone, musical toy, etc.)
69 Is fascinated with certain sounds (Specify: )
70 May respond differently (pleasure – indifference –
distress) to the same auditory stimuli (sounds, noises)
188 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autisom and Asperger Syndrome
71 Hears a few words instead of the whole sentence
72 Pronunciation problems
73 Unable to distinguish between some sounds
74 Hits ears when distressed
75 Feels/acts deaf
76 Response to sounds, questions, instructions is delayed
77 Echolalia in monotonous, high-pitched, parrot-like
voice
78 Sudden outbursts of self-abuse/tantrums or
withdrawal in response to auditory stimuli
79 Does not seem to hear if looking at something
80 Reacts to instructions better when they are ‘addressed
to the wall’
81 Looks for the source of the sound
82 Seems to be absorbed (merged) with sounds
83 Seems to be able to ‘read’ thoughts, feelings, etc. of
others
84 Complains about ‘non-existent’ conversations, sounds
85 Covers/hits ears in response to lights, colours/touch,
texture/smell/taste/movement
86 Complains about (is frustrated with) a sound in
response to colours/textures/touch/scent/flavour/
movement
87 Displays a good auditory memory (for nursery
rhymes, songs, etc.)
88 Reactions are triggered by sounds/words
89 Uses idiosyncratic routinized responses
90 Uses songs, commercials, etc. to respond
91 Cannot keep track of conversation
92 Composes musical pieces, songs
93 Unable to distinguish between tactile stimuli of
different intensity (e.g. light and rough touch)
Appendix 1: Sensory Profile Checklist Reviced (SPCR) 189
94 Resists being touched
95 Cannot tolerate new clothes; avoids wearing shoes
96 Overreacts to heat/cold/pain
97 Avoids getting messy
98 Dislikes food of certain texture (Specify: )
99 Moves away from people
100 Insists on wearing the same clothes
101 Likes pressure, tight clothing
102 Seeks pressure by crawling under heavy objects, etc.
103 Hugs tightly
104 Enjoys rough and tumble play
105 Prone to self-injuries
106 Low reaction to pain, temperature
107 Cannot tolerate certain textures (Specify: )
108 Is fascinated with certain textures (Specify: )
109 May respond differently (pleasure – indifference –
distress) to the same tactile stimuli (clothes, touch,
heat, pain, etc.)
110 Complains about parts of the clothes
111 Hits/bites themselves when distressed
112 Feels/acts numb
113 Sudden outbursts of self-abuse/tantrums or
withdrawal in response to tactile stimuli
114 Does not seem to feel being touched if looking
at/listening to something
115 Fails to define either texture or location of touch
116 Can tolerate only ‘instrumental’ (not ‘social’) touch
117 Sometimes does not react to any tactile stimuli
118 Seems to be absorbed (merged) with certain textures
119 Seems to feel pain of others
190 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autisom and Asperger Syndrome
120 Complains about being touched/hot/cold, etc. in the
absence of the stimuli
121 Complains about (is frustrated with) feeling colours,
sound, etc. when being touched
122 Complains about (is frustrated with) feeling being
touched when being looked at
123 Complains about (is frustrated with) backache,
etc./heat/cold in colourful/noisy/crowded places
124 Displays a good tactile memory
125 Reactions are triggered by
textures/touch/temperature
126 Unable to distinguish between strong and weak
odours
127 Toileting problems
128 Runs from smells
129 Smells self, people, objects, etc.
130 Smears/plays with faeces
131 Seeks strong odours
132 Bedwetting
133 Cannot tolerate certain smells (Specify: )
134 Is fascinated with some smells (Specify: )
135 May respond differently (pleasure – indifference –
distress) to the same smells
136 Complains about smells of some pieces of food while
ignoring the rest
137 Hits nose when distressed
138 Has difficulty in interpreting smells
139 Response to smells is delayed
140 Sudden outbursts of self-abuse/tantrums or
withdrawal in response to smells
141 Does not seem to feel smell when looking/listening,
etc.
Appendix 1: Sensory Profile Checklist Reviced (SPCR) 191
142 Avoids direct smells
143 Sometimes does not react to any smell
144 Inspects food before eating
145 Seems to be absorbed (merged) with smells
146 Complains/talks about ‘non-existent’ smells
147 Covers/rubs/hits nose in response to a
visual/auditory stimulus/touch/taste/movement
148 Complains about (is frustrated with) the smell in
response to a visual/auditory stimulus/touch/taste/
movement
149 Displays a good memory for smells
150 Reactions are triggered by smells
151 Unable to distinguish between strong and weak tastes
152 Poor eater
153 Uses the tip of the tongue for tasting
154 Gags/vomits easily
155 Craves certain (plain) foods
156 Eats anything (pica)
157 Mouths and licks objects
158 Eats mixed food (e.g. sweet and sour)
159 Regurgitates
160 Cannot tolerate certain food (Specify: )
161 Is fascinated with certain tastes (Specify: )
162 May respond differently (pleasure – indifference –
distress) to the same food
163 Is confused with (complains about) the food he used
to like
164 Has difficulty in interpreting tastes
165 Response to tastes is delayed
166 Sudden outbursts of self-abuse/tantrums or
withdrawal in response to taste
192 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autisom and Asperger Syndrome
167 Does not feel any taste while eating something and
looking at/listening to something
168 A very careful eater
169 Sometimes does not react to any taste
170 Seems to be absorbed (merged) with certain food
171 Complains/talks about ‘non-existent’ taste in mouth
172 Makes swallowing movements in response to a
visual/auditory stimulus/touch/smell/movement
173 Complains about (is frustrated with) some tastes in
response to a visual/auditory stimulus/touch/smell/
movement
174 Displays a good memory for tastes
175 Reactions are triggered by certain food
176 Clumsy; moves stiffly
177 Odd body posturing (places the body in strange
positions)
178 Difficulty manipulating small objects (e.g. buttons)
179 Turns the whole body to look at something
180 Low muscle tone
181 Has a weak grasp; drops things
182 A lack of awareness of body position in space
183 Unaware of their own body sensations (e.g. does not
feel hunger)
184 Bumps into objects, people
185 Appears floppy; often leans against people, furniture,
walls
186 Stumbles frequently; has tendency to fall
187 Rocks back and forth
188 Cannot tolerate certain movements/body positions
189 Is often engaged in complex body movements, esp.
when frustrated or bored
190 May have different muscle tone (low – high)
Appendix 1: Sensory Profile Checklist Reviced (SPCR) 193
191 Pencil lines, letters, words, etc. are uneven (e.g.
sometimes too tight, sometimes too faint)
192 Complains about limbs, parts of the body
193 Difficulty with hopping, jumping, skipping, riding a
tricycle/bicycle
194 Does not seem to know what their body is doing
195 Very poor at sports
196 Tires very easily, esp. when in noisy/bright places, or
when standing
197 Does not seem to know the position of the body in
space/what the body is doing, when looking
at/listening to/talking
198 Has difficulty imitating/copying movements
199 Does not seem to know how to move their body
(unable to change body position to accommodate
task)
200 Watches their feet while walking
201 Watches their hands while doing something
202 Seems to be absorbed with body movements
203 Complains about ‘non-existent’ physical experiences
(e.g. ‘I am flying’, etc.)
204 Involuntary postures of the body in response to a
visual/auditory stimulus/smell/taste/touch
205 Displays a very good proprioceptive memory (e.g.
understands directions better if produces exact
movements they have to do in order to follow these
directions)
206 Reactions are triggered by body positions/movements
207 Mimics the actions when instructions are being given
208 Resists change to head position/movement
209 Fearful reactions to ordinary movement activities
(e.g. swings, slides, merry-go-round, etc.)
210 Has difficulty with walking or crawling on uneven or
unstable surfaces
194 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
211 Dislikes head upside down
212 Becomes anxious or distressed when feet leave the
ground
213 Enjoys swings, merry-go-round
214 Spins, runs round and round
215 Fears falling or height
216 Spins, jumps, rocks, etc. esp. when frustrated or bored
217 May respond differently (pleasure – indifference –
distress) to the same movement activities (swings,
slides, spinning, etc.)
218 Resists new motor activities
219 Tiptoeing
220 Becomes disoriented after a change in head position
221 Seems oblivious to risks of heights, etc.
222 Holds head upright, even when leaning or bending
over
223 Gets nauseated or vomits from excessive movement
(swings, merry-go-round, cars, etc.)
224 Does not seem to mind any movements when looking
at/listening to something/talking
225 Avoids balancing activities
226 Becomes disoriented in noisy/bright places, or after
physical activities
227 Rocks unconsciously during other activities (e.g.
watching a video)
228 Inspects the surface before walking on it
229 Appears to be in constant motion
230 Involuntary movements of the body in response to a
visual/auditory stimulus/smell/taste/touch
231 Experiences movement while being still (e.g. ‘I am
flying’ while being in bed)
232 Reactions are triggered by motor activities
Appendix 2
Key for Decoding the Checklist
This key will aid you in completing the chart and rainbow.
If you have ticked the ‘True’ box for a question in the Sensory Profile
Checklist then you will need to colour in the corresponding box in the
chart. For example, if you have answered question 15 as ‘True’ then you
colour in box 2 in the V column. Some questions in the profile relate to the
same box in the chart. For example, if you have answered ‘True’ to either
question 76 or 77, colour in the box 9 in the H column.
Once you have completed the chart, count the number of coloured
boxes in the corresponding section. Colour in the same number of boxes in
the corresponding section of the rainbow. For example, if you have
coloured in ten boxes in the V column, then colour in ten boxes of the V
section of the rainbow.
195
196 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
1 V1; V6
2 V1
3 V1; V6
4 V1; V6
5 V1
6–9 (hyper-) V2
10 V2; V3
11–16 (hypo-) V2
17–18 V3
19 V4
20 V5
21–22 V6
23 V7; Vs7
24 V7; P7
25–27 V7
28 V8
29 V8; H8; Tc8
30 V9
31 V9; H9; Tc9
32 V10
33 V11
34 V12
35–36 V13; H13
37 V14; Tc14
38 V15
39 V16
40–41 V17
42 V18
43 V19
44–50 V20
51–52 H1
53–59 (hyper-) H2
60–66 (hypo-) H2
67–68 H3
69 H4
70 H5
71 H6
72–74 H7
75 H8
76–77 H9
78 H10
79 H11
80 H12
81 H14
82–83 H15
84 H16
V – Vision
H – Hearing
Tc – Tactility
S – Smell
T – Taste
P – Proprioception
Vs – Vestibular
Appendix 2: Key for Decoding the Checklist 197
85–86 H17
87 H18
88–91 H19
92 H20
93 Tc1
94–98 (hyper-) Tc2
99–100 (hyper-) Tc2; S2
101–106 (hypo-) Tc2
107 Tc3
108 Tc4
109 Tc5
110 Tc6
111 Tc7
112 Tc8
113 Tc10
114–115 Tc11
116 Tc12
117 Tc13
118–119 Tc15
120 Tc16; Tc20
121–123 Tc17
124 Tc18
125 Tc19
126 S1
127–128 (hyper-) S2
129–132 (hypo-) S2
133 S3
134 S4
135 S5
136 S6
137 S7
138 S8
139 S9
140 S10
141 S11
142 S12
143 S13
144 S14; T14
145 S15
146 S16; S20
147–148 S17
149 S18
150 S19
151 T1
152–155 (hyper-) T2
156–159 (hypo-) T2
160 T3
161 T4
162 T5
163 T6; T7
164 T8
165 T9
166 T10
167 T11
168 T12
169 T13
198 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
170 T15
171 T16; T20
172–173 T17
174 T18
175 T19
176 P1
177–179 (hyper-) P2
180–183 (hypo-) P2
184 (hypo-) P2; Vs2
185–186 (hypo-) P2
187 (hypo-) P2; Vs2
188 P3; Vs3
189 P4
190–191 P5
192 P6
193 P7
194 P8
195 P9
196 P10
197 P11
198 P12
199 P13
200–201 P14
202 P15
203 P16; Vs16; Vs20
204 P17
205 P18
206 P19
207 P20
208 Vs1
209–212 (hyper-) Vs2
213–214 (hypo-) Vs2
215 Vs3
216 Vs4
217 Vs5
218 Vs6
219 Vs7
220 Vs8
221 Vs9
222 Vs9; Vs13
223 Vs10
224 Vs11
225 Vs12
226–227 Vs13
228 Vs14
229 Vs15
230 Vs17
231 Vs18; Vs20
232 Vs19
Appendix 3
Photocopiable Rainbow and Table
199
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210 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Subject Index
‘accumulation of unknown knowing’ 79,
83, 91
Applied Behaviour Analysis 62, 181
aromatherapy 159
attention 40, 51, 67, 100, 105
in autism 100–5
delay in switching 103
directed 101
idiosyncratic focus 102
joint 103–4
selective 101
tunnelling 102 (see also monotropism)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
103, 141, 144
auditory impairments 25, 143 (see also
deafness)
Auditory Integration Treatment (AIT) 144
autism 19–20
as a way of being 20
as sensory dysfunction 25
diagnosis 20
misunderstanding 22, 28
theories of 21 (see also theory of mind)
autistic savant 45, 48, 103, 105, 107 (see
also Nadia; Wiltshire, Stephen)
attentional mechanism of 103
skills 100
avoidance of direct perception 83, 86,
88, 179 (see also peripheral
perception)
behavioural optometry 151
Berard method 146–8
blind spot 32
blindness 27, 38, 92, 143, 171 (see also
visual impairments)
central auditory processing disorder 119,
128, 142
central coherence 21, 47, 84, 102
monotropic central coherence 84
weak central coherence, theory of 21,
47, 51, 68, 69, 102
cognitive style 52, 98
concept 37
formation 98, 109
tactile-motor 38
daydreaming 22, 83, 95–6, 165
deafness 26, 38–9, 143, 171 (see also
auditory impairments)
delayed processing 49, 52, 76–9, 92,
103, 108, 160, 163, 178
desensitization 154, 156
‘distance touching’ 88
distorted perception 28, 38, 52, 73–4,
79, 92, 163
disturbance by stimuli 52, 61–5, 162,
176
disturbances of sensory modulation 66,
137, 139, 142 (see also sensory
modulation disorder)
executive function deficit 116–7
eye contact 87, 156, 179
avoidance 86, 88, 164
face-blindness 127–8 (see also
prosopagnosia)
fascination with stimuli 52, 61, 64–5, 93,
162, 177
211
fluctuation 43–4, 49, 52, 65–6, 142,
162, 177, 179 (see also inconsistency
of perception)
foreground and background information,
inability to filter 46–8, 79, 156,
175 (see also perception, gestalt)
fragmented perception 48–9, 52, 67–73,
79, 92, 163, 178
gravitational insecurity 138, 140
habituation 36, 138
holding therapy 153–4
hug machine 154–5
hypersensitivity 49, 52–5, 57, 61, 64,
79–80, 84–5, 89, 92, 139, 146,
148–50
hyposensitivity 49, 52–3, 56–7, 128,
155, 173
illusions 41–3, 47
cognitive 43
physiological 43
visual 41, 43, 46–7, 52
imagination 41, 98, 112, 117–8
inconsistency of perception 52, 65, 160,
162, 177
Irlen method 149–150
light sensitivity 63, 131, 150
‘losing oneself ’ in stimuli 93, 164
memory 41, 98, 100, 105, 118
auditory 105–6, 111
in autism 105–8
characteristics of ‘autistic memory’
105
episodic 105
gustatory 105, 111
olfactory 105, 111
photographic 48, 118
tactile 105, 111
modulation 66, 136–9
mono-processing 83–5, 102, 156, 160,
164, 179
monotropism 84–5, 102 (see also attention
tunnelling)
Nadia 100
Neurologically Typical 19
overload
information 48, 52, 64, 79–80, 83,
88–9, 91, 102, 123
sensory 52, 73, 82–3, 85, 87–9, 126,
133, 148, 156, 159, 173, 175,
179
vulnerability to 79–82, 163, 178
perception 37–41, 43, 109
gestalt 46–52, 67–8, 104, 174
literal 45
perceptual development 37–41
perceptual style 23, 52, 83
perceptual tests 160
perceptual thinking 111, 115, 165, 172,
180
auditory 115
visual 111, 112–4
peripheral perception 83, 86–8, 164,
179 (see also avoidance of direct
perception)
polytropism 84
primate isolation syndrome 90
probable prediction theory 46–8
prosopagnosia 119, 127, 163 (see also
face-blindness)
212 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
‘rainbows’ 23, 167–169
receptors 30 (see also sensory organs)
auditory 35
light 33, 43
proprioceptors 30, 34, 36
sight 32
smell 31
tactile 36, 157
taste 32
relevance theory 102
resonance 22, 83, 93–5, 164, 180
Scotopic Sensitivity/Irlen Syndrome
(SS/IS) 63, 119, 142, 150
in autism 133
probable causal mechanisms 132
symptoms 131–2
self-stimulation 56, 66, 170 (see also
sensorisms)
sensations 20, 25, 30–1, 36–7, 55–6, 60,
74–6, 84, 90, 104, 119, 120–1,
134–7
sensorisms 56–7, 166 (see also
self-stimulation)
sensory agnosia 52, 75, 80, 92, 163, 178
sensory defensiveness 137–9 (see also
tactile defensiveness)
sensory deprivation 25–6, 89, 171
sensory diet 156
sensory dysfunction 21–2, 25, 109, 135,
139, 155, 181, 183
theory of 21, 134
sensory modulation disorder 136–7 (see
also disturbances of sensory
modulation)
sensory integration dysfunction 119,
133–42
broad definitions 135–6
narrow definitions 136
theory of 133–5
sensory integration therapy 155–8
sensory organs 30–1, 38 (see also
receptors)
sensory perceptual profile 23, 57, 143–4,
160–1, 166–7, 181
‘sensory pollution’ 175, 182
sensory systems 30–6
gustation 31, 32
hearing 30, 34
restored 39
kinaesthetic 36
olfaction 31
proprioceptive 31, 36
tactile 31, 36
vestibular 31, 34
vision 30
restored 39
SPATS 20, 28–30 (see also systems of
perception)
stimulus overselectivity 67, 77
synaesthesia 22, 119–25, 165, 180
diagnostic features 121
in autism 124–5
multiple-sensory 120
theories of origin 122
two-sensory 119
‘two-ways’ 123
unidirectional 120, 123
systems of perception 20, 28 (see also
SPATS)
systems shutdowns 80, 83, 89–91, 164,
180
tactile defensiveness 138–140 (see also
sensory defensiveness)
tinted glasses 63, 149–50, 174–9
theory of mind 21, 95, 114, 103
Tomatis Effect 129
Tomatis Method 129, 144–5
transcranial magnetic stimulation 100
Subject Index 213
Triad of Impairments 20–1
tunnel vision 71, 102, 104
visual impairments 25–6, 131, 143 (see
also blindness)
visualization 106, 114
‘white noise’ 53, 136
Wilbarger brushing protocol 157
Wiltshire, Stephen 48, 100, 105, 118
214 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Author Index
Aftanas, E. D. 89
Ayres, A. J. 25, 55, 133, 135, 136, 138,
139, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160
Baron-Cohen, S. 21, 52, 121, 123
Bauman, M. 89
Berard, G. 130, 144, 146, 147
Berk, R. A. 160
Bill 127, 128
Blackburn, J. 45, 79, 80, 85, 89, 101,
102, 106, 112, 118, 127
Blackman, L. 150
Blakemore-Brown, L. 103
Blamires, M. 102
Bogdashina, O. 150
Bovee, J. P. 29, 87
Bundy, A. 137, 139, 140, 157
Burns, S. K. 89
Cantello, J. 27, 94
Carter, R. 43, 106
Cass, H. 26, 27
Cermak, S. A. 140, 157, 158
Cesaroni, L. 124, 125
Condon, W. S. 128
Cotton M. M. 149
Courchesne, E. 103
Cowey, A. 99
Cytowic, R. E. 120, 121, 122
Damasio, A. R. 109
Damasio, H. 109
Davies, D. R. 101
Davis, R. D. 113
DeGangi, G. A. 160
Dehay, C. 122
Dekker, M. 28, 116
Delacato, C. 21, 25, 46, 52, 53, 56, 128,
134, 136, 139, 155
Doman, R. Jr. 26
Donnelly, J. 81, 85
Douglas, V. I. 101
Down, J. L. 118
Dunn, W. 138
Edelson, S. M. 147
Ellwood, J. 159
Evans, K. M. 149
Farah, M. J. 99, 111
Fay, W. 26
Feigenberg, I. M. 47, 48
Feinberg, T. E. 99
Fisher, A. 134, 138, 156
Fleisher, M. 62
Freeman, B. J. 66
Frith, U. 21, 47, 51, 52, 68, 102, 115
Gainotti, G. 109
Garber, M. 124, 125
Garner, I. 47, 52
Gazzaniga, M. S. 99
Gense, D. J. 26
Gense, M. H. 26
Gerland, G. 22, 27, 74, 181
Gibson, E. J. 37, 40, 46
Gillingham, G. 55
Grandin, T. 26, 27, 28, 50, 54, 55, 62,
63, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 106, 108,
111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 127, 128,
154, 171
215
Hamilton, D. 47, 52
Happe, F. 47, 52, 68
Hatch-Rasmussen, C. 25
Henderson, A. 157, 158
Herron, E. 135, 137
Hutt, S. J. 89
Irlen, H. 63, 131, 132, 133, 149
Jackson, L. 55, 88, 154
Joliffe, T. 52, 153, 154
Joan 46
Jordan, D. 131, 132
Jordan, R. 65, 107
Kanner, L. 19, 21, 104, 128, 181
Kapes, B. 136
King, L. J. 157
Knickerbocker, B. 138
Kochmeister, S. 28, 118
Koegel, R. L. 128
Koomar, J. 137, 139, 140, 157
Kracke, I. 127
Kraemer, G. 90
Kranowitz, C. 136, 138, 156
Land, P. 89
Lane, D. M. 101
Lawson, W. 11–2, 27, 64, 74, 79, 84,
87, 93, 96
Legge, B. 65
Lemley, B. 121, 123
Longhorn, F. 159
Lovaas, O. I. 68, 181
Luria, A. R. 106, 107, 121, 122, 123
McKean, T. 94
Mailloux, Z. 137, 139
Maurer, D. 122
Meares, O. 131, 132
Melzack, R. 89
Mitchell, J. D. 107
Morris, B. 20, 22, 28, 29, 54, 79
Mukhopadhyay, R. (Tito) 110
Murray, D. K. C. 84, 102
Murray, E. 134, 156
Myles, B. S. 137, 138
Nelson, S. 141
Nony 63, 87
O’Neill, J. L. 27, 28, 44, 54, 64, 87, 102,
106, 112, 115, 125
Ornitz, E. M. 38, 65, 66, 101, 128, 134,
137, 141
Orton, S. T. 130, 131
Ozonoff, S. 21, 47, 117
Park, C. C. 106, 113
Park, D. C. 114
Parham, L. D. 137, 139
Pearson, D. A. 101
Pemberton, A. 150
Peters, K. G. 101
Posner, M. 101
Powell, S. 37, 65, 107
Rand, B. 44, 51, 54, 56, 68, 85, 102,
104
Ratey, J. 99
Rich 46
Riley, D. 132
Rimland, B. 21, 77, 103, 128, 134, 147
Ritvo, E. R. 65
Robinson, G. L. 132
216 Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome
Rose, S. 106
Royeen, C. 139
Russell, J. 74
Sacks, O. 39, 43, 105, 118
Sainsbury, C. 154
Scariano, M. 27, 128
Schatzman, M. 106
Schreibman, L. 128
Schuler, A. 26
Shah, A. 52
Sheldrake, R. 95
Siegel, B. 153
Simon, D. 89
Sinclair, J. 19, 20, 28, 39, 40, 125, 150,
170
Snyder, A. W. 45, 107
Sperber, D. 102
Stackhouse, T. M. 134, 137, 141
Stehli, A. 54, 143, 146
Stephens, L. C. 136, 137
Tickle, L. S. 139, 158
Tomatis, A. A. 129, 130, 144, 145, 146,
148
Tustin, F. 38
VanDalen, J. G. T. 27, 66, 72, 75, 76, 77,
78
Volkmar, F. R. 141
Walker, N. 27, 94
Waterhouse, S. 150
Weiskrantz, L. 99
White, B. B. 63, 66
White, M. S. 63, 66
Wilbarger, J. L. 134, 137, 139, 141
Wilbarger, P. 139, 156
Wilkins, A. 131
Willey, L. H. 27, 28, 63, 64, 68, 79, 80,
94, 105, 106, 124
Williams, D. 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 46, 48,
49, 54, 62, 63, 64, 66, 68, 69, 71,
72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83,
84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95,
96, 98, 99, 100, 106, 107, 108,
110, 111, 113, 122, 123, 125, 133,
150
Wilson, D. 102
Wing, L. 20
Winter, S. 149
Yourderian, P. 114
Zeki, S. 111
Zubeck, J. P. 89
Author Index 217

Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome