Making Sense: A Guide to Sensory Issues

in the moment, unable to connect to the world, trapped within a brain that is malfunctioning and a body refusing to take directions, a shutdown feels like a tiny death.

Setting up our expectations well in advance allows us to figure out how to best tackle the sensory challenges at hand.

A meltdown is anger and tears. A shutdown is dissociation and fear.

Dysregulation is the temporary state in which someone with sensory issues is unable to self-regulate (energize or relax) and maintain a calm, poised, and ready state.

Sensory Discrimination Disorder, which includes the difficulty of understanding the basic sensory qualities of people, places, objects, or the environment.

People with Sensory Modulation Disorder have trouble modulating or regulating sensory information.

People with sensory issues usually don’t have issues with sensation, but they struggle with perception and responding appropriately to what the brain perceives.

Research shows that 80-85% of our learning, perception, and cognition activities come to us through our vision.

This is often called depersonalization in psychology circles—feeling disconnected from yourself and your surroundings, or even derealization, feeling like the world is dreamlike and distant.

People with SPD may have ... 1. Sensory Modulation Disorder 2. Sensory Discrimination Disorder 3. Sensory-Based Motor Disorder