Talking about sensory differences

We had a lovely NAS branch meeting in Derby this week where we had a discussion about sensory differences and how they can affect autistic people. It is a subject that pops up quite a bit and people are always after a few ways of how to deal with sensory differences especially when it comes to autism.

Of course we are all aware of our senses and if most people are asked how many senses we have we normally answer with commonly known five which are sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. Some will say there are a lot more than this but when we discuss it around autism we tend to stick to the five we know and then two more being vestibular (balance) and proprioception (body awareness).

It was just so nice to sit in a group and discuss how all these sensory differences can play a part in our lives and those of our children. We chatted about each individual experiences and how they certain sensory needs can affect education and then how to cope with the changes at home, sometimes very different. It is also making other people aware of these differences enabling people to support autistic people in every situation. 

We chatted and chatted and before we knew it it was the end of the session so that just shows how we can become engrossed in this subject. I think people went away with some new information and how to cope with certain situations. Sensory differences and the way we process these differences can be tough and quite demanding especially when it affects behaviour in a big way. It was so reassuring to share our stories and give support to those who maybe were struggling a bit.

There is quite a bit of information regarding sensory differences on the main NAS website here www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour/sensory-world.aspx so do take a look and if there is a branch near you then maybe they have a support group too where you can go along and have a chat just like we did this week. 

Thank you for reading today. I will be back tomorrow for Pass the remote Sunday but for now......

​Take care.