Knowing yourself: warning of sensory overload

Stock photos

As promised, I'm going to dig into more of how a sensory/stress overload actually feels and how I work to stay ahead of them.

I mentioned in my last post that there is a prickly sensation in the back of my neck that is one warning. Another, if I'm paying attention to myself, is that I become less of a generally pleasant person to be around. I may experience feelings of anger that have no apparent trigger. I don't like feeling this way, so I've learned to recognize it most times. If I'm sick, I may need help seeing it. But then, who is pleasant when they're sick?

Trigger factors:

Stress: If a lot of things are a stressing me out, I have to be more mindful.

Heat: Thanks to my MS, heat is a threat. I can't be out in direct high  heat for a very long time. It wears me down fast and leads to other triggers.

Exhaustion: The more tired I am the more at risk I am. It's important to pace myself. But I am a stubborn man at times. It's not easy losing your independence to MS or any other condition.

Signs:

Snappy disposition: If I'm getting cranky it's a sign.

Dizziness: Vertigo is not my friend. It's a sign that I'm overloaded.

Tilting vision: My view actually tilts on a weird slant to the right and happens with bursts of dizziness.

Extra tremors: The more I'm having, the more careful I need to be, but I have tremors for multiple reasons, so I have to watch for tremors that come with the rest of the issues here.

Rapid breathing: Also comes with an accelerated pulse rate that I can actually feel in my neck.

Loss of coordination: Unable to grasp things properly, dropping things, and extra stumbling beyond what I normally have with MS.

How it feels. I get hot. Really hot. Hot to the touch even. I lose cognitive function and get confused. Nothing I see, feel or hear seems right or makes sense. Fight or flight is being triggered with no physical threat apparent. My only hope is to get somewhere dark and cool.

I use a fan for two purposes. One is temperature and the other is to dull my other senses, like my crazy hearing. White noise from a fan is very helpful. I use the same to sleep at night.

People who suffer from sensory overload have a tough job/responsibility in controlling it before it controls them. In its full grip, it's a blind rage like no other where nothing makes any cognitive sense any more. Everything is closing in on you. Everything; every color, every sound, every sensation on your skin, every light, EVERYTHING.

It takes years to decades to come close to controlling it completely. Some are luckier with it than others, of course. Many never completely control it.

What seems to be a problem out in the public still today, is that this is a real medical condition. It really affects people. Once in a while, I get the chance to educate someone. We can only hope to keep educating and getting the news out that these situations are real.

If you are suffering from sensory disorders, it falls to you to have a home protocol where you can escape and destress.

If your child has a sensory disorder, it falls to you to teach your child how to develop the same home protocols. Fortunately, there are tons of tip sites and assistance growing on the internet every day. I posted links to a couple of sites on my last entry.

Remember, you are not alone. It's real. And there are more of us out there, than most people realize.

Freakout Kid is actually a sober reminder

With over 83 million views since 2009, who hasn't seen the Freakout Kid? If you haven't , take a moment to watch the video:

What you are seeing was staged. It was meant as humor. I have a dark side to me and I admit I laughed. My wife didn't find it so funny. To her, it was a sober reminder of what she's seen at the worst points of an autistic meltdown. Whether from sensory overload or acute stress, an autistic meltdown is nothing to laugh at. As an important note, it's often worse that what you see in the video. 

Here are a couple of things to remember about autistic meltdowns. Unlike throwing a fit or a simple temper tantrum, they are involuntary at many of their worst points. Studies have linked autistic meltdowns/sensory overloads to seizure-like conditions. They are a  medical issue every bit as much as they are a behavioral issue (depending on individual). 

These fits run high risk of self and bystander injury. The flailing and agony is real. The triggers can seem microscopic to the onlooker. 

Learning to live with this part of the disorder is important from early life.  Stressors have to be managed differently and more acutely than with a average person. It can take years longer to learn how to live with it and recognize your own alarm signals and that's if you're high functioning like me. There are just as many who will never learn to control the overloads in their entire lifetime. 

Here are a couple more links for extra information:

Wikipedia

North Shore Pediatric Therapy

It's important to also understand that Sensory Processing Disorder does not only occur with Autism. I happens with several medical conditions and takes on several forms. ADD and Epilepsy have their own versions of the issue.

The pain is real. The condition is real. It's not just a matter of some kid being a brat. Can it be triggered by not getting his toy at the store? Yes it can, which is why therapy and firm parenting are still very important. Get what I'm saying here? I'm not saying let the kid have their way or don't use any discipline. I'm saying you have to use different approaches than with a typical child. You can't just beat them into submission. Hitting is nothing more than a sensory trigger, right along with having to hold or restrain them in the first place. 

Do I still have sensory overloads at 44 years (almost 45) of age? Yes. I am still at risk. I have had them. My wife has had to take me to my fan where I can destress and escape the sensory input that I'm being flooded with. Hard to imagine for an adult, isn't it? 

It's why I have a permanent brain injury. I've struggled with the attacks since I was 6 years old. Before I got medication to assist, I had attacks every couple of weeks, though sometimes I could stretch to a couple of months. So I'm not just talking out my rear end here. I've lived it and now I work to help my son learn to get far past it and control it for himself. I know there are many of you out there who know exactly what I'm talking about. This blog is for you.

I know what you are asking now. How do I know I'm going to have an attack? I'm pretty well practiced now at feeling what it's like before it gets here. I very rarely have to have assistance. I don't burst out in public. It starts at the nape of my neck, moves into my spine and it's a sensation across my body that I have a hard time describing. Have I been stupid and ignored the signs before. Yes, a couple of times. My wife has set me straight on that though, let me tell you (my wife is a warrior). I also have to use extra care in how my MS wears me down because fatigue is a contributing factor. But I'm getting long in this post, so I will go more into how it feels and how I know it's coming in my next entry. Thanks for reading.

Sensory issues and autism, proprioception

If know anything about the five senses you will know of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing. Those are the basics and what we know of on the surface. But how much are we really affected?

In autism, some senses are turned up too high and thus are too intense at times to endure. Others are turned down too low and may endanger the person affected. For example, pain sensory too low can affect reasoning on dangerous situations.

Before I get to that really cool word up there, let me touch on the basics for a recap of how they can affect us.

Sight: Sensitivity to lights (including flashing ones) and brightness are commonplace. Flashing lights or too many fast moving objects in the area can also cause too much stimulation. If something moves close to the face goes past fast it can cause flinching. Some may get stimulation they like. My son flies toys past his eyes all the time for "movie-like" effects close up. Too many moving objects like bodies in a crowd or a thousand tennis balls being dropped at once can cause the eyes to try and focus in several places as once. As you can imagine that doesn't work out well. It's a natural tendency of the autistic brain to lack filters for several or certain senses causing an intake overload.

Hearing: I've mentioned before how painful high pitched noises can be. I don't just mean aggravating with chills up the spine. I mean you may as well have plunged a fistfull of hypodermic needles into my ears. But this can go the other way too. Some of us like a sound so much that we'll over use it. Some kids like the sound of their own voice at various pitches and will make all sorts of cooing and varied noises just to hear themselves. Again, multiple noises can short circuit a person with too much stimulation. The ears and the sensory intake may lack the ability to sort multiple sounds at times.

Touch: I've seen few sensory stimulations work on autistics like the sense of touch. Textures and temperatures work together to either provide a calm or repellent effect. A heightened sense of touch can make something as menial as bumps on a wall an object of fascination. It can also make a seam in clothing completely unbearable.

Smell: Odors can thrill or gag a person. Too high of sensory can make even a pleasant smell impossible to tolerate. Too low and you may not realize your dinner is burning.

Taste: There are three senses that work in the mouth at once and they make taste what it is. Smell and touch work with taste for a multi-sensory experience. This makes for picky eaters and even eating disorders. As it is, digestion in the mouth changes the taste and textures of some foods and can affect just how much it's tolerated.

Now for how they all work with that word; proprioception. Our proprioceptive sense are how our body and other senses work with the work around us and out internal being. So we can break it down to two ways this works; internally and externally.

Internal examples would be the feeling of a full stomach, muscle cramps, the need to go to the bathroom, and anything else our internal organs need to tell us. Yes, those are part of our senses and they can be affected by autism. This is why something as simple as mild hunger can be totally intolerable to some autistics.

External examples are spatial. Spatial senses tell us where our arms and legs are as we move around. If those senses are not working properly, you get someone like me. I hit my arms, hands, knees and feet on doorways and walls. I overshoot when reaching for doorknobs and jam my fingers. Spatial sense is important. Your sense of balance also works into this and bridges the gap from internal to external.

You know that feeling you get when dropping through the air suddenly? That's a proprioceptive sense. Kids who enjoy that feeling may jump off of things a lot.

The feeling of having lots of pressure on your body from blankets (as many autistics seem to like with weighted blankets) is a proprioceptive sense.

This is why understanding of sensory can be such a distinct key to understanding your child or family member who as ASD at any degree. I've found that sensory response is usually the first thing to check when it comes to the behaviors or reactions of any person with autism. It's amazing to think how some things most take for granted can have such a profound (or lack of) effect.

I hope this gives you a deeper insight to sensory disorders.

Autistic student: Reeling them in for homework

Staying on task is hard for many of our spectrum students. It's even harder when the topic at hand isn't their main interest or an interest at all. There's a lot of redirection involved, especially at first and early in the year. It's frustrating, mentally taxing and can leave you drained. It can still pay off, though, so it's important to never give up.

The first problem we face is the time of year. It's only the beginning of the school year so this is a change in routine. It's not a small change either. There are many expectations that just weren't there for the summer. Try as you might, even with some extra activities and camp, you just can't recreate those expectations (on your own anyway) during off-school months. So this will be a period of adjustment with new routines. Thankfully, we have been blessed this year with good mornings in the way of getting up and getting dressed without fits. And now he's learning to make his own breakfast (cheers!). So, as years go by, improvements are quite possible.

The second is making the switching of tasks through the day part of his routine. It's all routines inside of each other and he balks at them. My son has had difficulty calming down for class in the mornings, (no doubt because of all the sensory input from excitement and hustle bustle) and has had to leave class a few times to recalibrate. I will say his teachers are on the ball with him. We are blessed to have such proactive teachers this year. But for all of our kids, we have to remember this goes hand in hand with number three.

The third is major sensory input. Crowds of children are loud and noisy. Hallways echo, and there's constantly someone bumping into you. At some ages, our kids are starting to put on deodorants and colognes and our sensitive kids will smell this at a distance. Kids with hygiene problems will be there as well and add to the mix with smells of their own. Not all of them will be triggers, but some will be and likely have been for some time. And let's not forget temperatures, those can have drastic effect too. Especially heat as it increases irritability.

Now I get to homework. It's another area of routine that we know our kids hate. It's more school after the school day has let out. What kids wants that? Well, it's a fact of life and they have to do it. For us, toward the end of the day, my son is more embroiled in fantasy from holding back all day (or being steered back to reality all day) and he just wants to play. Bringing him in from fantasy to get started on that homework is kind of like reeling in a really big fish. It's a fight for a bit, but once he's in the boat it gets easier.

The next issue in homework is getting overwhelmed and giving up repeatedly. He still has to learn to slow down and take his homework or any problem a bit at a time. He wants to rush, skip steps and be done. This is pretty common of our spectrum kids. It's especially common with Asperger's or ADHD kids. You get the idea. Ours may throw a fit and close down. We give him a break, but he can't go back to play or have privileges until he does that homework. So, piece by piece it gets done. It can be tedious and tiring for everyone involved too.

Handwriting is still a vexing issue too. It's like having something to concentrate on inside of everything else. My son is working on it, but it takes as much redirection and do-overs as anything else. Sometimes, by the time he has to rewrite something, he's forgotten the what the problem was and has to rethink it too. That's frustrating for him. I'm sure it's the same for many of our kids. Think about it, how much can your brain juggle?

It's easy to feel like this will never improve, but the truth is, that it can. If he's able to keep trying over and over again, then he may and likely will improve. That's not a guarantee of course. But, look back over your child's school history and make it appoint to notice the improvements. Has your child improved while moving up in grades? Then there's distinct hope. Has he improved despite lack of support or in the face of other difficulties? Then there's major hope.

So here's to moving on in a new school year (or getting started for many of you). Keep your chin up and never give up.

Sensory school supplies

Now that the school year is drawing in close, it's time to get school supplies for many of us. As we do this, I wonder how many of us are on the watch for things that are "sensory friendly"? I'm not necessarily talking about pens and pencils, but anything at all that you would need to get for your child. In the world of our senses, it's amazing what can trip us up when they are turned up too high.

In clothing, seams and scratchy material are the enemy to many an ASD child. It can cause high distraction and inability to sit still for very long. That's minding that our kids don't sit still long in the first place. Tags aren't ASD friendly either. Thankfully, there are tagless shirts out there. Some companies are printing their information right on the fabric. That has to be helpful right? If you inspect the clothing you buy (and I bet you do) you can see what kind of tags are easiest to cut out without damaging a shirt. You can also see what kind of seams are just too stiff to soften. Most T-shirt seams are pretty soft, but you know your child's sensitivities better than anyone. What about the designs printed on the shirts? Are they really stiff also? Don't forget socks either. Look for seamless designs in socks that fit to your child's size. You can order specialties online.

When dealing with clothing, a good practice is to always wash all new clothes with a good dose of fabric softener before wear. You'll wash out any "fillers" used by the companies to keep the clothes from wrinkling on the sales floor. Those are most commonly used in jeans, but I've heard of them in shirts too. This will still go a long way toward making clothing softer and more comfortable.

Now, what about pens and pencils? I've actually heard of children who don't like the pencils and pens with flattened sides on them. I think this is particularly rare, but maybe your child is one of them? I've come to wonder if this may get in the way of an ASD child's handwriting? If it's uncomfortable or distracting to use such an implement, wouldn't it make the task harder? Our kids can't necessarily tell us, so maybe a few experiments are in order.

Then there's markers. Unscented is the way to go, as well as washable. I don't know about all our kids, but marker scent gives me a headache. Scent is one of my downfalls with my own condition. It's that way for my son too. Then there are those who like the scent a little too much. Either way is a distraction in class.

Some of our kids are very sensitive to sound. I've seen that some schools have headphone ear protectors that make it easier for some kids. You can also order these from locations online. Now is the time to get prepared. Some of these items are not cheap, so the earlier you get them the better.

Best of luck and a great start to all our kids' new school year.

Stress and sensory overload

What triggers sensory overloads and rage reactions in autistics? Why is stress so hard to handle?

Many people with autism may find excess stress or negative stress in general difficult or triggering to them simply because of the natural effect stress has on our bodies.

Stress triggers a release of adrenaline naturally as a defense mechanism. Adrenaline amplifies sensory input or intake. Consider that people with autism already have senses that may be "turned up" or "amplified". They already have a natural level of difficulty with sensory issues. Add adrenaline and magnify that. The result is sensory overload which can trigger several forms of behavior response.

Not everyone is triggered the same way or as easily as one another. But something found to be unpleasant, such as a sound or texture, will only become more unpleasant as it continues because of the natural stress reaction.

It all depends on what our sensitivities are and how they affect us. It also depends on how much we've had to practice with that sensitivity to live with it. Some sensitivities can be lessened by dealing with them enough to raise resistance. Not all can be handled what way either depending on the level of sensitivity. My sensitivity to squeaking balloons is a good example. I can't tolerate it, it's painful. I've actually had a squeal happen near me at a high enough pitch that it made me cry out. Others, stared at me strangely. Fortunately, the sound was short lived. I still had to retreat and give myself some sensory deprivation while the adrenaline effect wore off.

Just having a single sensitivity to something doesn't make you autistic either. It's an extreme of sensory issues across the board. Some are too high, others are too low, and those not affected could be drowned out by those that are over loading.

Our brains naturally process everything we take in around us. They do so with a series of what I like to call "breakers" that allow us to sort the sensory input. These breakers allow you to ignore input that isn't important, like the ticking of a clock when you're trying to talk to someone. In sensory overload and sometimes without, that ticking can be too loud for us to ignore and we will struggle with it and every other sound in the room in order to concentrate on your voice.

The stress reaction is also physically exhausting. It's like your very senses have had a seizure and they leave you drained from your body fighting to compensate.

It's best to have an escape route or allow an escape route for calming measures. Patience is also a serious virtue. Autistics should not be pressured or rushed. Berating and yelling will only make things worse. Even still, those of us with autism should do our best (if we are high functioning enough) to know our own conditions and how they affect us. Knowledge is truly power.

Teaching our autistic kids to handle meltdowns

Children who live with autism and have meltdowns and sensory overload need to learn how to live with their conditions. This is important because a child with autism is going to eventually become an adult with autism. That makes it our job as parents to teach our children how to cope with their conditions for the best chances in life. Certainly you wonder how we do this? I have some suggestions.

First, please bear in mind, this is geared toward our higher functioning kids with sensory disorders.

Knowing your feelings. Recognizing how we feel is a major key in intervention of an overload. Talk to your child about how they feel when they get angry or frustrated. Frustration is a key element in overload and I consider it like the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. A feeling of deep frustration or inner rage that doesn’t appear to have a reason is a cue toward overload. The body starts to feel tense and it can build quickly. Recognizing when this feeling is coming on takes practice. But once you know where it is in yourself, you can take steps to avoid or control it.

Know when to take a break. Anyone who has a sensory disorder should have a safe place to retreat to and take a break. This should not be a time out area. It should be a place to practice cooling down and just taking a break to let a sensory overload diminish.
It should be a comfortable place with comfortable things. This is where to go when they’re getting so upset they just can’t bear it. It should not be a crutch to avoid dealing with problems however. You will have to find the balance for that in your child.

Problem solving on it’s own is a longer process than for a typical child. It will take patience and one problem at a time. Having a protocol taught for those over the limit times is one major step in the right direction. Also take note that each child will learn their limits at a different pace, so don’t give up.

Some good items to have in the cool down spot are pillows and heavy blankets. Pillows are great for squeezing and allow your child to exert the adrenalin buildup from an overload in a safe way. Blankets are good to hide under, block out extra sensory and can be squeezed as well. You can find items like body socks and weighted blankets online made just for our sensory kids. There is even a Ning website called Sensory World and I highly advise it. For some kids a fan is a nice thing too. It cools the air and acts as a white noise generator to block out other annoying sounds. I use one myself as does my son.

So, talk to your children about how they feel and specifically about knowing when they are too upset. Set up a safe place for cool downs and make sure they understand it is not a punishment. Take it all one step at a time and in good time your child can learn to slowly control some of their conditions. Enough that they may be have a really good shot at a decent adulthood.

Restraint versus sensory disorder

So how does use of restraint affect a person with a sensory disorder? It’s actually very intense. First you have to understand that the senses of a person with this disorder (touch, taste, etc) are not working properly and are likely turned up “too high” on that person. Various sensations are amplified and hard to live with. This can effectively “overload” the brain at times, hence the term: sensory overload.

Try to imagine, every little sound turns into a series of echoing and crashing bombardments; slight sensations on your skin make it just crawl and make you shudder; light hurts your eyes, and there’s even a flavor or taste on the air that makes you just want to spit or gag. It’s not always all of these at the same time, heck, just one is sufficient. It can make you want to curl up in the fetal position and just scream. Intense is a good word for it and even that may not do it justice.

So take a look at a child in school or anywhere else who goes into a self damaging fit. That fit comes from all that intensity and sensory input that can’t be sorted or even slowed down. It causes total chaos in that poor kids head. It triggers fight or flight response and they may even resort to pounding their head against objects trying to funnel it all out. It creates an overload of stimulation and adrenalin. And remember, adrenalin also magnifies your senses. Once you get that much energy conflicting in such a small place, it has to go somewhere.

So you have no choice, you must hold your child or someone has to hold them to protect them from themselves. In this you take inherent risks of being hit or kicked, but it’s not out of malice. It’s out of sheer pain, rage and panic. That’s right, sensory overload HURTS. But what does that do? For a while, it only intensifies the effects of the overload. After all you are touching, and maybe even squeezing to hold on to the poor kid. You don’t mean to hurt him, and you’re just trying to protect him, but he escalates because no matter what you do, you still add to the sensory input for the time being.

No, that cannot be helped. All you can do is all you can do. You have to weigh the end results. Do you let them bash their head on the floor (they won’t be able to stop on their own until absolutely exhausted). Or, do you hold them and help them ride it out with minimal lasting damage? There really isn’t a choice there. You have to help your child and then teach them how to handle it themselves for when they get older. Soon I will write about how to establish a safety protocol to deal with sensory overload at home. One you may even be able to teach your kids.