Is It Sensory Processing or Something Else?

Sensory experiences influence nearly everything people see, feel, and do, and in various ways.. Some individuals notice sound, light, or touch more intensely than most while others might seek out additional input to feel regulated.

Understanding sensory processing patterns helps educators and clinicians better interpret behavior, so they can support each person’s individualized needs.

What Are Sensory Processing Differences?

Sensory processing is how a person’s nervous system receives, organizes, and responds to sensory input—and not everyone processes that input the same way. Sensory differences are reported in a large majority of autistic individuals, with some studies citing rates as high as 90% (Balasco et al., 2020).

Each person can display a unique combination of responses, from highly sensitive to low registration, across different senses. For example, professionals often consider auditory processing as they evaluate how individuals interpret sound. A person might hear clearly but find it difficult to filter background noise or focus on speech.

Other Conditions to Consider

Sensory differences can overlap with a variety of developmental or mental health conditions. With careful evaluations, clinicians can ensure each individual’s profile is balanced and accurate.

ADHD

Attention patterns can affect how a person responds to sensory input. Someone with attention difficulties might shift their focus quickly or seek frequent movement, which can look similar to sensory-seeking behaviors.

A study in the Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice found higher instances of four types of sensory differences among children and teens with ADHD (Panda et al., 2023).

Autism

It’s not uncommon for autistic individuals to demonstrate distinct sensory patterns. Sensory features are among the most frequently reported characteristics of autism, including heightened sensitivity or strong preferences for certain sensory experiences.

A co-twin study published in Autism, however, National Autistic Society found that autistic participants were less likely than their non-autistic co-twins to fall into the sensory-craving category (Neufeld et al., 2021).

Visual Differences

Visual input can feel both overwhelming and underwhelming. Autistic children might avoid visual stimuli or crave stronger visual sensations. More research is needed to determine if visual differences impact other autism characteristics, such as eye contact, joint attention, body movement, emotional expression, and recognition of others’ facial expressions.

Auditory Differences

Many autistic people process sounds in different ways, such as greater distractibility from background noise, heightened sensitivity to loud sounds, or difficulty recognizing emotional changes in others’ speech.

The impact can be profound, as research published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience suggests that auditory processing traits could influence the degree of social learning that takes place.

Touch Differences

When a person has touch sensitivities, it affects how they respond to clothing, textures, and physical contact. Some autistic individuals report having different sensitivities to pain.

This sensory difference includes both heightened and reduced responses to sensation. According to another Autism study, autistic individuals with tactile processing differences reported lower social motivation and less enjoyment through social interactions.

Developmental Coordination Disorder

Challenges with motor coordination influence how a person interacts with their environment, including how sensory input supports movement. These sorts of differences might affect the following balance, planning, and their participation in physical activities.

Some individuals with developmental coordination disorder, or DCD, might find it harder to distinguish between different sensory experiences, which can leave them more easily overwhelmed and more likely to avoid intense sensory input. Researchers in Children argue that this avoidance can complicate motor coordination tasks directly (Tran et al., 2022).

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Sensory difficulties are more often a challenge for children with obsessive-compulsive disorder when compared to those without it. Research in Brain Sciences suggests that difficulty tolerating sensory experiences can contribute to compulsive behaviors, such as a refusal to eat certain foods based on textures or odors (Tal et al., 2023).

Anxiety Disorders

A heightened awareness of sensory input can increase stress, especially when the sensory input is intense or unpredictable. Sensory processing differences can cause emotional dysregulation, which can then contribute to an anxiety disorder (McMahon et al., 2019).

Tourette Syndrome

Motor and vocal tics may occur alongside sensory sensitivities. At the same time, sensory input can influence the tic patterns some people experience, increasing or decreasing their frequency.

While more research is needed to determine if neural and physiological mechanisms cause sensory differences in TS, researchers published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment have linked sensory processing difficulties to the underlying need to move or act that also drives tics (Isaacs et al., 2020).

Assessing Potential Sensory Processing Differences

Assessment of sensory processing difficulties requires gathering information across numerous settings and sources. Structured observations, interviews, or tools like the Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition (MIGDAS™-2) can support a sensory-based understanding of autistic individuals specifically. This type of comprehensive approach considers a person’s strengths, preferences, and areas of challenge, and also helps ensure support is aligned with the individual’s lived experience.

Research and Resources

Balasco, L., Provenzano, G., & Bozzi, Y. (2020). Sensory Abnormalities in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Focus on the Tactile Domain, From Genetic Mouse Models to the Clinic. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 1016. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.01016

Bang, P., & Igelström, K. (2023). Modality-specific associations between sensory differences and autistic traits. Autism, 27(7), 2158–2172. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231154349

Isaacs, D., Key, A. P., Cascio, C. J., Conley, A. C., Walker, H. C., Wallace, M. T., & Claassen, D. O. (2020). Sensory Hypersensitivity Severity and Association with Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Adults with Tic Disorder. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, Volume 16, 2591–2601. https://doi.org/10.2147/ndt.s274165

McMahon, K., Anand, D., Morris-Jones, M., & Rosenthal, M. Z. (2019). A Path From Childhood Sensory Processing Disorder to Anxiety Disorders: The Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation and Adult Sensory Processing Disorder Symptoms. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 13, 22. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2019.00022

Neufeld, J., Taylor, M. J., Lundin Remnélius, K., Isaksson, J., Lichtenstein, P., & Bölte, S. (2021). A co-twin-control study of altered sensory processing in autism. Autism, 25(5), 1422–1432. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361321991255

Panda, P. K., Ramachandran, A., Kumar, V., & Sharawat, I. K. (2023). Sensory processing abilities and their impact on disease severity in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice, 14(3), 509–515. https://doi.org/10.25259/jnrp_22_2023

Tal, I., Cervin, M., Liberman, N., & Dar, R. (2023). Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms in Children Are Related to Sensory Sensitivity and to Seeking Proxies for Internal States. Brain Sciences, 13(10), 1463. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13101463

Thye, M. D., Bednarz, H. M., Herringshaw, A. J., Sartin, E. B., & Kana, R. K. (2018). The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 29, 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.04.010

Tran, H.-T, Li, Y.-C., Lin, H.-Y, Lee, S.-D., & Wang, P.-J. (2022). Sensory Processing Impairments in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. Children, 9(10), 1443. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9101443

WPS. (2023). Assessing Sensory Processing Patterns: Explore Resources, Techniques, Key Insights, and Methodologies for Evaluation. https://www.wpspublish.com/content/research-brief/assessing-sensory-processing