Autism and Sensory Socks

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

This week I’d like to discuss a rather unusual item that can be used for management of autism- the sensory sock! Here’s a picture of what it looks like:

So what exactly is it?

The sensory sock (also known as the body sock) is a stretchy Lycra suit of sorts that is designed to provide a unique, fun and intense sensory experience for autists. Once inside, the suit provides tactile and deep pressure stimulation to the wearer while increasing spatial awareness and improving balance. These sensory inputs can be quite calming for autists which can help us to regulate sensory issues. This can also be used for neurotypical kids to explore their environment and encourage creative movement.

But how exactly does it work?

The stretchy Lycra provides resistance to the wearer as they move around applying deep pressure to the joints which, as previously explained in my post about weighted blankets, causes the release of calming neurotransmitters in the brain, reducing the levels of excitatory neurotransmitters which are elevated in the autistic brain. The enclosed space can help the wearer feel calm and safe, allowing them to regulate their emotions- many autists find enclosed spaces to be particularly therapeutic, so having a portable space like this can be really handy!

I came across the video below of someone trying out a sensory sock online, so naturally I had to get one to try it out!

So how did I get on?

Well…it was…an experience! 😛 While I won’t terrify you with the images of me waddling around my kitchen like a deformed bright green T-Rex, the sock was certainly worth the laugh! My first impressions however, were not the most positive from a sensory perspective. I didn’t really like the smell or the feeling of my arms being so constricted, and found the velcro opening at the front quite distracting as it was reluctant to stay shut (sensory socks don’t seem to be designed for adult women of a certain chest size 🙈). I did try the sock again a week later, but this time I chose to lie down while wearing it which proved to be a much more positive experience. This time I felt the relaxing deep pressure around my limbs that was reminiscent of my weighted blanket. Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to bring myself to spend more than a couple of seconds with my head inside the suit. It either wouldn’t stay closed or the smell and claustrophobia got to me so I wasn’t really able to assess that feature.

All in all, I can certainly see the benefits this sensory sock might have for younger autists, but personally I think I’ll stick with my weighted blanket for now.

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings!

Have a lovely weekend! 🙂

Aoife

December 2, 2022 1

Autism and Emergency Services

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

Following the recent violent shooting of an unarmed, 13 year old autist by police in America during a meltdown (thankfully he is recovering in hospital), this week I’d like to discuss the importance of adequately educating our emergency services and first responders about autism.

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In this situation, Linden Cameron’s mother called 911 for assistance as Linden was experiencing a bad meltdown due to separation anxiety, and needed help to de-escalate the situation with the minimal amount of force. Shortly after arrival however, the police shot Linden multiple times instead of using lesser means of force (they claimed that he was armed, but this was not the case).

While the issue of police brutality in the States is an entirely separate debate, this incident really highlights the need to properly educate the emergency services about autistic behaviours.

Autists can’t always regulate their behaviours and emotions, especially when they are in distress. Loud noises and flashing lights from emergency vehicles can further impact this stress from a sensory perspective and make situations worse. Autists are also quite sensitive to touch, and as such, physical interactions could cause an autist to attack a responder.

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Here are some tips to keep in mind when interacting with a distressed autist/suspected autist:

Patience- always be patient when dealing with an autist and give them some space. Try to void making quick movements or loud noises that may distress them further. They may have difficulty communicating with you, so give them plenty of time to process and respond.

Try to use clear, concise language– avoid confusing sentences or turns of phrase that they might interpret literally (e.g it’s raining cats and dogs). They may already be struggling to process their situation, and too many words could be even more overwhelming.

Avoid touching an autist– unless absolutely necessary. Touch sensitivities could escalate the situation and an autist may react violently in defense.

Watch out for potential triggers that may escalate the situation– be conscious of potential sources of distress such as sensory sensitivities which could further agitate an autist.

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Listen- take advice from caregivers (if present) or the autist themselves (as some autists may be able to communicate during a meltdown on some level). They will have a better understanding of their individual needs than you do.

At the end of the day however, there is no substitute for a proper training program for emergency responders/law enforcement. Many autism charities run these programs such as AsIAm here in Ireland.

You can read more advice for the emergency services here:

http://asiam.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/emergency_servicesFinal.pdf

Hope you found this post helpful dear Earthlings! 🙂

Enjoy the weekend!

Aoife

September 10, 2020 0

Autism and Temperature

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

With the summer drawing to a close, this week I’d like to talk about thermosensitivity and autism.

As I’ve discussed on multiple occasions, autists’ are very sensitive to sensory stimuli, so it should come as no surprise that autists have different reactions to temperature versus their neurotypical peers.

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In my experience, I have found that I can be sensitive to higher or lower than average temperatures. I’m a bit like Goldilocks- I don’t like to be too hot, don’t like to be too cold, but I do like a nice moderate temperature (which is why Ireland suits me so well I suppose!😂). If the temperature starts to drift in either direction away from my comfort zone, I tend to get quite irritable and my masking abilities are impacted by the distracting temperature change. I may have gotten some weird looks from some girls a few rows in front of me at a Paramore concert once as my voice started to get higher, shout-y and more strangled from the frustration of sitting beneath a freezing vent while waiting on the band 😬

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I’m also more likely to have a meltdown if other buttons are pushed while dealing with temperature fluctuations, particularly where hotter temperatures are concerned-needless to say, I’m not a fan of sun holidays and dread to think what menopause may bring for me in the future! 😛

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I’m even quite picky when it comes to the temperature of food, being unable to stomach some foods under certain temperatures. For example, I’m a real carnivore, but if the meat is cold I can’t stomach it; similarly, hot drinks are an uncomfortable sensory experience, so even though I like the taste of hot chocolate, I won’t drink it!
Like me, many autists are quite thermosensitive, and find fluctuations in their surrounding temperature to be an overwhelming experience. On the other hand, several autists have also reported temperature insensitivity or an indifference to thermal stimuli.

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So what has the science to say?

The literature is a little contradictory when it comes to thermosensitivity. A 2015 study found that children with autism had a lower perceptual threshold for detection of hot and cold temperatures, indicating decreased temperature sensitivity and perception in certain brain regions. This was thought to be related to cognitive impairments and deficits in attention, so it could be that some autists are more distracted by other stimuli to notice temperature fluctuations. However, a more recent 2019 study found that there appeared to be no differences in temperature perception between autists and neurotypicals, concluding that temperature perception was entirely individual to the autist- which makes a lot of sense given the vastness of the spectrum.

On another scientific note entirely, research suggests that autistic behaviours are positively impacted by elevated body temperature. Multiple studies have noted that when an autist has a fever, many of their negative behaviours (such as irritability, hyperactivity, repetitive behaviours etc.) improve, but return to normal post-recovery. The reason for this remains unclear, however, one such theory cites the impact of temperature on neural circuits where it can either enhance or suppress brain activity in certain regions. This seems quite likely given that autists brains have an excess number of brain connections and increased neurochemical activity compared with neurotypicals, factors which heavily contribute to autistic behaviours. Brain activity might also be impacted by certain chemicals produced by our immune system to fight infection during a fever.

Perhaps it might be worth exploring the severity of autism between autists who live in hotter or colder climates to see if an increase in surrounding temperature could help manage autistic symptoms.

All in all it would seem that temperature response, like autistic traits, is entirely individual to the autist 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂

Have a lovely weekend!

Aoife

August 28, 2020 2

Autism Friendly Shopping

Greetings Earthlings! 😀

Shopping can be quite an overwhelming experience for an autist- the hustle and bustle, bright lighting, loud noises, strong smells etc.

As autism friendly events are all the rage at the moment, I decided to take some time to check out Lidl’s weekly autism friendly shopping hours.

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So what’s so special about Lidl’s autism friendly shopping experience?

Every Tuesday from 6-8pm across all Irish stores, Lidl takes the following autism friendly measures:

Reduced lighting
No music or announcements
Lower till scan sounds
Priority queuing
Offers additional help if requested
Assistance dogs are welcome (sadly none of these cuties were around during my visit 😦 )

They also include a sensory map for kids which can be downloaded from their website to show you the layout of the store to familiarize yourself with it, even providing a key to indicate where there may be strong smells, cold areas, and items that you shouldn’t touch:

Image result for lidl sensory map

This map would also be of benefit for anxious adults on the spectrum, albeit the ‘do not touch’ symbols on the alcohol, pet food and cleaning products is a bit insulting. These symbols could be challenging for literal, rule-abiding adult autists- who says we don’t like to drink/cook with alcohol, have pets to feed or need to clean a toilet 😛

So how was my shopping experience?

I’ve lived and shopped on my own since college, so I’m perfectly at ease with the hustle and bustle of a busy shop (except for Lush in Dublin- so narrow, crowded and impossible to find what you’re looking for that I have to say a prayer before I enter 😛 ). Nevertheless, I found the whole experience quite soothing.

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My eyes didn’t recoil from the harsh transition from the darkness of the carpark to dazzling supermarket lighting, but rather gently adjusted to the dimmed lights. Even the freezer lights were turned off to reduce the sensory impact. The quietness of the store was similarly soothing. I could slowly walk around the store at ease, my mind clear to focus on the items in front of me.

I was really enjoying my experience, however, it was cut short abruptly without any warning.

Lidl’s autism friendly hours are 6-8pm on a Tuesday. At 7.45 I looked up from my phone to be blinded by the store lighting which had been turned on early. Granted, shops aren’t a sensory problem for me, however, had another autist been in the shop at this time it could have been a whole other story.

What if someone had started their shop at 7.30 under the assumption that they had a solid 30 minutes to get a few bits?

This begs the question as to why the hour ended early? Autists are very literal and would assume that when something is advertised to last until 8pm that that is when it ends- not 15 minutes earlier with no advanced warning. At this point in the evening, there were no children in the shop, so was it assumed that there were no more autists doing their shopping? My presence meant that there was one confirmed autist still shopping, who’s to say there were not others?

If the decision to end the hour early was based on the number of children in the store, it is highly insulting to adults on the spectrum. People still consider autism to be a childhood disorder, but it is lifelong. We keep forgetting that the child with autism will one day grow up. These autism friendly evenings appear to be mainly geared at children, but adults with autism may choose to shop during these hours too and this must be considered.

Aside from their disregard for accurate timekeeping, Lidl is nevertheless the perfect spot to go for an autism friendly grocery spree! 😀 If arriving later in the hour though, especially for adult autists, perhaps it would be worthwhile flagging it to a member of staff or carry a sign or something to avoid getting caught out like I did 😛 😂

bitmoji-20200108115511 Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 😀

Enjoy the weekend!

Aoife

January 17, 2020 3

Autism and Food

Greetings Earthlings! 😀

Following a recent report about a teenager who has been left blind from a restrictive diet of roughly 4 nutritionally lacking food items, this week I’d like to discuss the topic of food and autism.

Did you know that feeding difficulties are estimated to occur in as many as 70 to 90% of children with autism?

It’s a shocking statistic!

People with autism are often described as selective or picky eaters, often favouring carbohydrates and highly processed foods while rejecting fruits and vegetables- but why is that?

Research has found that food issues in autism overlap with sensory sensitivities to taste, texture, colour and smell. As such, autists will often actively avoid these foods to avoid adverse sensory reactions. In the animal kingdom, many species develop conditioned aversions to certain unpleasant tastes, associating them with danger and illness. As the autistic tongue is so sensitive, it’s thought that autists can also develop aversions to foods in this manner.

In my case, although my autistic traits are extremely mild, food continues to be an issue for me. Certain smells, tastes and textures in particular will make me want to throw up. Fruit and veg in particular have been troublesome on a sensory level- for example I love the taste of strawberry, but I can’t tolerate physically eating one due to the texture.

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It’s made things quite difficult at times when I’ve been out eating with friends to try to maintain a neutral expression when a foodstuff disagrees with my brain to avoid hurting someone’s feeling. A lot of the time it’s just easier to pretend that I’m not hungry to avoid an awkward social/sensory situation- pro tip, always keep snacks in your car/handbag.

Selective eating habits are commonplace for autists, however, serious food aversions can can be diagnosed clinically as avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), previously known as selective eating disorder (SED).

But is there any getting around these sensory issues?

CBT– as with many other aspects of autism, cognitive behavioural therapy can help to change behaviours surrounding food over time.

Persistence- keep trying to build up your tolerance to certain textures/tastes. When I was younger, I could not stand to drink a glass of water as it felt so weird compared with other soft drinks. It was not easy to adjust to this texture at first (I even had to swap shots of water for shots of orange juice to get it down! 😂), but I stuck with it, and now I drink several litres a day willingly 🙂

Prepare food in different ways- this has perhaps been the most helpful for me. Changing the way some foodstuffs are prepared/cooked can really impact the textural outcome. Smoothies have been particularly useful to help me achieve my 5 a day. I may not be able to eat the fruit itself, but throw it in a blender and bye-bye textural issues. Similarly, with apple tart, if the apples are too chewy, I find it extremely difficult to stomach, but if you bake the tart until the apples are soft and mushy I can’t get enough of it!

tart

Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 😀

Have a good weekend!

Aoife

September 13, 2019 1

Autism and Clothing

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

This week I’d like to briefly expand on something that I touched on in my previous post about skin sensitivity, -the importance of clothing and autism.

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No, I’m not going to talk about fashion, but function!

For many autists, it can be quite difficult to pick out clothes. A stray fiber, an itchy label or a prickly seam can unleash a storm of sensory discomfort. Gene mutations cause the nerves in our skin to be extra sensitive to certain stimuli. This coupled with hyperactivity in the cortex and the amygdala (both regions involved in sensory processing) don’t make for the happiest of bedfellows.

But what if the clothes that irritate us could in fact be used to manage autistic symptoms?

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Clothes are now being designed and adapted to cater for the different needs of autists. Companies are now producing seamless socks and underwear, looser fitting clothes made from softer materials, and most interestingly, weighted and compression clothing.

Based on the research of the great Temple Grandin and her hugging machine, both weighted and compression clothing provide calming, deep pressure stimulation much like a soothing hug. The pressure switches off the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), promoting the release of “feel good” neurotransmitters. Based on this, it’s thought that autists are better able to cope with sensory issues, hyperactivity, motor skills and sleeplessness when wearing sensory clothing.

It’s a really interesting premise- there’s even been an inflatable sensory scarf produced that’s designed to provide soothing pressure in addition to emitting calming aromas! Check it out:

https://www.wired.com/2015/08/odd-looking-clothing-designed-help-autistic-kids/

In reality however, the results are mixed. Scientific studies indicate that weighted and inflatable vests do not appear to be effective and are not clinically recommended, yet the personal testimonials of families across the globe beg to differ. One testimonial claimed that a child’s meltdowns went from 12 a day to having none in 3 years!

Either way, nothing ventured nothing gained, so if you think that sensory wear may be of benefit to you or a loved one with autism, why not give it a shot? 🙂

With the variety of sensory wear available, you’ll at the very least look fabulous! 😉

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Enjoy the weekend everyone! 😀

Aoife

April 5, 2019 3

Autism and Climate Change

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

I know what you’re all thinking, she’s lost it- what on earth has autism got to do with climate change?!

Well, nothing really, but what I’m referring to is the impact of the recent Lancet report about the need to change our eating habits to stave off climate change and it’s potential impacts for the autistic community. If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about the report you can check out the paper here:

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140673618331799

or alternatively here’s a handy little summary news report:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/agribusiness-and-food/meat-consumption-must-drop-by-90-to-avert-climate-crisis-report-warns-1.3760363

The bottom line of the report- we need to reduce our meat consumption by 90% and significantly increase our consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans to achieve our daily recommended caloric intake (18 times as much dry beans, soy and nuts in fact! 😲)

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As a scientist, I’m all for finding ways to reverse the impact of climate change, however, I have found this report quite infuriating!

I haven’t really talked about food too much as an issue on this blog (mainly because it’s a subject that’s going to take some time to write about!), but food issues are perhaps my biggest struggle. Troubles with textures, tastes, smells- it can be a nightmare sometimes; but if the Lancet report is to be taken seriously, my nightmare has only just begun!

I’m a real meat lover, and vegetables for me mainly consists of baked beans and the old Irish favourite potatoes (some stereotypes are based in fact after all! 😛 😉 ). If this report is to be seriously considered, this would restrict my daily intake of chicken (my staple) to 29g or the equivalent of one and a half chicken nuggets. Worse still for my beloved potato the Lancet recommends 50g or 39 calories of potatoes per day- roughly a quarter of a medium-sized potato!

So basically if we start to crack down on these foodstuffs, I’ll be living on fresh air and sugar- I’ll have a killer figure for sure, albeit with a side of diabetes 😛

What I am most concerned about is the larger autistic community. My food issues are mild in comparison to other autists-what about the poor struggling parents who’s child will only eat the same meal day in day out, or will only eat McDonalds or foods of a particular colour? Has no one stopped to consider the struggles that these recommendations will bring?

Don’t even get me started on the implications for those with food and nut allergies, of which a high percentage of the autistic community suffer from!

The agricultural industry in Europe is responsible for a mere 10% of our carbon footprint whereas our energy consumption stands over a whopping 80%! Why must our food habits change when our energy consumption is so staggeringly high?

It beggars belief that the medical community would think that such a radical overhaul of our eating habits is our best option in the fight against climate change.

What we really need are cleaner fuel alternatives, better range of and services for hybrid cars, and better public transport systems for rural communities (a huge issue here in Ireland- if you don’t have a car, rural life is extremely isolating. Where I live one would have to walk for 45 minutes to get a bus to the nearest town!) to cut down our carbon footprint. Or if someone could invent apparition from Harry Potter that would also work pretty nicely too 😛 😉

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Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend!

Aoife

February 1, 2019 0

Autism and Colour

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

So this week I’m just going to expand a little bit on something I’ve briefly talked about in previous posts– autism and sensitivity to colour.

Yes- I know it sounds like a silly thing, but colour sensitivity in autism is real!

Thankfully I have no such issues with colour (I’m all about that rainbow! 😀 ), but many autists actively gravitate towards a particular colour and/or actively avoid other colours. Autists have been known to eat only white coloured foods, or to only play with toys of one particular colour for example.

You can see this avoidance behaviour quite comically in the film ‘My Name Is Khan’ where the title character sees a man in a yellow top and awkwardly turns around to walk in the opposite direction to him! 😂

yellow my name is khan

But is there a scientific reason for such an unusual behaviour?

Due to some of the structural abnormalities in an autists’ brain, difficulties in sensory processing and the integration of this sensory info can cause colour sensitivity, as autists will often detect colours with higher intensity than neurotypicals.

The colour yellow has been particularly known to trigger this behaviour in boys with autism as studies show that they really struggle to process this colour. Scientists think that this may result from a sensitivity to luminance in autists. Alternatively this may occur as yellow is one of the most heavily sensory loaded colours (it’s the brightest colour in the visible spectrum), as it engages multiple colour detection cells (called cones) in the eye. Furthermore yellow has been known to be the most fatiguing colour to the eyes which could explain why sensitive autists avoid it.

From a psychological perspective, yellow has been known to increase a persons temper, and babies who are exposed to yellow rooms tend to cry more (will have to find another gender neutral colour when the time comes so! 😛 😂). Yellow is also associated with danger/acts as a warning in the animal kingdom (i.e. bees and wasps). This is also true for fluorescent vests and street signs, which could also potentially trigger avoidance behaviour in the autistic brain!

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Hope you enjoyed this ‘colourful’ post dear Earthlings! 🙂

Have a great weekend! 😀

Aoife

October 5, 2018 7

Lesser Known Signs of Autsim

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

So this week I wanted to briefly put together a post about some of the lesser known autistic traits. I’ve discussed most of these before, but I wanted to put them all in the one place 🙂

Fecal Smearing– yep, really diving in at the deep end on this one! 😛 As disgusting as this is to talk about, fecal smearing or scatolia, can be one of the earliest signs of autism. Reasons for smearing are generally thought to be either behavioural (attention seeking) or sensory. Scatolia in particular seems to be linked to periods of under-stimulation in autists and so the behaviour appeals on a textural and olfactory level… This is in actual fact a pretty common autistic behavaiour, but the vast majority of people are unaware of it- because let’s face it, who wants to talk about poo! 😛

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Skin Picking– As we’ve previously discussed, skin picking, or neurotic excoriation, is a pretty common autistic behaviour (an estimated 14.8% of autists may exhibit this behaviour). Autists may pick, scratch and squeeze their skin as a physical expression of emotional/psychological distress to relieve their discomfort through self- stimulation.

Regulation of Tone– Another common but lesser known behaviour is that of autists’ struggles to regulate their tone of voice. Impairments in audio processing and prosody in the autistic brain can make it difficult for an autist to accurately gauge the tone and volume of their voice, so try not to judge too harshly if they accidentally shout in quiet conversation 🤫

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Digestive Issues– Perhaps one of the most common but equally unknown challenges of autism is that of co-morbid digestive issues. Autists may be over 3.5 times more likely to suffer from issues such as diarrhea, constipation, food allergies, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases (i.e. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis)- the associated pain from which can exacerbate behavioural symptoms.

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Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 😀

Have fun this weekend! 🙂

Aoife

September 21, 2018 1

Autism and Smell

Greetings Earthlings! 🙂

As I mentioned in last weeks post on taste sensitivity, this week we’re going to discuss sensitivity to smell in autism.

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As with other senses we have discussed, autists can be either hyposensitive or hypersensitive to odours. One autist may enter a malodorous environment without noticing anything amiss, another autist may wretch, or worse!

As a child, my nose was particularly sensitive to my environment (although judging by how I could taste the beer my friends were drinking yesterday evening from the fumes alone, this may still be the case on occasion 😛 ). Bad smells were especially trying- the smell of salads, fish, cigarette smoke, incense, even something so simple as a bag of popcorn could easily turn my stomach.

But it wasn’t all bad- this sensitivity comes with a heightened appreciation for pleasant smells too 🙂

Baking, chocolate, nice perfumes, the outdoors, the smell of metal (don’t ask me why I love this one so much- must be something to do with my taste in music! 😛 😉 )- in fact, such smells are not only a sensory sensation, but can also be used to help calm an autist.

As easily as an unpleasant smell could unsettle me, the right smell could calm me back down again as a child. I always kept a teddy or a blanket near at hand that I could smell to help soothe and calm me and to lull me off to sleep- I couldn’t sleep without one particular teddy until I was 16!

^^^^My teddy was a lot more raggedy than this…😬

So why does smell affect autists so much?

Interestingly, some studies indicate that there are no differences in sensitivity to smell between autists and their neurotypical peers, however, much research points to the cortex of the brain. This region is heavily involved in smell processing, and yep, you guessed it- the autistic brain shows signs of dysfunction in this region. In fact, the pre-frontal cortex shows signs of overgrowth and excessive linkage in the neurons (just like an overloaded plug), so no wonder sensory perception is altered in autists! This region is also associated with the formation and retrieval of long term memories, which could also explain why smells are often tied to memory recall in autists (which I will explore in more detail at a later stage 🙂 ).

One study also shows that autists may not inhale smells in the same way to their neurotypical peers. Evidence suggests that autists inhale deeply and intensely for both pleasant and unpleasant smells, whereas neurotypicals will tentatively sniff in the presence of an offending odour, which could further explain differences in scent processing.

In addition to this, research suggests that alterations in smell can influence social behaviours. A recent study in fact suggest that autists cannot smell fear and that there is a reversal in their response to fear. In this study, a group of autists were calm when presented with a sample of sweat from a skydiver, whereas their neurotypical peers exhibited classic signs of fear. In contrast, their fear levels increased when presented with the sweat sample from a calm individual!

In other words, an autists social behaviour may be affected by an inability to interpret social cues carried in odours- the mind boggles!

So there we have it dear Earthlings- hope this post didn’t ‘stink’ too badly 😛 😉