The Sensory Experience for Autistic Children

The majority of autistic children can experience various sensations with abnormally heightened or blunted sensitivity. Over-stimulation in the form of visual, audio, or tactile input can be overwhelming to an autistic child and can have detrimental impact on the child’s quality of life.

Children with autism face anxiety and depression at higher rates than other children. While the causal factors for this are still being explored, research suggests over-sensitivity to sensory stimuli may be an important factor in understanding why individuals are predisposed [1]. 

In recent years, sensory rooms and sensory toys have been popularized in an attempt to meet the short-term sensory needs of autistic children. This blog post explores how mindfulness may be a potential option for the next evolution of the sensory room experience with longer-term benefits.

What is a Sensory Room?

A sensory room is a space intended to calm and focus individuals experiencing negative responses due to sensory disorders through the use of equipment and devices intended to meet the sensory needs of the individual.

Sensory rooms vary widely depending on the needs of the child. For example, children with auditory sensitivity may benefit from calming music, while children with tactile sensitivity may benefit from fuzzy rugs and plush toys. A sensory room may be filled with a variety of relieving sensory experiences including sensory toys, trampolines, and swings.

What is the Goal of a Sensory Room?

Many sensory rooms are focused on calming and satisfying the sensory experiences of children to do this. This provides great short-term relief to autistic children who struggle with sensory overload on a daily basis. Thus, sensory rooms are useful in helping children develop positive relations to their senses through the use of easeful, inviting stimulation. 

Developing a positive relationship to senses which can be overwhelming at times is important. However, it is worth questioning the long-term effects of consistently using sensory rooms solely for sensory relief.

The consistent use of a sensory room to calm a child after an episode of acting out could serve as a reinforcement for the behavior. It’s been shown that sensory overload excitation paired with an inability to identify one's emotions can lead to greater levels of depression, anxiety, and stress [2].

The next evolution of sensory rooms may be to explore how these children might develop positive relations to their emotional responses to over-stimulation.

The Role of Mindfulness in Sensory Rooms

While it would not be accurate to claim mindfulness is the be-all end-all cure for anxiety and depression in autistic children, there is reason to believe it could provide some relief.

When it comes to the relationship between sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) and mindfulness, one study found both mindfulness and acceptance to be sufficient in for reducing anxiety in highly sensitive individuals [1].

Another study implemented a daily mindfulness practice for adults with autism and found it provided some relief of stress and anxiety [3].

When it comes to children with autism, one study found the implementation of mindfulness for the autistic children in combination with mindful parenting led to the following results:

“Adolescents reported an increase in quality of life and a decrease in rumination. Nine weeks after the training, they ruminated less about things such as pain, sadness, why they feel, and react like they do. Possibly, the practice of mindfulness had taught them to look at events (and thoughts) more from a distance, to let them be as they are without getting caught up in them. ” [4]

These results are promising for the future of mindfulness as a therapy for autistic children. Autistic children are very much in need of tools for navigating the various challenges they face including sensory processing sensitivity.

Perhaps the integration of mindfulness through simple techniques like focusing attention on the breath or on a sound could contribute to longer-term benefits of sensory rooms. Like all equipment and functions of sensory rooms, self-development practices are most effective when they are customized to fit the needs and capabilities of the individual.

While trial and error is inevitable in this process, the potential benefits of introducing simple mindfulness practices to sensory room environments is certainly worthy of exploration.

Regardless of the current state of research, sensory rooms are exploding in popularity for a reason. The parents and schools who utilize them experience the benefits of the rooms directly - they seem to calm and center autistic children and increase their quality of life.

With the rise of mindfulness related practices, sensory rooms face a potential path for evolution through providing a longer-term solution for autistic children struggling with sensory overload.