I don’t know why but over the past few years pants I’d been fine wearing suddenly make my legs feel like they’re burning. It’s always anything that’s tight against my skin, like leggings, pajama pants, or skinny jeans. It’s been driving me crazy. Thank you.

My daughter is 5 and was recently diagnosed with SPD. She had been going to gymnastics last year and went to gymnastics camp all summer and then at her request we stopped for about a month. She recently wanted to start again and we got her signed and talked about a time and we agreed on a day and time and then today after being so excited to come she just refused to go with her class. There is only one other girl in her class and the gym is not loud and again she spent all summer doing camp but now all of a sudden she is just refusing. I don't know what to do and am so confused. We sat upstairs to watch the class today and she says she will participate next week. Has anyone experienced this before it seems like she turned 5 and she just changed.

Sometime certain touches gives me this feeling in my neck. It sounds crazy but it feels like there’s something cutting across my neck. My first experience was when I was a small child and I would have my toe nails cut my parents and I would get the feeling. Now I get it from things like if my dog licks me. It’s so weird and honestly I can’t even think of the world to explain it to Google it 😂 has anyone else experience this or have other similar physical responses to certain touches? Thank you!

MrSmartyPants: Are they talking to you? Can they see you? No? Use your head!

This ash hole keeps making assumptions about things he has no clue about or able to grasp the concept of.

He thinks, that I hate staying in the ministore too long because I hate what the customers would think of me. No I don't want to have sensory overload and develop another tic. Of course you wouldn't understand that. You just like to assume shit and think you know everything.

Hello! For Christmas I'll be turning my basement into my daughter's sensory/OT gym. What are the must haves? I have a swing and s tepping stones. I'm also thinking a peanut ball and balance beam.

So I was diagnosed recently and idk why but the medicine made me extremely noise sensitive. Last week in class it got so loud I started crying(not a lot of ppl were there neither was my teacher) and my mom explained to him after school. A few days ago he asked if he could tell the other student and I said "no, maybe you can tell them if it gets bad that I have to leave the class" then he said "but if I tell them it probably won't reach that point" and I keep thinking about it now, I really want him to tell the rest of the class but the problem is the MOST popular girls are in my class! That means if they find out they'll gossip about it which means I'll get weird looks, people will gossip about me, I'll be made fun of, I'd be treated differently and worst of all if they have to be silent they'll be annoyed and think of me as some weird retard who make class boring!! 😓(reminder,this is a grade full of kids under 15😭!!wont be specific tho👀)

CONTEXT: My friend asked me and other work colleague-friends for advice on this since we're all on the spectrum. I would have suggested asking reddit however she's not that tech savvy so I thought I'd reach out for her.

He likes the sensory feedback of ripping the fabric, and not necessarily the chewing part of it. (he also turned down sensory chew toys for fear of standing out)

He always used to have his shirt in his mouth however he's now started pulling at threads and ruining them.

She's ordered fidget rings (that spin) hoping it distracts them - though she still asked us about it anyway.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

I have a dilemma. I'm in college, and there are a few big Halloween parties next weekend. All my friends are going, and I'm not sure if I should join them. I'm very sensitive to noise, and I know I'll get overstimulated and not enjoy it, even with headphones. (Which I probably won't even wear because I get self-conscious about them sometimes.) And if I get overstimulated, I might not have the presence of mind to leave.

But if I don't go, then I'll just be home alone all evening, and I'll feel lonely and depressed. And I don't want to let my sensory issues stop me from doing things.

So I either go to the party and feel miserable, or stay home and feel miserable. IDK what to do.

EDIT: I found a friend of mine who's not going!

So Ive recently been diagnosed with ADHD and SPD and have been prescribed vyvanse for the adhd. I started at 20mg for a month and wasnt feeling any better but i also was dissacociating at the time. Not sure if that was the stressors of my life that were going on the time i started the meds or if it was because of the meds or a combo of the two. But either way my doc and i decided to up my dose for 2 weeks to see if the adhd symptoms felt any better. I did notice an increase in my sensory issues when i was at the 20mg but it was manageable. However these last 2 weeks at 30 mg have been a sensory nightmare. I work at a grocery store and im finding absolutely every single thing is so unbeleivably overstimulating to the point where im in such a constant state of anxiety. I end up coming home, getting under my weighted blanket and listening to the same song on repeat while gaming to decompress. My adhd focus is significantly improved, my depressive symptoms are deminishing and my social anxiety is improving as well. But im also less focused because all i can focus on is my socks and my shoes are too tight and my bras digging in and the beeps and the boops and the music and the pager and i have to talk to people and that guy touched my hand grabbing his receipt and i have to pay attention to what im scanning and typing in and the customer is talking to loud and the carts rattling and the grocery boys cart across the store is squeaking as hes moving it and ive been paged and have to go do that and someones wearing a whole bottle of cologne and my hairs tickling my face and its so bright and so much movement all around me.

Im. Exhausted. Overwhelmed. And just want to cry. Because im feeling possibly the best ive ever felt in my entire life and im still not functional. Because all i can do after work is bed, blanket, song, game until bed. Because i cant regulate, i cant get calm for HOURS and i dont know what to do. Im all day, constantly doing deep belly breaths, progressive muscle relaxation, the 5 senses grounding technique and nothing helps. I can get through the work day so far thank GOD. But i spend 90% of it in misery. Also because of all of this, im not able to cook or clean or do laundry which i mean i struggle with anyways due to adhd executive dysfunction but i cant even try now. I also havent seen my best friend in over a month because of my inability to function. I have a doctors appointment for a follow up in 2 days and im 100% gonna tell him all this. But i just... Idk what to do.

Sensory overload

Hey! For the context I have dyspraxia and migraines. As a kid I used to be really sensitive to noise (couldn't go to the restaurant for instance) but it went away when I grew up. Then since I'm a teen I have great sensitivity to light due to migraines.

Now I'm quite sensitive to both but I always felt ok (just wear sunglasses when I'm in pain) Today I've been to a video game convention, it was sooo loud with stroboscopic lights I had a sensory overload for the first time in years.

I totally shut down, I had to sit down, wearing my jumper's hood, closing my eyes and covering my ears. Hopefully I was with a friend that gave me her noise cancelling headphones (bless her)

I'm quite sad it happened to me again because it was so random and I thought I was "cured" even if the stimulation are still painful. I'm scared now

I'm normally more on the hypersensitive side taste and everything else wise. Do have some odd flavours I can barely taste though, like basil and cinnamon. Baking banana bread - cinnamon X 3.

I also randomly just lose my sense of taste. Like this morning. Made a cup of coffee. Took a sip. Hmm, slightly thickened hot water. But I can still smell things like soap. Not quite the same and not nearly as strong. It'll probably be back in a few hours. Does anyone else here get this?

I’ve been living in a "group home" (everyone has their own little apartment but it’s one big building) for three years now and it has been a pretty pleasant experience until a few months ago. We are all teens/young adults so of course it wasn’t going to be perfectly quiet all the time and I was okay with that but recently the two people living below me have decided to start listening to extremely loud music every. single. day. And I cant function anymore, at all. I’m starting to revert to all my bad habits such as staying up late because it’s quiet and generally just rotting away in bed. I’ve talked to one of them and he just said that it’s for "20 minutes when he showers" but I honestly don’t care. It’s not just mild annoyance, it’s pure rage. My head starts to pound and I get close to having a meltdown/have meltdowns DAILY. I don’t feel supported by the staff there because technically it’s not against the law unless it’s at night and that rarely happens. Headphones don’t help because i can still feel the vibrations and I just live in a daily state of overstimulation and misery.

Now I’m on a break from school but next week it starts again and I won’t be able to go if this keeps happening. Living like this normally is already hard but having to go to a place which is also a sensory nightmare just to come home to more sensory hell? Impossible.

The last problem I have is that if I move out (which is going to happen anyways soon) it’ll be to an outpatient program, I will be provided with an apartment and the staff will just visit me a few times a week. I don’t feel ready for that but honestly I might do it anyways BUT if my neighbors in the new apartment are also loud I’m not going to have the option to move out so honestly I just feel hopeless and like I don’t belong on this earth. I truly don’t know what to do anymore.

If so, how did it go? I’m a female in mid 20s.

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We went to get our vaccines today for covid and the flu. Things didn't so well with our 4 year old child. She hasn't been diagnosed yet but has a lot of sensory sensitivities and has increasingly become more and more afraid of getting a needle/vaccine. When the time came, went into fight or flight and acted like she was completely possessed. It was awful. There was no calming her down at that point and we had to leave without getting her shots. I've rebooked with her pediatrician as I know he's a little faster but I'm afraid of encountering the same reaction, which is likely. We had even put a numbing agent on her arm before the shot. Unfortunately, the last time we had blood drawn, the woman working at the lab told us it only had to go on for 20 minutes, she was wrong, it was supposed to be a full hour. And I think she was a little traumatized by that experience. Any suggestions on what might help?

My son is 3, he is on special education for his speech delay, I was told by his first therapist he has SPD, he outgrew his services when he turned 3. And I don’t think he is getting the attention he needs in his classroom now. Because there are kids with higher needs in the classroom. I would like to get services outside of school but I don’t have a diagnosis.

For years I've been using the same video on YouTube but for the past few weeks YouTube has started putting adverts halfway through (even though it advertises no ads) and it wakes me up in the middle of the night.. I've tried a few apps but the white noise on them seems to be so different from the video I'm used to using. Does anyone have any recommendations to try, maybe with a few different white noise options?

I'm exhausted. My sleep is not great. I'm pretty sure it's because I'm overheating under my weighted blanket, but I can't sleep without the weight. It's a 20 lbs blanket, but I have it folded in half so that its full weight is on me, because it's not heavy enough otherwise. The issue is that when it's folded in half, it gets hot. I've tried every solution under the sun to stay cool under it (besides purchasing the cooling cover for it because it's expensive).

So I'm left with two options:

1. How do I simply not need as much weight to sleep? How can I adjust my sensory needs?

2. How do I make my blanket heavier so that I don't need to fold it in half?

If anyone has any ideas for either one, I'd be very appreciative. TIA

My hair is a few inches past my collar bone and I feel like no matter how I wear it it’s overstimulating. Wearing it down is overstimulating, wearing it up is overstimulating cuz it’s too tight no matter what I do, sometimes I braid it but I can’t like lounge like that cuz the sharp ends poking me thru my clothes bother me. Low or high buns are the same. Does anyone have any ideas???

hi. cross posting this because i'm not quite sure where to post it.

some context: autistic diagnosis and autistic burnout diangosis in august 2024...left job in september...went to treatment for c-ptsd & feeling better now.... and here i am left to figure out getting my sensory stuff back to my equilibrium

but as you can see, i'm very new to all of this

can anyone tell me if they've experienced these during burnout or anything just so I don't feel as out of my mind- tips and advice welcome too!

• the buzzing/electricity (I know that this is widely reported, but JEEEESUS)
• sitting in quiet for like 40 min doing a task until you realize...youre sitting in silence
• talking uses up SO MUCH ENERGY, even just responding to someone rather than talking into the ether. Interacting with someone... oh my gosh, who has the spoons?!
• im SO sensitive to music. It has to be the exact right music at the exact right mood
• my food taste is very sensitive- i'm only eating super bland foods and now understand the term safe foods, because boy do I have a list.
• I crave natural light but ah the sun!
• the intense need for organization or things put away/not in sight.

sorry this is super rambly, I clearly havent vented about this or processed it ha

thank you all

So for some people who don’t know I want to say here the difference between both of them (you can also search on Google).

1. SPD is a disorder, because it affects your daily life in one or more areas (school/work, self care, relationships....). HSP is a personality trait that doesn't affect your daily life and it's not a disorder.

2. SPD is a disorganised way of processing sensory information but in HSP sensory information is organised more deeply and in organised way.

3. People with SPD can be hyposensitive, sensory seeking and have motor issues, HSP normally don't have that (unless they have a motor disorder).

Here is an example:

Person 1 (HSP): P1 prefers to work by himself, prefers quiet places and dislikes certain clothes, he dislikes tags but if he wears a shirt with a tag can spend the day with it and with no distress, and will eventually forget about it. P1 also is sensitive to the feelings of other people and gets upset easily because of that (which is completely unrelated to SPD).

Person 2 (SPD): P2 needs ear defenders at school and needs breaks throughout the day to move. She can't tolerate tags and will feel distressed with them, it's really difficult to distract her from those feelings. Some people say that she walks like a drunk person or an old person which makes her sad. She screams and cries when her hair is brushed, and will only do it if forced to.

So there's the difference, SPD is sensory, both hypo and hyper sensitiveness, and HSP is emotional, and more sensitivity. Also both can co-exist, making things more challenging. Also SPD causes distress in daily life and HSP doesn't cause (or not as much as SPD).

The intensity of the symptoms are also a factor. Remember both are a spectrum and that there are mild SPD to severe SPD (but both mild and severe affect daily life and need accommodations and intervention).

Thanks for reading. Also if I said something wrong you can correct me.

I'm both sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding, in different senses (some of them I'm both at the same time, which sucks). But with my ears, I'm sensory-avoiding to the max, and as I've grown up (I'm 30 now) it seems like my ears have grown more sensitive.

When I wake up, everything seems so much louder, but only for about an hour or so, after that things drop to their normal level of loud.

I can't work out why.

I’ve always been very sensitive to noises, lights, textures, taste, etc but until now none of my sensitivities have caused issues in my relationships.

My partner is adamant we use a waterproof protector on our shared mattress.. but the feeling of the cover truly makes me feel like there are fire ants under my skin. I can’t stand the stiffness or the noise the plasticy waterproofing causes.

We’ve tried at least 5 different covers to no avail. He keeps telling me to just expose myself to it and sleep on it for a week to get over it. I can’t even stand it for 5 minutes let alone a whole night. I end up sleeping on the couch or pushing it to the side.

Does “exposure” to things like this actually work? I am having trouble believing that I’ll get past this and it’s really hurting my confidence and my relationship. I don’t feel heard when I talk about how intense my feelings are and when I try to explain that it’s not all “just in my head”

Any advice would be sooo appreciated.

I love stuffed toys, but sleeping with them is uncomfortable. I don’t really like how it feels when I hug one. I’m a pillow hugger since I crave the deep pressure and sometimes sleep on my stomach. I feel like it’s because of the material/cotton of the stuff toy?

I work at a childcare center, typically with young toddlers between 12-18 months. Today I had a particularly draining shift with a lot of screaming and a lot of crying. I had a similar day earlier this week that made me wonder if I should start wearing earplugs, and today sealed the deal. Just a LOT of very piercing screams.

I'm looking into stuff like Loop and Flare Calmer, but I need to be careful I don't get something TOO quiet, because I still need to be alert and be able to hear my coworkers if they say something to me, especially if I'm already distracted. I will probably be able to use them as needed, but I still can't be completely deafened. If anyone has any recommendations for my specific situation please let me know, thank you.

Edit: Thank you for all of the suggestions! I ended up buying Earasers and they've been great! I used them at work this week, including today, and I was amazed by the difference. I could still hear properly but the screams hardly bothered me. I was even able to hold a crying baby today (pretty close to my ear) and I had no extra pain or stress.

I am someone who needs lots of sensory input. Often times i sit on my hands. i love deep pressure. i have autism and adhd and i love using a lot of fidgets but i don’t have a good idea for an alternative. my fingers hurt though, i would love advice

I 17 years have SPD (no ASD) and I experience a good amount of shutdowns when I’m overstimulated. Especially in school. During these its really hard for me to talk like sometimes I can’t or its really hard, which is an issue in school. Any advice on how to deal with this issue?

Hi everyone!

My son will be 4 in February and I’m curious how many of you have done a “wait and see” approach before going to occupational therapy. For context, my son couldn’t handle any books or toys with sounds when he was a baby and couldn’t start to tolerate any of them until he was a little over 1 year old. He can now, though they can’t be very loud or he’ll get upset. He has a specific palate he’ll eat and won’t try anything new except very rarely, he’s always super touchy with people and things, has tantrums that sometimes last 45 minutes to an hour, those tantrums can be very aggressive (pulling hair, hitting, scratching your arm and face, etc.), he’s clumsy and will toss himself to the ground, spins a lot, covers his ears when we go to places and he feels overwhelmed, will meltdown and cry if he’s in a busy loud environment (for example, his cousin’s birthday parties), etc. I called his doctor and asked if we should be considering a sensory issue and they called back and basically said he has extremely low risk of autism due to his scores (I never suspected autism or suggested that), but he could have a sensory issue. However, they said almost all kids his age have a sensory issue and that they’re working through them as they grow up. They were very reluctant to send us to occupational therapy and said they recommend we wait until his checkup in February to see if things are getting better.

Meanwhile, his preschool has mentioned several times that he can’t sit still, he gets overwhelmed, his fine motor skills are a little behind, he can’t respect personal space, etc. I got some books from the library to read to him on personal space and it seems to help a little bit so far, but it feels to me like he’s trying so hard to behave at school that he is just falling apart at home. It doesn’t help any that he’s been sick and he always has a harder time when that’s the case. I don’t want to jump on bandwagon terms for diagnoses (it feels like his doctor thinks that is the case) but I’m worried I’m failing him by not pursuing if there is something we can do to help him. It also feels like a lazy response for them to say “yep, all kids cover their ears when they go to Walmart and see a person they didn’t expect to see! They all have super long tantrums at this stage! Just be patient!” I don’t want him to have delays because he’s so focused on “behaving” and “being good” when some simple support could help him bridge that gap.

That said, he’s also my first child so I don’t know what is in the range of “typical.” I see his cousins and his classmates not having these issues but maybe I am worrying for nothing. I really don’t know anymore.

If I wear socks that are too fitted around the toes I feel claustrophobic. Does anyone else feel the need to wiggle your toes a lot to make sure your toes aren’t uncomfortable?

For some reason I have really bad anxiety and sensory issues specifically with the dentist. I really struggle to stay calm during the cleanings and many fillings I keep having to get. Do you guys have any tricks to be calm and deal with going to the dentist? Also, I really struggle taking care of my teeth because of the sensory issues I have with things in my mouth. What do you guys do to get yourselves to take care of your teeth?