May 24 2008
The Tooth Fairy and Sensory Integration
Gus finally lost the front tooth that had been hanging on for weeks, but he was very concerned that the tooth fairy’s dust would make too much noise and disturb his sleep. So there was a long discussion of where the tooth would be placed in order to get his ‘reward.’ We finally agreed to put it under my pillow (how convenient for me!).
His worry did not surprise me in the least as he tends to hear things that many people can’tdue to his Sensory Integration Dysfunction. While SID is often present alongside symptoms of autism, it can appear on its own or with other neurological disorders like Cerebral Palsy or ADHD. It means that the senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, sense of movement or sense of body position in space can be either over-reactive or under-reactive.
To illustrate, here are a few sensory difficulties that Gus and I share:
- sensitivity to noise (ironically, he can be quite loud)
- sensitivity to cold
- aversion to wetness (i.e. someone touching us with wet hands, spills)
And on his own, some of Gus’s traits include, movement seeking and deep pressure seeking.
So we kept the tooth dairy and her noisy dust far away from him last night. And we both got to sleep like babies.
The deep sensation seeking is something I’ve noticed in at least one little kid I know. The whole thing reminds me of what someone said about ADHD - at one point, it was probably a survival advantage to notice things that other people didn’t - less chance of being eaten by something sneaking up on you. It actually makes me wonder if some people, say the “noses” for perfume houses, don’t have SID and not even know it because it has worked out well for them.
Now, what requires really acute hearing…