autism & play - How the sense of smell can affect play experiences for an autistic person|child

The purpose of this video is to explore briefly the effect an acute sense of smell can affect play for your autistic child right into adulthood. Hyper sensitivity can create all manner of behaviours if this sense is heightened. Sometimes, behaviours such as sneezing, intense nose rubbing, head banging, vomiting and screaming due to pain can be seen, sometimes nose bleeds can happen when the sensitivity of the nose is really high. Activities such as paining, play doh, materials used for play such as fabrics, plastics, food play and cooking can sometimes be overwhelming. Figuring out if this sense is particularly difficult to process for your child can be difficult as they cannot often they are unable to tell you why they are behaving this way. Observing your child whilst they play can be a really useful method without intervening with them to really observe what it is that might be causing some difficulties. The other end of this can be under stimulated sense of smell where they may seek out strong scents to satisfy this part of their experience. This can sometimes be the reason why they seek out smells that may be deemed as unpleasant to a neurotypical person such as detergents and their own faeces. Exploring these possibilities can help you provide safer materials such as home made play doh to lessen the manufactured smells and toxins of bought play doh, making your own glue from flour and water and using organic or non smelling bubble baths and soaps if they love playing in water but find the scents used too overpowering.

When the senses become so overwhelming or an activity becomes too stressful meltdowns can occur and so can shut downs. I will provide links to videos where explanations are given on both of these subjects by autistic people who share their experiences and explanations.

I have learnt that due to sensory overload an activity that is loved and enjoyed oridinarily by your child can become difficult because of specific aspects of the play equipment. Even the temperature of the water in a bath could be the reason your child may not want to get into the bath. My son is very heat sensitive and so needs the water cooler than say I would be happy to be in. The intricate details of activities become very important when you have a super sensitive child.
Here are the links to a shut down explanation



Here are the links to a meltdown explanation




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