Sensory Processing Disorder as standalone condition

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In 2013 and 2016, a University of California at San Francisco research team led by Elysa Marco and Pratik Mukherjee published two studies on children with SPD.

The first showed that the white-matter microstructure in the brains of boys with SPD was different from that of those in a control group, particularly in the areas linked to sensory processing. The second study repeated these findings on a larger group of both girls and boys.

“I think our work really strongly shows that these differences are brain-based,” Marco said.

To Schneider, this research was validating. “It was a ‘eureka’ moment for me,” she said. “I knew it existed, I was talking about it for a couple years before then, but suddenly for the first time I had proof. I had proof that I’m different, and here it is, here’s why I’m different.”

Schneider, who has an active social life and no obsessive behaviors, does not believe she has autism spectrum disorder. She and many SPD researchers believe that her condition — which Miller estimates may affect 1 in 20 people — should be recognized as an independent diagnosis. Much of the research has been focused on proving that SPD can occur independently, and separate scientific work groups have shown that between 37 and 80 percent of children diagnosed with SPD have no accompanying disorders.

Asked for comment on this issue, Darrel Regier, vice chair of the APA task force that produced the DSM-V, said, “I think there is certainly a possibility” that SPD would be approved as a separate disorder.

“If there’s a longer period of consideration,” he said, “if there’s more extensive evidence of people who really do have a separate condition, and they [can be proven] to not have autism spectrum disorder or some other neurological condition, I think it could certainly be approved.”