Relationship between sensory sensitivity & social diffic

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Based on my observations of the posts at this forum, two primary challenges exist for many persons with autism:
1. Acute sensitivity to many forms of sensory stimulation.
2. Discomfort in social situations.

At first glance, these challenges seem unrelated in nature. My simple little NT brain can not accept that the two issues have a separate underlying cause. I speculate that a single reason exists for these two challenges.

This is what I believe:

Social situations involve numerous forms of visual and auditory stimulation. If an individual feels easily aroused by stimulus in the environment, then social situations would prove annoying. For example, I could imagine a person screaming in my ear to communicate simple messages such as, "hello" or "would you like a can of Coke". This would cause me to shut down in a heartbeat.

Likewise social situations also involve emotional stimulation. A conversation could cause a person to feel easily emotionally aroused. Thus, a person with autism would have to react to the sensations in his/her body as a result of the emotional arousal.

Is my observation correct?

I think you may be at least partially correct. Rooms packed full of noisy people make me withdraw pretty fast and I don't have profound sensory issues like some here. But this doesn't address the social cues that are important for forming relationships.

I picked "42" BTW. How could I resist?

I think the social difficulties can best be described as a language barrier. I speak one language, you speak another, we can't communicate. But everyone around us speaks your language, so they claim I am incapable of communication, rather than that I communicate just fine, but differently.

It's a system of body language that I can use. So it relies on cues that I can perceive and cues that I can produce. Which means it doesn't use the same body parts or interpret their movements the same way.

I also have another issue. A lot of empathy consists of asking yourself how you would feel if you were some other person. But since I don't feel the same way about the same things, when I ask that question, I very often get an answer that is only true of me and others on the spectrum... but not of most NTs.

It works both ways. In fact, NTs are WORSE at reading me than I am at reading them. I've devoted the effort, my whole life, to learning the way you communicate. No NT has ever reciprocated.

Sensory issues, though... I suspect that the big thing-- or a big thing-- is that most NTs have a few ways they unconsciously process information from their senses before they even "see" it. There are things your brain does to process sounds before you "hear" them. I think these processes are either absent or modified. I think in most of us they're modified, but in some they're partly or mostly or maybe even completely absent.

Good point. The whole treat-others-the-way-you-want-to-be-treated thing doesn't always work.

I think my sensory sensitivities and my social difficulties are definitely connected. For example, if I'm trying to have a conversation in an overstimulating setting, I'll have a hard time making eye contact, paying attention, and thinking of things to say, and I might give up and withdraw from the conversation in order to avoid overload. Sensory problems don't explain everything about my social issues, but I think there is a relationship.

For me, sensory issues are completely unrelated. My sensory issues are relatively minor.

My problems are in the areas of social learning. I am pretty much clueless when I try to see things from another person's viewpoint. It is something which doesn't come naturally to me at all, and I have to work things out purely as a logical exercise. It seems to me, like NTs have a part of the brain that is dedicated to learning social behavior. I seem to be lacking that. I can't learn anything about social behavior unless I break it down and analyze it. Things that normal children can pick up effortlessly are a struggle to me.

I've thought about this before. I think you're right to a degree. People with ASDs do seem hypersensitive to various stimulation and get overwhelmed by both social situations and physical stimulation. It may explain why I get so stressed in social situations involving alot of people. It feels kind of like what you described, like too much noise, making me lose focus and making me want to protect myself. But I think it may have to do with other things besides emotional stimulation. For me, interaction is not so much about emotion as it is about trying to get it right. It means I have to concentrate on alot of different things because I'm not very good at it. So much concentration makes me tired and worn out. It's work. So I have to take breaks from it. It would be like not being very good at comprehending math, and having to endure intense math tutoring sessions. Over time it helps you get better, but often it's frustrating and exhausting and you can't imagine wanting to do more of it for fun. You just feel like you need a break once in awhile. It may be that autistic people have to concentrate more because of feeling overwhelmed by our environment. But it could be alot of independent traits that combine in different ways to give us our more common difficulties. I hope that made sense.

this theory gets my vote.



this too. the deficit goes both ways.

i'm screaming but they can't hear me. i think you have some interesting thoughts too, puppygnu. i often feel like i'm being forced into someone's bedroom uninvited when i speak to them. sometimes it's like talking to a heap of plastic, other times the intensity is just overwhelming.

Just liked the circle thought. Lots of sensory integration problems here.

My processing issues affect my social skills, but they aren't the whole issue.
I am about to be kicked off this computer; I may elaborate later.
Sensory issues only affect my social tolerance.

Sensory issues relate a lot to my ability to socialize (I can't stick around if I'm being overstimulated), and the more sensor input going on the harder it is for me to focus on talking to people. I can actually get overstimulated in an internet chat with multiple people, if I try to track everything being said.

But that's not the whole story, I still have other issues with socialization that complicate matters, like not always being able to connect what a person says with what they mean (like my therapist telling me that "how are you" has an obvious non-literal meaning that I should be aware of - I've never bothered to learn this meaning, just the expected responses to it).

Yes.

I think another piece of the puzzle is that aspies are neurologically less interested in socialising.

I think I'm the only one here who's completely disagreed with the whole of your theory.

But I actually do think that it's true that social situations can trigger sensory overload. It is hard to socialize when overloaded and there are some people whose voices always or almost always overload me. But I don't think that's a major contributor to my social difficulties, at least not unless for some reason it's bad enough I'm barely functioning.

I dont agree with this observation. For me as an aspie, I have very little, almost no sensory issues but I still have discomfort in social situations. True yes social situations involve a lot of visual and auditory simulation, but theres other situations that can have that amount of stimulation as well that dont involve anything social. For me, being on the street in LAX has a lot of visual and auditory stimulation too, way more then your normal social situation. For example when I coming back to school, I was exhausted after coming off a long plane flight, LAX was annoying but tolerable. Then I got to school, met up with some people, I started crumbling slowly during the combination of exhaustion and social situation. Even tho LAX had way more stimulation, yet the social situation was worse.

Idk if these two aspects are necessarily related. I think social situations are different, yet a combination of the two for other aspies could probably lead to a meltdown. For me, I'm very anxiety prone which I contemplate is the real reason for my social discomfort. I find, if I put on a super apathetic attitude, less chance I'll personally be affected but then the less I socialize.

This is a difficult one to answer. I remember going for a hearing test because i couldn't hear what people were saying only to find that my hearing was perfect. My only answer to that anomaly is being sensitive to everything at the same time. Yet on the other hand, before going on WP i'd never heard of S.O and still I'm struggling to find any personal experiences of it. Especially anything that would lead to a meltdown. So to conclude, 42

Interestingly enough, this thread echoes certain questions that I´ve been asking myself lately.

In fact, does anyone know, is it possible to have sensory problems without being on the spectrum? Because in my case, although I recognize AS in my history- (when I was young, nobody was being diagnosed for AS, hence I never got a diagnosis)- I feel that I´ve gotten slowly better with the social stuff over the years, and I can get by, at least with the things I need to do- (the other stuff, I just avoid ) But I have pretty bad sensory problems! Lately, they seem particularly bad; in fact, today I had such a rough day, it was just unbearable....no matter how much "self talk" I try to do, my body reacts to sensory issues, almost against my will. (Like, I may uncontrollably cry in public).

So, I would say that no, the 2 are not related. OK, I *would* have trouble in a sensory-laden social situation, like others suggested, but in a heightened sensory atmosphere I would even have trouble reading a book about my special interest!

In any case, one reason I haven´t tried to get diagnosed as an adult is that I fear I may be "undiagnosable". I am a woman, I´m not that young anymore, and I think I could act quite "normal" and NT-like in a one-to-one doctor situation- (actually, I suspect that I may have "residual AS"). The only thing "observable" about me in that situation would be some stims. I´ve read about so many horror stories on WP about women trying to get diagnosed, that I´m a little afraid....I´m worried the doctor might laugh at me, because I can make eye contact and I bet I would interact fine. . But if I have bad sensory issues, is that enough of a reason to go get an evaluation? Oh, I do think I´m on the spectrum, I just don´t think a doctor would "see" it.