Parent Reports of Sensory Experiences of Preschool Children With and Without Autism: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This study describes children’s “sensory experiences”, generates parents’ perceptions and explanations of these experiences, and compares these experiences across children with and without autism. Parents of 66 preschoolers (29 typically-developing; 37 with autism) were interviewed using a Critical Incident Technique. Parents described a situation where their child had a “good” sensory experience, a situation where their child had a “bad” sensory experience, and their own perception of how these situations felt to the child. The most common unpleasant experiences for both groups related to sound; the most common pleasant experiences involved touch and movement. Children with autism were reported to have more extreme and/or unusual experiences, and negative food-related experiences than typically-developing peers. Parental explanations for children’s responses focused on qualities of the child, stimulus, and/or context. Many parents had difficulty understanding the concept of sensory experiences. Parents of children with autism were more likely to recognize elements in their children’s experiences as being sensory, and likely to attribute these responses to aspects of autism. Parents’ positive response to the interview itself was an unexpected result with clinical relevance.

The Sensory Experiences of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Analysis

“…The participants were all in agreement that control was extremely important, and it was a theme which was discussed openly within the group: "one of the themes I've noticed come up a lot is control … if they've got control over the sensory stimulus then it's much less distressing". Dickie et al (2009) also found that uncontrollable stimuli were more distressing for both children with ASD and controls than sensory stimuli that could be induced and terminated by the children themselves, while Ashburner et al…”

“…Firstly, although other studies report similar themes of control and avoidance (Dickie et al, 2009;Ashburner, Bennett, Rodger, & Ziviani, 2013) and uncomfortable physical responses (Kirby et al, 2014), both of these studies recruited a sample of children, rather than adults. There is some evidence that sensory reactivity may change as we age (Kern et al, 2007), therefore it is important to ascertain that these aspects of sensory experience are important to adults with ASD as well as children.…”

“…There is some evidence that sensory reactivity may change as we age (Kern et al, 2007), therefore it is important to ascertain that these aspects of sensory experience are important to adults with ASD as well as children. Secondly, although Dickie et al (2009) …”

“…Dickie et al (2009) investigated the sensory experiences of children with autism, from the perspective of their parents. Using the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954), the authors found that parents of children with autism reported more extreme or unusual sensory experiences than parents of typically developing children.…”

“…Sensory issues are commonly reported in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), from both first-hand (Grandin & Scariano, 1996;Jones, Quigney & Huws, 2003;Williams, 1998) and second-hand (Baranek, David, Poe, Stone & Watson, 2006;Leekam, Nieto, Libby, Wing & Gould, 2007;Dickie, Baranek, Schultz, Watson & McComish, 2009) perspectives.…”