We make sense of sensory information that we receive from the environment and our own body in order to learn and behave in appropriate ways. Sensory modulation is how we regulate this sensory input in order to prevent us from over or under reacting to sensations. Difficulties with sensory modulation can result in being under-responsive (decreased response) or over-responsive (increased response and alert levels).
What is Sensory-Seeking Behaviour in Childhood?
Sensory-seeking behaviour in childhood is the tendency to seek out sensory experiences across the five senses:
• sound
• smell
• taste
• sight,
• touch
Many children who have this issue are thrill-seekers. They like jumping off of high places, such as playground equipment. These children may prefer activities that include some level of risk and excitement.
A sensory-seeking child: is often an active child who seeks physical contact and loud noises. Many children with challenges in this area are very intense in their movements. They may need a ‘sensory diet’ that includes a lot of input. For example, a child may prefer to be hugged tightly and may require deep pressure or weighted blankets to calm down. They may repeatedly jump off of high equipment or dive into a bean bag chair with a lot of intensity.
Some sensory-seeking kids may be struggling to move in a fluid and coordinated fashion. Motor skills are heavily regulated by the sensory system. A sensory-seeking child may appear to be uncomfortable in their own skin. They may look ‘floppy’ and have poor posture and a lack of stability. This ‘floppiness’ is not the case for all sensory-seeking children but can sometimes be an issue.
Sensory-Seeking Behaviour in Children
Symptoms
Jumping off of high places: your child likes jumping off of playground equipment, furniture, staircases.
Touching or stroking objects: your child may seek out unique forms of sensory input such as stroking another child’s hair, rubbing a piece of fabric, or feeling the need to touch the walls while walking down the hall.
Smelling objects: your child may be particularly curious about how certain objects smell. They may insist on getting very close to items so that they can find out how things smell
Seeking intense movement: your child really enjoys jumping, hitting things, hugging, throwing objects, or slamming into walls.
At home at the bouncy gym: your child may be right at home at the trampoline park, bouncy castle, or other jumping gym.
Having trouble sitting still: your child may become bored and uncomfortable quickly when required to sit still.
Accidentally hurting people or breaking things: your child may be so active as to crash into people or break items accidentally.
Repetitive motions: your child may move constantly; enjoying being upside down, swinging, or spinning.
Slamming or thrusting body into things: your child may slam their body against walls, bean bags, trampolines, or other objects.
Getting hurt often: your child may get hurt often due to physical accidents; although some sensory seekers are very coordinated.
Feeling no pain: your child may not even notice after they cut their hand, bumped their head, or skinned their knee.
Unusually agile: your child may be especially agile and coordinated, seldom getting hurt, even when engaged in daring stunts and risky activities.
Causes
Thrill-seeker: If your child is more of a thrill-seeker type, it may be that they are coordinated and agile. There may be no issues with motor coordination, but rather problems in refraining from movement or stimuli.
In that case, your child may have some issues with attention, hyperactivity, or boredom.
Gifted children: if your child is gifted they may be more inclined toward sensory-seeking behaviour because their systems are naturally a bit more sensitive.
It may be that their systems are ‘like a live wire,’ taking in the information from the environment like a turbulent storm. Instead of being overwhelmed by the storm, they want more of these exciting experiences. Some gifted kids may only feel at home when doing extreme sports or jumping at the trampoline park.
Struggles with motor coordination and sensory awareness: if your child struggles with this, there may be a neurological difference that is causing some difficulty in terms of taking in the information from physical sensations.
For example, your child may not even notice that they are getting hurt. They may jump again and again off of high places, even after bumping their head and scratching their knees.
Poor sensorimotor perception: if your child is struggling with poor sensorimotor your child may have issues in the areas of balance, motion, and body-space, and can be clumsy and uncoordinated. They may be easily injured and may have frequent falls. They often cannot judge their body space, bumping into walls while walking down the hall or hitting their heads on the top of the tunnel slide.
Children who have challenges with balance, coordination, and locomotion generally have sensory deficits in the vestibular or proprioceptive systems, or both.
Vestibular processing: if your child is struggling with vestibular processing the vestibular system is responsible for motor control, speed of movement, and the body’s position in space.
Effects on behaviour
Being over or under responsive to sensory stimuli can affect our level of alertness, basically how calm we are and how ready we are for learning (calm-alert). When alertness levels are high, children may demonstrate impulsive behaviour (shouting out in class) or require movement (rocking/fidgeting in chair) to regulate their system. A heightened level of alertness impacts on a child’s ability to concentrate and can affect behaviour and social skills. Some children with modulation difficulties can develop poor self-esteem and confidence, emotional problems and/or disruptive behaviours.
When children are over responsive to sensory stimuli it can lead to sensory overload. Children may not always be able to tell us clearly how they are feeling during activities so it is important to be vigilant and to observe their behaviours carefully for signs of sensory overload. It is important to observe them both during and after different activities. This is because reactions to sensory stimuli can be delayed and signs of sensory overload can sometimes not be immediately apparent, that is they can occur after an activity has finished.