Does your child dislike his face being touched? Does he want you the remove the tags from his clothes before he agrees to wear them?
Does he dislike touching things which, according to him, feel yucky?
Are there particular fabrics that he does not want to wear?
Does he have very sensitive feet?
Does he fight with you or scream when you shampoo his hair?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions then there is a possibility that your child has a form of touch sensitivity. This is a sensory integration deficit which is referred to as tactile defensiveness.
Our sense of touch plays a vital role in our emotional as well as social development and it allows us to build on our existing relationships, and build new ones. This is an important function that plays an important role in forming a bond between a mother and her newborn; between couples, etc.
Touch also functions in the form of a pain indicator and warning system. It is due to touch that we know that touching a hotplate can burn us. Encounters that involve pain tell us about what’s to follow and require us to make quick decisions, thereby preventing any further damage.
However, there are certain people who face problems because they have irregularities in the way their tactile sensory systems function. These people can feel threatened by touch sensations that most others would view as normal. If your child exhibits signs such as these, he could be a patient of tactile defensiveness.
Proper care is paramount in addressing cases of tactile defensiveness. Physical sensations which would otherwise be construed as harmless could be viewed as potentially harmful by your child. A touch sensitive patient will perceive touch sensation quite differently from someone who does not have this condition.
Sensations that you would say are soft could be the very sensations that are causing your child pain and grief. This could result in the worsening of his behavior. For instance, inappropriate behavior on your child’s part could be as a result of someone accidentally brushing past him and him perceiving it as a threat. Caught in such a situation, your child could want to run away, lash out, or scream.
Touch sensitivity doesn’t necessarily affect a child’s ability to learn. However, his resulting reactions would be affected by the condition. This could end up putting your child at the defensive in most circumstances, and owing to this he could also start feeling distracted and insecure.
This is also a factor that helps differentiate between this condition and ADHD. While a child that suffers from ADHD can have a problem in sustaining his attention, distracting him wouldn’t particularly be easy.
An ADHD child, if subjected to a weak stimulus during an activity, would have a rather weak reaction. If, on the other hand, the same stimulus is applied to a touch sensitive child, a strong resultant reaction would be expected.
In order to get an idea of what a touch sensitive child goes through, imagine what your reaction would be if someone continuously kept scraping his fingernails on a black-board, or how you’d feel if you managed to cut your nails very short.
A seemingly tender hug could have a similar effect on a child suffering from touch sensitivity.
The difference being, your pain and discomfort will not last for long, and for a child who suffers from tactile defensiveness, the discomfort has to be dealt with for extended periods of time.
A child suffering from this condition might not want to wear woolens because the fabric feels rough. He could react strongly when people accidentally brush past him. He could have problems with concentration in his class because the air-conditioning duct is right above his head. He might be apprehensive in making new friends because of his constant fear of being brushed against.
Adults who suffer from this condition can face severe problems in their married lives because of this. Contact that is otherwise looked upon as normal might end up offending patients of touch sensitivity, and this also includes moments that call for some form of physical contact. This complete hatred of being touched is the cause of a number of unsuccessful marriages.
What to Look For?
Signs of this condition which you can notice include:
• Strong reactions in seemingly ordinary situations
• Easily being distracted by a seemingly normal touch sensation
• Disliking all touch sensations
• Showing a fondness for some fabrics, and disliking some others
• Wanting to remove all the tags from his clothing
• Staying away from particular foods because he does not like how they feel
• Getting aggressive while going through regular activities like baths, hair cuts, etc.
• Showing a liking to touch sensations like firm pressure and rocking, which seem to provide him with some relief
Touch sensitive patients can also have highly sensitive mouths, tongues, palms, and soles.
Co-existing conditions:
This condition can be quite a handful. While it can be present only on its own, it can also occur concurrently with other ailments. Other conditions that can co-exist with touch sensitivity include:
• Motor planning difficulties
• Motor coordination difficulties
• Hand eye coordination problems
• Bed wetting
• Allergies
• Irregular or bad eating habits
• Continual ear infections
• Sleep disorders
• Digestive disorders
• Speech – language delays
There are also conditions where touch sensitivity is amongst the condition’s other components. These include:
• Bipolar Disorder
• Down Syndrome
• ADHD
• Autism
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
• Asperger’s Syndrome
• Fragile X
• Learning Disabilities
• OCD
• Selective Mutism
• Dyslexia
The Principle:
Just like most other complex neurological disorders, the information pertaining to what causes various sensory integration disorders remains inconclusive. When a cause remains hidden from the medical fraternity, it is often referred to as being idiopathic. This, in simple English means, ‘we don’t know’.
When scientists fail to pinpoint the reason of any kind of an occurrence, they can get quite perturbed. In this case, it has led to a number of theories surrounding the cause of this condition. Five different hypotheses on this subject are already in place, and the last one suggests that this condition could be caused due to some kind of a cerebellum irregularity.
While a few theories do seem to save some substance, new findings go to show that cause leading to this condition still remains largely idiopathic.
What Next:
Since a sensory motor interaction deficit is what results in this condition, the treatment should aim to develop the patient’s sensory integration, to try and get some amount of normalcy in the patient’s motor planning and this can be achieved by bringing about a positive change in the patient’s nervous system’s ability to register and comprehend various touch sensations.
The treatment should be carried out by a professional therapist. In case you feel that your child suffers from this condition, getting him diagnosed is paramount. The diagnosis should be conducted by a qualified and suitably trained person whose specialty is treating problems related to sensory integration.
You can start by consulting your pediatrician and he will then guide you in the right direction. Your pediatrician can help by referring your child’s case to a therapist who would work in diagnosing and treating your child. The therapist would work by devising a treatment plan, and he would also tell you what you can do in order to help your child.
Remember that this condition is only one of the many other sensory motor integration deficits that can affect young children, and it usually does not occur on its own. Remember that it can also occur simultaneously with other conditions such as ADHD, autism, etc.
While the exact figures surrounding conditions involving sensory integration are still quite unclear, what’s very clear is that this condition can now be seen quite commonly. Also, while this condition can have quite an adverse affect on your child, you should know that help is available.
In case you think that your child is suffering from this condition, the first thing that you need to do is to take him to a therapist who is a specialist in treating trained motor planning & sensory integration disorders for a complete evaluation.
