Sherwood Park Primary School

Sensory processing difficulties refers to the way information is sent to the brain through the senses. ​Usually brains filter out irrelevant information in order to focus on the most important at the time, individuals with sensory processing difficulties may not have this filter and receive an overload of information or not enough at any one time. 

• Sensory processing difficulties may affect a child or young person in the following ways:
• Intolerance to some clothing fabrics (including the label)
• Distracted by sounds, touch, crowds
• Enjoys excessive spinning and jumping
• Under-sensitive to pain
• Behavioural problems, including emotional outbursts which may present as ‘temper tantrums’
• Unable to feel subtle environmental characteristics (such as a hot surface)
• No apparent fears or low risk awareness
• Accident prone or clumsy
• Difficulty understanding personal space
• Hypersensitive to food
• Fussy eating
• Seeing individual parts of an image rather than the whole image
• Heightened sense of smell
• Difficulties with depth perception/afraid of heights
• Unable to feel the difference between hot and cold

Sensory processing difficulties may vary from day to day, making it difficult to work out what may be causing distress.