Absenteeism - Module 4

2. STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES

2.4. HYPERSENSITIVITIES

Children with hypersensitivity may overreact to the rub of clothing tags or to the intensity of loud noises. Since they sometimes cannot filter out or process sensations, they can become overloaded and shut down, tantrum, feel anxiety, or get depressed. 

People with ASD can involve both hyper-sensitivities (over-responsiveness) or hypo-sensitivities (under-responsiveness) to a wide range of stimuli.

Strategies for helping students with ASD

There are some strategies that can help students with ASD to alleviate the symptoms derived from hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity:

  • Model descriptive words: using more descriptive language helps to identify the sensory issues.

    • Touch/feel: slimy, sticky, pasty, prickly, greasy, rubbery…

    • Taste: flaky, fatty, tough, fresh, foamy, spicy…

    • Sight: glossy, crooked, straight, crowded, curved, flickering…

    • Smell: bitter, rotten, salty, sour, sweet, tart…

    • Movement: dizzy, squirmy, crawly, creepy, scrub, spray…

    • Sound: bang, boom, buzz, chirp, chug, click…

    • Feelings: afraid, anxious, dizzy, fearful, frightened, frustrated, annoyed, interested, curious…

All these descriptions can be complemented with flashcards or visual aids that will help even more, to identify the different words.

  • Make visual scale or degree to gauge how much is too much for the student's comfort.

  • Sometimes a habituation time is necessary (and the intensity may be progressive): in some schools, children with ADS are allowed to go to class earlier to self-regulate, or they can go to a sensory stimulation room to self-regulate before starting classes.

  • Useful tools such as: blinds, think about the place in which the student is located inside the classroom, placing tennis balls on the legs of the chairs, ...

  • A process of desensitization could be carried out in occupational therapy sessions

  • Create a calm down corner: it helps with sensory / emotional overflow. It is a space created in a quiet place, equipped with the necessary instruments for self-regulation and that is accessible at all times to our students, so that they can go easily in case of feeling overwhelmed sensory and / or emotionally. It is necessary that it has several elements depending on the students with ASD that are in the centre:

    • If a student is hyposensitive, it is possible that he is a ‘sensory seeker’, therefore, auditory elements (music or toys with sounds), visual elements (lights, toys that move, balls), tactile elements (such as sensory boxes with rice, legumes, plasticine, gels), olfactory elements (bottles with cologne, soaps, plasticine with scent), oral elements (teethers) and proprioceptive / vestibular elements (cushions with textures or skewers, objects with vibration, with weight).

    • If, on the other hand, the profile of the student is hyper sensitive (excessively sensitive), they may present avoidant behaviours, so you can introduce elements that avoid excessive sound (anti-noise helmets), look for a darker area with little intensity of lights or shine, use sensory boxes with legumes, rice or elements with a drier texture that we know you like, weighted objects, blankets and cushions.


  • Difficulties with changes and transitions: situations in which students do not know what to expect cause discomfort. The routine gives a sense of security.

    • Shorten the duration of the transition by preparing in advance.

    • Use visual agendas or visual aids for anticipating the organization

    • During the transition, keep the environment calm an organized (e.g. in class changes or classroom changes)