Brief Report: Characterization of Sensory Over-Responsivity in a Broad Neurodevelopmental Concern Cohort Using the Sensory Processing Three Dimensions (SP3D) Assessment

Abstract

Sensory Over-Responsivity (SOR) is an increasingly recognized challenge among children with neurodevelopmental concerns (NDC). To investigate, we characterized the incidence of auditory and tactile over-responsivity (AOR, TOR) among 82 children with NDC. We found that 70% of caregivers reported concern for their child’s sensory reactions. Direct assessment further revealed that 54% of the NDC population expressed AOR, TOR, or both – which persisted regardless of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. These findings support the high prevalence of SOR as well as its lack of specificity to ASD. Additionally, AOR is revealed to be over twice as prevalent as TOR. These conclusions present several avenues for further exploration, including deeper analysis of the neural mechanisms and genetic contributors to sensory processing challenges.

Examining the Latent Structure and Correlates of Sensory Reactivity in Autism: A Multi-site Integrative Data Analysis by the Autism Sensory Research Consortium

“…Although sensory reactivity differences are prevalent in many childhood-onset neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions (e.g., attention de cit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome, Williams syndrome (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)), and all of these clinical groups can be differentiated from neurotypical controls in terms of sensory reactivity differences (see also (27)), a recent meta-analysis suggests that autistic individuals demonstrate higher average levels of HYPER (with ndings mixed and inconclusive for HYPO and SEEK) when compared to individuals with other clinical conditions (28). Moreover, many qualitative and quantitative studies have linked speci c sensory features of autism to functional impairment, reduced activity participation, and lower quality of life (e.g., [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], further emphasizing the importance of research into the sensory aspects of the autism phenotype.…”

“…In contrast to studying HYPER, HYPO, and SEEK at the supra-modal level, a minority of studies (e.g., 25,[73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80] have investigated these sensory constructs in a modality-speci c manner by calculating response pattern scores that are limited to a single sensory modality (e.g., "Auditory HYPER," which re ects the sum score of only the HYPER items within the Auditory modality). As psychophysical and neural measures of sensory function (e.g., detection thresholds, psychometric function parameters, evoked potential amplitudes) are frequently limited to a single sensory modality, some researchers theorize that the modality-speci c subconstructs represented by these measures will correlate more strongly with sensory reactivity measures that are limited to that same sensory modality rather than collapsed across modalities (e.g., visual evoked potential amplitudes may be expected to correlate moreso with a measure of Visual HYPER than with general HYPER).…”

Examining the latent structure and correlates of sensory reactivity in autism: a multi-site integrative data analysis by the autism sensory research consortium

“…Although sensory reactivity differences are prevalent in many childhood-onset neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome, Williams syndrome [23][24][25][26][27][28]), and all of these clinical groups can be differentiated from neurotypical controls in terms of sensory reactivity differences (see also [29]), a recent meta-analysis suggests that autistic individuals demonstrate higher average levels of HYPER (with findings mixed and inconclusive for HYPO and SEEK) when compared to individuals with other clinical conditions [30]. Moreover, many qualitative and quantitative studies have linked specific sensory features of autism to functional impairment, reduced activity participation, and lower quality of life (e.g.…”

“…In contrast to studying HYPER, HYPO, and SEEK at the supra-modal level, a minority of studies (e.g. [27,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81]) have investigated these sensory constructs in a modality-specific manner by calculating response pattern scores that are limited to a single sensory modality (e.g., "Auditory HYPER, " which reflects the sum score of only the HYPER items within the Auditory modality). As psychophysical and neural measures of sensory function (e.g., detection thresholds, psychometric function parameters, evoked potential amplitudes) are frequently limited to a single sensory modality, some researchers theorize that the modality-specific subconstructs represented by these measures will correlate more strongly with sensory reactivity measures that are limited to that same sensory modality rather than collapsed across modalities (e.g., visual evoked potential amplitudes may be expected to correlate moreso with a measure of Visual HYPER than with general HYPER).…”

Sensory Processing Subtypes in a Mixed Neurodevelopmental Cohort: Prevalence and Associations with Emotion Dysregulation, Anxiety, and ADHD

“…The terms "sensory processing modulation" or "sensory reactivity" have been used in models to describe individual differences in sensory over-responsivity (SOR), sensory under-responsivity (SUR), and sensory craving (SC) [5][6][7][8] . SOR is characterized by heightened sensitivity and distress reactions to auditory, tactile, visual, vestibular, or olfactory stimuli.…”