I never realized that hypersensitive children existed, those that find extreme or intense noise, light and smells difficult.  I come from a loud and stereotypically chaotic household as a child with a large extended family that does nothing but talk or yell over each other.  To me that was normal.  I only recently realized that my older brother who may have been a sensory sensitive person may have suffered because of this and in many cases was seen as introverted, irrational, and unpredictable in the way he reacted in different situations.  Never really gave this a second thought until I had a child of my own who, like my wife, was a little sensitive to loud noises and lights, but for some reason we still took him to large loud Arab weddings expecting him to simply sleep on a stroller.  I chalked this up to him being like his mom and maybe a little like my brother, his uncle.

Not until my youngest daughter was born did I know that people can be hypersensitive to extreme sensory stimulation, and only through reading some of the available online material was I able to put two and two together.  My daughter has shown signs of more sensitive reactions to certain noises and lights and her mood would be affected accordingly, in some cases, it might be painful.  I have heard and seen certain facilities provide sensory rooms, and never realized what a lifeline they could be, particularly for younger children, until they are able to process their sensory stimulation. Based on my new limited knowledge of this issue (aka, ignorance), I have started to take steps to make things more comfortable for my little one, including:

• Seeking out facilities with sensory rooms when I’m planning a visit to certain destinations.
• If sensory rooms are not available, prepare to have a Plan B on which area we can go to with lower sensory stimulation as a temporary haven.
• Acknowledge and understand that sensory overload in certain situations is not only disturbing to her but can be painful and try to address it as best as I can.
• If I see her getting flustered start calming breathing/mindful exercises to calm her down in a hallway just outside the source of the issue.
• In my car try to either lower the radio/music volume based on what is comfortable for her, and if she’s in the car go heavy with calming music (not necessarily spa music, but something like Buddha Bar or lounge style pop).
• Be mindful of her TV volume.
• Incorporate noise cancelling or soothing (not necessarily music) tones in her room – not just for sleeping.
• Make sure the lighting is warm and calming, i.e. not LED white light everywhere.  In some cases a side table light is enough or soft sunlight than maxing out all the lights in a room she’s in.

It was hard for me to relate because if anything my sensory sensitivity is quiet low, i.e. it take really loud music or crazy bright light to affect me in anyway – so I couldn’t really relate.  But as I read more about this I realize more people fall under the hypersensitivity category than I would have ever guessed.  I only wish my brother and those around him were aware of this before they labelled him certain things, but I guess this is progress.