My Child Tunes Out, Then Crashes Into Everything. Is It Sensory?

Why does my child tune out one minute and crash the next?

The therapist in the video calls this child a sensory underresponder. She says these kids do not notice what they feel, hear or touch as much as others do. Their nervous system “reacts slower or less intensely to sensory input,” she says.

She sees two kinds. One child looks tired and slow, in their own world. This child is slow to answer their name or to notice a bump. The other child is go, go, go all day. They spin, jump, run and crash. The two look like opposites. In her view, they share one pattern. For seekers and avoiders side by side, see our infographic on sensory differences.

One honest note about the name. “Underresponder” comes from a suggested way to sort kids by their senses. This way of sorting “has not been universally accepted,” the AAP said in 2012. So use the word to describe your child, not to diagnose. Your child isn’t broken. Their brain is learning differently.

Is it sensory, or is it something else?

Here is the hard part. These same signs turn up in a lot of places. The AAP said in 2012 that sensory struggles show up with many other conditions. Its list named autism, ADHD, trouble with coordination and childhood anxiety. One sign on its own does not tell you which one fits.

The AAP also gave this advice in 2012. Sensory processing disorder “generally should not be diagnosed,” it said. Its reason was plain. There was no agreed way to diagnose it. The signs are real. The label is the part to handle with care.

So the next step is a proper look, not a home label. Noticing signs at home is a starting point, not a diagnosis. Good people to ask are a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, a child psychologist or an occupational therapist. For school supports like an IEP or 504 plan, only a professional evaluation will do. The same goes if you think a vision, hearing or medical cause is at work. If your child often misses their name, ask about hearing too.

Will sensory breaks help my child learn?

The video ends on a big promise. “A child is unable to learn unless they’re in a regulated state,” the therapist says. She calls for sensory breaks at school so children learn. It is the promise every worried parent wants to hear.

Here is what one careful review looked at. In 2018, Bodison and Parham pulled together studies of sensory methods. Most of the children in them were autistic. The review looked at how children joined in and behaved. It did not measure reading, writing or math. It found too little evidence to judge slow swinging. The same went for multisensory preschool activities. Its best-backed method was Qigong massage, given by parents.

Sensory rooms and movement breaks are often sold to schools and parents as learning tools. To us, that asks a swing to do a teacher’s job. A sensory break has never taught a child to read. Teaching does. Use calming tools alongside reading, writing and math teaching, not in place of it.

Here is what helps at home, from the video:

• Calm down together first. The therapist calls this co-regulation before self-regulation.
• Practice calming steps while your child is already calm. Try slow breaths or a snug towel wrap after a bath.
• Let a skilled OT design any sensory diet. A sensory diet is not food. It is a planned mix of calming and alerting activities.
• Stop anything that makes your child more upset, and try something else.

The AAP said in 2012 that OT using sensory methods might be one part of a wider plan. The therapist puts the goal well. It is “not to change the size of their sensory cup.” It is to help a child give their body what it needs. For the hour after school, see our post on why children hold it together at school and melt down at home.