Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD, formerly known as Sensory Integration Disorder) conservatively affects about 5% of all children, over half of children with attention deficit disorder and 80% of children with autism. Many professionals may not be aware of the scope of sensory integration disorder thinking that only children that are sensory over responsive qualify for assessment and treatment. Other sub-categories of SPD include sensory under responsive, sensory seeking, discrimination, and sensory based motor disorders including postural control and motor planning.
A child with SPD does not look any different from anyone else. The problem is that they act different from other children but there doesn’t seem to be a reason. Teachers and parents sometimes think that the child could just act “right” if they tried harder, but most often this is just not within their ability to do so. Sometimes the children may have a diagnosis of autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but still, this does not explain their behavior.