ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that clinicians have become more aware of the problem of sensory sensitivities in people with autism, confirmation of this being that 'sensory issues' are now a key symptom in the diagnostic manual DSM-5. For some people with AS, 'sensory sensitivity' or 'sensory integration difficulties' have a greater negative impact on their lives than problems that are created with the social and emotional world. Sometimes people with AS receive a separate diagnosis of dyspraxia, a condition specifically associated with motor coordination problems and difficulty conceptualising or planning movement. Others might have involuntary tic, which might be motor or verbal or facial twitches as in Tourette's syndrome. Children with sensory sensitivity can become hypervigilant, tense and destructive in a sensory-stimulating environment such as the classroom, feeling unsure where the next painful sensory experience lurks.
