Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sensory Processing Patterns Predict Problem Behaviours in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Sensory processing is the ability to discern and understand information from one’s sensory organs. Understanding sensory processing patterns in different clinical groups could elicit evidence that sensory processing patterns are a transdiagnostic mechanism in neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, there is little evidence of how sensory processing patterns relate to behaviours, such as attention, social, and mood difficulties in autism and ADHD. The goals of this study were to directly compare sensory processing patterns in autism, ADHD, and typical development and to explore the association between sensory processing and behavioural outcomes.

Methods

Data were collected through the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Network. The parents of 805 children with typical development, ADHD, or ASD completed measures of sensory processing and behavioural outcomes with the Short Sensory Profile and the Childhood Behaviour Checklist, respectively. Sensory processing was compared across groups and regression analyses were conducted to determine if behavioural patterns could be predicted by sensory processing patterns in the clinical sample.

Results

Overall, the results identified significant differences in sensory processing patterns between the diagnosed and undiagnosed participants. Autism and ADHD differed on all Sensory Profile subscales except auditory filtering and under-responsivity/sensory seeking. All behavioural outcomes were predicted by sensory processing patterns over and above the variance accounted for by the diagnostic group, suggesting that understanding sensory processing patterns is an important piece of a comprehensive understanding of the behavioural patterns observed across multiple clinical populations.

Conclusions

There is evidence that sensory processing is different in ASD and ADHD but that specific patterns of sensory processing are related to behavioural outcomes in both disorders. Better understanding sensory processing as a mechanism for behaviour can help to identify simple interventions across neurodevelopmental disorders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach, T., & Edelbrock, C. (1991). The child behavior checklist manual. The University of Vermont.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aduen, P. A., Day, T. N., Kofler, M. J., Harmon, S. L., Wells, E. L., & Sarver, D. E. (2018). Social problems in ADHD: Is it a skills acquisition or performance problem? Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 40(3), 440–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • APA. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashburner, J., Ziviani, J., & Rodger, S. (2008). Sensory processing and classroom emotional, behavioral, and educational outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(5), 564–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baranek, G. T., Woynaroski, T. G., Nowell, S., Turner-Brown, L., DuBay, M., Crais, E. R., & Watson, L. R. (2018). Cascading effects of attention disengagement and sensory seeking on social symptoms in a community sample of infants at-risk for a future diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 29, 30–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bijlenga, D., Tjon-Ka-Jie, J., Schuijers, F., & Kooij, J. (2017). Atypical sensory profiles as core features of adult ADHD, irrespective of autistic symptoms. European Psychiatry, 43, 51–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bitsika, V., Sharpley, C. F., & Mills, R. (2016). Disagreement between mothers’ and their sons’ with ASD on ratings of Sensory Features. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 22, 10–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, K. R., Stevenson, R. A., Segers, M., Ncube, B. L., Sun, S. Z., Philipp-Muller, A., Bebko, J. M., Barense, D., & Ferber, S. (2017). Linking anxiety and insistence on sameness in autistic children: The role of sensory hypersensitivity. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(8), 2459–2470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boksem, M. A., Meijman, T. F., & Lorist, M. M. (2005). Effects of mental fatigue on attention: an ERP study. Cognitive Brain Research, 25(1), 107–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, B. D., Edwards, J. F., Kronenberger, W. G., Michalczyk, L., & Marshall, G. S. (1995). Case control study of chronic fatigue in pediatric patients. Pediatrics, 95(2), 179–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, P. P., & Siu, A. M. (2009). A comparison of patterns of sensory processing in children with and without developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 30(6), 1468–1480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chita-Tegmark, M. (2016). Social attention in ASD: A review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking studies. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 48, 79–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chorna, O., Solomon, J. E., Slaughter, J. C., Stark, A. R., & Maitre, N. L. (2014). Abnormal sensory reactivity in preterm infants during the first year correlates with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years of age. Archives of Disease in Childhood-Fetal and Neonatal Edition, 99(6), 475–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clince, M., Connolly, L., & Nolan, C. (2016). Comparing and exploring the sensory processing patterns of higher education students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70(2), 7002250010p1-7002250010p9. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2016.016816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conzelmann, A., Pauli, P., Mucha, R. F., Jacob, C. P., Gerdes, A. B. M., Romanos, J., Bahne, C. G., Heine, M., Boreatti-Hummer, A., Alpers, G. W., & Weyers, P. (2010). Early attentional deficits in an attention-to-prepulse paradigm in ADHD adults. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(3), 594–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conzelmann, A., Werst, E., Schulz, S., Renner, T., & Pauli, P. (2015). Emotional-motivational deficits in healthy student with an increase in ADHD symptoms. Paper presented at the 5th World Congress on ADHD, Würzburg, Germany.

  • Dellapiazza, F., Michelon, C., Vernhet, C., Muratori, F., Blanc, N., Picot, M.-C., & Baghdadli, A. (2021). Sensory processing related to attention in children with ASD, ADHD, or typical development: Results from the ELENA cohort. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(2), 283–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, D. (2018). What is comorbidity and why does it matter in neurodevelopmental disorders? Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 5(4), 235–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, W. (1999). Sensory profile: User’s manual. The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, W. (2007). Supporting children to participate successfully in everyday life by using sensory processing knowledge. Infants & Young Children, 20(2), 84–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, W., & Brown, C. (1997). Factor analysis on the Sensory Profile from a national sample of children without disabilities. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51(7), 490–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, W., & Westman, K. (1997). The sensory profile: The performance of a national sample of children without disabilities. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51(1), 25–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekers, D., Webster, L., Van Straten, A., Cuijpers, P., Richards, D., & Gilbody, S. (2014). Behavioural activation for depression; An update of meta-analysis of effectiveness and sub group analysis. PLoS One, 9(6), 100100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ermer, J., & Dunn, W. (1998). The Sensory Profile: A discriminant analysis of children with and without disabilities. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52(4), 283–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghanizadeh, A. (2011). Sensory processing problems in children with ADHD, a systematic review. Psychiatry Investigation, 8(2), 89–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, E., & Rader, N. (1979). Attention. In G. A. Hale & M. Lewis (Eds.), Attention and Cognitive Development (pp. 1–21). Springer.

  • Hanlon, M. C., Karayanidis, F., & Schall, U. (2009). Intact sensorimotor gating in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 12(5), 701–707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, B. H., Oerbeck, B., Skirbekk, B., Petrovski, B. É., & Kristensen, H. (2018). Neurodevelopmental disorders: Prevalence and comorbidity in children referred to mental health services. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 72(4), 285–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holstein, D. H., Vollenweider, F. X., Geyer, M. A., Csomor, P. A., Belser, N., & Eich, D. (2013). Sensory and sensorimotor gating in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Psychiatry Research, 205(1–2), 117–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchison, A. K., Hunter, S. K., Wagner, B. D., Calvin, E. A., Zerbe, G. O., & Ross, R. G. (2017). Diminished infant P50 sensory gating predicts increased 40-month-old attention, anxiety/depression, and externalizing symptoms. Journal of Attention Disorders, 21(3), 209–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kilroy, E., Aziz-Zadeh, L., & Cermak, S. (2019). Ayres theories of autism and sensory integration revisited: What contemporary neuroscience has to say. Brain Sciences, 9(3), 68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotte, A., Joshi, G., Fried, R., Uchida, M., Spencer, A., Woodworth, K. Y., Kenworthy, T., Faraone, S. V., & Biederman, J. (2013). Autistic traits in children with and without ADHD. Pediatrics, 132(3), e612–e622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, L. M., Dean, E., Tomchek, S., & Dunn, W. (2018). Sensory processing patterns in autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and typical development. Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 38(3), 243–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, L. M., Freuler, A. C., Houser, M. B., Guckian, L., Carbine, K., David, F. J., & Baranek, G. T. (2011). Psychometric validation of the sensory experiences questionnaire. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65(2), 207–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marco, E. J., Hinkley, L. B., Hill, S. S., & Nagarajan, S. S. (2011). Sensory processing in autism: A review of neurophysiologic findings. Pediatric Research, 69, 48–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, M. J. (2010). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the context of autism spectrum disorders. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12(5), 382–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neil, L., Olsson, N. C., & Pellicano, E. (2016). The relationship between intolerance of uncertainty, sensory sensitivities, and anxiety in autistic and typically developing children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(6), 1962–1973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’connor, K. (2012). Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder: A review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 36(2), 836–854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rommelse, N., Buitelaar, J. K., & Hartman, C. A. (2017). Structural brain imaging correlates of ASD and ADHD across the lifespan: A hypothesis-generating review on developmental ASD–ADHD subtypes. Journal of Neural Transmission, 124(2), 259–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanz-Cervera, P., Pastor-Cerezuela, G., González-Sala, F., Tárraga-Mínguez, R., & Fernández-Andrés, M.-I. (2017). Sensory processing in children with autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in the home and classroom contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1772.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satterstrom, F. K., Walters, R. K., Singh, T., Wigdor, E. M., Lescai, F., Demontis, D., Kosmicki, J. A., Grover, J., Stevens, C., Bybjerg-Grauholm, J., & Baekvad-Hansen, M. (2019). Autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have a similar burden of rare protein-truncating variants. Nature Neuroscience, 22(12), 1961–1965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schafer, E. C., Mathews, L., Mehta, S., Hill, M., Munoz, A., Bishop, R., & Moloney, M. (2013). Personal FM systems for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and/or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): An initial investigation. Journal of Communication Disorders, 46(1), 30–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simard, M. F. E,, Gisel, E. G., & Couture, M. (2011). Comparison of the Sensory Profile and the Sensory Processing Measure in a cohort of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research 2011, San Diego, CA.

  • Simmons, D. R., Robertson, A. E., McKay, L. S., Toal, E., McAleer, P., & Pollick, F. E. (2009). Vision in autism spectrum disorders. Vision Research, 49(22), 2705–2739.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thye, M. D., Bednarz, H. M., Herringshaw, A. J., Sartin, E. B., & Kana, R. K. (2018). The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 29, 151–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomchek, S. D., Huebner, R. A., & Dunn, W. (2014). Patterns of sensory processing in children with an autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(9), 1214–1224.

  • Vasiliadis, H.-M., Diallo, F. B., Rochette, L., Smith, M., Langille, D., Lin, E., Kisely, S., Fombonne, E., Thompson, A. H., Renaud, J., & Lesage, A. (2017). Temporal trends in the prevalence and incidence of diagnosed ADHD in children and young adults between 1999 and 2012 in Canada: A data linkage study. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(12), 818–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhulst, F. C., & Van der Ende, J. (1992). Agreement between parents’ reports and adolescents’ self-reports of problem behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33(6), 1011–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, M. T., Woynaroski, T. G., & Stevenson, R. A. (2020). Multisensory integration as a window into orderly and disrupted cognition and communication. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 193–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Z. J., Failla, M. D., Gotham, K. O., Woynaroski, T. G., & Cascio, C. (2018). Psychometric evaluation of the Short Sensory Profile in youth with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1–19

  • Young, H., Oreve, M.-J., & Speranza, M. (2018). Clinical characteristics and problems diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in girls. Archives de Pediatrie, 25(6), 399–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, S., Adamo, N., Ásgeirsdóttir, B. B., Branney, P., Beckett, M., Colley, W., Cubbin, S., Deeley, Q., Farrag, E., Gudjonsson, G., & Hill, P. (2020). Females with ADHD: An expert consensus statement taking a lifespan approach providing guidance for the identification and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in girls and women. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research was funded by the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Network.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Samantha E. Schulz & Ryan A. Stevenson

  2. Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Samantha E. Schulz & Ryan A. Stevenson

  3. Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Elizabeth Kelley

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Muhammad Ayub

  5. Department of Pediatrics and Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, East York, ON, Canada

    Evdokia Anagnostou

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Rob Nicolson

  7. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Stelios Georgiades

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Jennifer Crosbie & Russell Schachar

  9. Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Evdokia Anagnostou

  10. Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Jennifer Crosbie & Russell Schachar

Authors
  1. Samantha E. Schulz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth Kelley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Evdokia Anagnostou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rob Nicolson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Stelios Georgiades
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jennifer Crosbie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Russell Schachar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Muhammad Ayub
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Ryan A. Stevenson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

SS designed and executed the study, completed data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. EK, AG, RN, SG, JC, RS, MA, and RAS collaborated on study design, participated in data collection, and edited the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samantha E. Schulz.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Data collected at each institution obtained ethics approval from that institution. This analysis was approved by the Western University Research Ethics Board.

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained for the legal guardians of all participants. Assent was obtained for all individual participants.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schulz, S.E., Kelley, E., Anagnostou, E. et al. Sensory Processing Patterns Predict Problem Behaviours in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Adv Neurodev Disord 7, 46–58 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-022-00269-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-022-00269-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation