An Autistic Way to Adapt: A Model Linking Social and Behavioral Impairments to Sensory Traits of an Autistic Personality

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common developmental disorders. It includes impaired socialization and communication, stereotypical behaviors, cognitive abnormalities, and a wide range of sensory features. While most experts now agree that the social impairments seen in ASD are caused by cognitive deficits, including deficits in cognitive processing of sensory information, there is yet no generally accepted theory to explain the causes of ASD and the nature of the relationship between the deficits in the sensory, cognitive, and social domains. This paper addresses the advances in understanding the sensory-cognitive traits defining an autistic perception, particularly at early age, and presents a model of autistic adaptation (AA) suggesting that social deficits, rigid behavioral patterns, and self-stimulation can be conceived as a consequence of a suboptimal adaptation strategy brought forth by a need to cope with sensory hypersensitivity and to make the outside world a less chaotic and more predictable place. As a result of this adaptation, most children with ASD at an early age (up to 1.5-2 years) form a system of protection against external sensory stimuli perceived as excessively intense at a subjective level; this protection system includes behavioral responses aimed at limiting incoming sensory information and increasing predictability of sensations received by actively searching for the more uniform and predictable external stimuli, avoiding social interaction, narrowing activity range, and following rigid behavior patterns. Special attention is paid to a well-documented tendency of children with ASD to use peripheral vision instead of central vision (lateral glances) and to refrain from behaviors aimed on integration of auditory and visual information; these sensory behaviors, though helpful in preventing sensory overflow, lead to an even more fragmented perception of an outside world characteristic for an autistic personality. Sensory self-stimulation (stimming) is also perceived as a specific adaptive mechanism that provides a child with ASD with predictable and controllable sensations and is aimed at reducing anxiety associated with the intense and unpredictable flow of external sensory information. Further attempts to better understand the specific behaviors and perceptual traits associated with autistic adaptation may lead to development of more effective intervention programs for children with ASD. A broad range of sensory integration therapies are sought that aim to establish new behavioral responses and perception strategies helping to integrate the sensory information, cope with sensory overflow, and enable us to explore the world in a more positive and efficient way.