Sensory Needs Quiz- Your Sensory Needs Assessment – Autism and ADHD Sensory Processing Integration

We’re going to explore 6 main sensory needs areas. With each item, you can evaluate whether you are a sensory seeker, sensory avoider, or neutral. Then we’ll talk about a few ways that you can adapt to meet your needs. Again- if you’d like to learn more, there’s a bunch of great books out there that go into more detail about how to accommodate these sensory needs. For one- “A buffet of sensory interventions” is great. 

With each of these items check to see if you seek out those experiences, avoid them, or it’s mixed or neutral. Use little tally marks in a chart like this.

OK, #1. Touch-

1. Physical Contact hugs, cuddles, snuggling, handshakes, pats on the back, physical sports like wrestling or roughhousing. 
2. Do you enjoy or seek out extreme temperatures on your skin like cold air on a winter’s day or the heat from a sauna
3. Textures– do you love rough canvas clothing or lots of jewelry or blankets, or textures like satin or silk? Or do you avoid intense textures and seek things that are always soft or consistent?
4. Messy Play– activities that involve touching and exploring various textures like lotions, touching slime, sand, play-dough, finger painting, doing the dishes, working in the dirt
5. Touching stuff all the time, fidgeting, feeling the texture of walls or objects
6. Grooming– combing your hair, washing your face, feeling a shower, touching your hair, skin or nails frequently, getting toweled dry
7. Deep pressure– massages, hugs, or being squeezed between cushions? Preference for tight fitting clothing is sensory seeking, preferring loose clothing is sensory avoiding. 
8. Difficulty Concentrating Without Tactile Stimulation- like rubbing a textured object or tapping their fingers.
9. Surprise touches– bumping into someone at a concert, being tickled, being in a crowded subway.
10. The feeling of certain food textures or temperatures- some people seek exciting combinations of food textures- like sushi or chips, others avoid textures and limit what to eat to consistent textures like bread. 

#2. Proprioceptive (Body Sense) 

1. 1. Physical Play like roughhousing, wrestling, or playfully crashing into soft objects.
   2. Jumping or Bouncing
   3. Pushing Against Surfaces: like walls, doors, or furniture to obtain deep pressure.
   4. Active Participation in Sports: They may be drawn to sports and activities that involve physical contact, such as football, rugby, or martial arts.
   5. Enjoyment of Weighted Items: like weighted vests or lap pads.
   6. Difficulty Sitting Still or fidget or shift positions frequently to seek proprioceptive stimulation.

• Having Eyes closed or covered

1. Squeezing: Like stress balls, tight hugs, or squeezing between cushions.
2. Heavy Work or effort like carrying heavy objects, pushing or pulling heavy furniture, or climbing. Manual labor.
3. Tactile experiences that provide deep pressure, such as rolling on a foam roller, getting a massage, or lying under a weighted blanket. frequently manipulate objects, like twisting or squeezing a pen, to satisfy their need for proprioceptive input.

#3. Vision:

1. Looking at shining, spinning or moving objects, enjoying fairy lights, christmas lights or sunlight streaming through windows. Lava lamps, pinwheels. 
2. Looking for objects- rockhounding, birdwatching, seek and find activities, observing nature, 
3. Making or Experiencing Art- art museums, drawing painting or coloring
4. Reading for long periods of time
5. Busy visual environments- whether that’s having lots of pictures on your walls or enjoying window shopping at the mall. 
6. Visual puzzles- jigsaw puzzles or spot the difference games, optical illusions
7. Visual Variety- Do you favor bright, vibrant colors in clothing, toys, or do you prefer a minimalist environment
8. Busy, bright, action packed TV, Movies, or video games
9. Eye contact
10. Attention to Detail

#4. Taste and smell: do you seek or avoid: 

1. Unfamiliar Scents- Lotions, candles, perfumes, 
2. New Tastes- Do you like to eat new and exciting foods
3. Intense Flavors- like spicy, salty, bitter, sour, etc. 
4. Strong Odors- like gasoline, cleaning supplies, plastics, 
5. New or exciting food textures- slimy sushi, popping boba, crunchwrap supreme, pop rocks, 
6. Natural smells- rain, strong evergreen smells, etc. 
7. Highly flavored food: 
8. Do you seek to eat a large variety of foods or eat the same few foods over and over? 
9. Exoctic or foreign foods
10. Food with lots of different flavors- salty caramel, lemon salmon, do you use a lot of different spices in cooking. 

# 5. Vestibular: Do you seek or avoid: 

1. Swinging- 
2. Spinning- toys, merry go rounds, the tea cup ride, spinning chairs
3. Wild or fast rides, fast transportation,- roller coasters, changes in direction when driving fast, thrill seeking in a movement way- 
4. Tumbling, Gymnastics, Flips, 
5. Movement in general- Riding in a car, elevators, escalators, 
6. Rocking- rocking chairs, hammock, or swings, or rocking in their seat, leaning their chair back. 
7. Heights- climbing, looking out windows of skyscrapers, 
8. Balancing- Riding a bike, balancing on a log, walking on uneven ground, skateboarding
9. Jumping- on trampolines or off a bench or diving board
10. Getting upside down- head stands, inversion tables, cartwheels, handstands

#6. Auditory

1. White noise, background music, fans or dishwashers running
2. Noisy settings – coffee shop, crowded restaurant, parties
3. Loud music, concerts, loud speakers, straight piped cars. 
4. Noise making- humming, tapping, clapping, or singing spontaneously
5. Creating music- singing, playing instruments
6. Feedback sounds- chimes when you complete a task, notifications on your phone, beeping of a microwave when it’s done. 
7. Rhythm- drumming, tapping, patterns, echoes
8. Exploring sounds- making echoes, booms, etc. 
9. Exciting sounds- unexpected sounds, Noisy toys, loud TV’s, fire alarms, 
10. Dance or vibrations- subwoofers, vibrating massage chairs, humming bridges, 

OK, so now take a look at your little chart- do you have any areas that you are strongly seeking or avoiding? Let’s explore what types of changes we can make to your environment to help you be more regulated:

You can use the chapters in the description to jump to the sections you need. One thing to note- we all have a sensory comfort zone, a stretch zone and a panic zone. It’s ok to spend periods of time in our stretch zone, we might just need breaks to go back into our comfort zone to relax and recover afterwards. We don’t want to get too focused on avoidance, because that can shrink our comfort zone. Our goal is to create a sensory diet that helps us function in our lives. So as you explore these accommodations, don’t get sucked into too much avoidance, try to find a balance that supports you in living the life that you desire, even when at times that is uncomfortable, by taking time to stretch and then rest and recover afterwards. 

And again, individuals with specific needs can benefit from working with a skilled Occupational therapist who specializes in sensory accommodations.