Does your child squirm every time someone touches his face? Does he hate touching things that he considers ‘yucky’? Does he ask you take off all the tags and labels from his clothing? Are his feet very sensitive? Does he dislike particular fabrics because they feel rough on his skin? Does he not like it when you shampoo and brush his hair?

If even a single answer of yours is ‘yes’, then there is a possibility of your child suffering from touch sensitivity, which is referred to as tactile defensiveness. This is owing to a deficit in the child’s sensory motor integration.

Our overall social and emotional development depends a lot on our sense of touch. This system lets us build on our relationships with others. Touch is responsible for connecting a newborn baby and a mother; and touch allows us to strengthen our relationships with our spouses.

Another important role that touch plays is through its ability to function as a warning system. Touch tells us that extremely hot temperatures can hurt us… such as touching a hot burner.

But there are people whose tactile sensory system does not work the way it should. In such instances, the sufferer can feel pain through a sensation that isn’t really a threat; and even by a sensation that someone else might actually like.

These people are patients of touch sensitivity (tactile defensiveness), a condition that falls under the category of sensory integration disorders.

In dealing with children who suffer from tactile defensiveness, care is of the utmost importance.

A physical sensation that you might view to be harmless could be construed as a physical threat by your child. If your child suffers from tactile defensiveness, then the way he perceives a particular touch sensation could differ greatly from the way you perceive it.

A sensation that might seem soft to you could be the cause of pain to your child. As a result of this, your child’s behavior could take a turn for the worse. Upon causal contact that someone else might regard as completely normal, your child could have an outburst that others might view to be inappropriate. Your child, in such a situation, could want to scream, lash out, run away, etc.

You should know that your child’s learning abilities aren’t necessarily affected by touch sensitivity, but his resulting reactions would be affected. Your child could end up being defensive at most times, and this could lead him to become distractible and emotionally insecure.

This is one of the factors that differentiate ADHD and touch sensitivity. ADHD children are known to have problems in sustaining attention but it isn’t like they would get distracted in an easier manner. A child who suffers from ADHD would not have a strong reaction to small stimuli while being involved in an activity, but the same stimuli can result in a strong reaction from a child who suffers from tactile defensiveness.

If you want to step into the shoes of a child who suffers from touch sensitivity, imagine what you would feel if you were subjected to someone persistently scraping his nails on a blackboard, or how you would feel if you end up clipping your nails way shorter than you should have.

A caress that you might think to be warm and tender could have a similar effect as the example above on a child suffering from touch sensitivity.

However, while your discomfort would only be momentary, a touch sensitive child’s discomfort is often very long drawn.

A child such as this might not want to wear woolen clothes because they feel rough against the skin. He can have strong reactions when people accidentally bump into him. He could have a problem concentrating in class because the air coming out from the duct is blowing in his direction. He could find it hard to make friends because of his constant fear that people will bump into him.

Adult touch sensitivity patients can end up facing marital problems. Physical contact that is otherwise commonplace can upset touch sensitive patients, and this can even be in situations which call for some form of physical contact. This aversion to being touched can result in significant marital discord.

Signs that can tell you if your child is touch sensitive include:

·   Him reacting strongly in situations that seem quite ordinary

·   His being distracted easily by something touching and bothering him

·   His avoiding being touched altogether

·   His insisting on wearing particular fabrics and not wanting to wear others

·   His insisting that you remove the tags & labels from his clothes

·   His avoiding certain foods because of how it ‘feels’

·   His fighting with you when you are doing seemingly normal things such as shampooing his hair, cutting his nails, etc.

·   His liking physical sensations that have a calming effect on him. These could be sensations such as rocking, firm pressure, etc.

People who suffer from touch sensitivity can also experience very high sensitivity in their mouth, on their tongue, their palms, and the soles of their feet.

Touch sensitivity is truly a problematic condition. It can occur singularly, or it can also coexist with other medical conditions that a child has. Touch sensitive patients can also have a combination of the following conditions:

· Motor coordination difficulties

· Motor planning difficulties

· Bed wetting

· Problems with hand-eye coordination

· Bad eating habits

· Allergies

· Sleep disorders

· Emotional insecurity

· Persistent ear infections

· High levels of anxiety

· Digestive disorders

· Speech & language delays

There are other conditions which may have touch sensitivity as one of the components. These conditions include:

· Bipolar Disorder

· ADHD

· Down Syndrome

· Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

· Autism

· Fragile X

· Asperger’s Syndrome

· Learning Disabilities

· Dyslexia

· Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

· Selective Mutism

As is the case with most complex neurological disorders, information relating to the cause of different sensory integration disorders is still inconclusive. When the cause of a condition continues to evade people in the medical fraternity, the cause is referred to as being ‘idiopathic’. In simple English, this simply translates into ‘we haven’t got a clue’.

When we scientists cannot pinpoint the reason behind something, we find it quite unnerving. This has led to various theories about why our sensory organs work unsystematically. There are no fewer than five hypotheses on touch sensitivity, and the latest of these suggests that a cerebellum irregularity might result in this condition.

While some of the theories surrounding this topic do seem to be heading in the right direction, the most recent findings continue to show that the causes leading to this condition still remain idiopathic.

Since this condition results due to a sensory motor integration deficit, the goal of the treatment plan should be to try and address the problem in a way that would help develop the sufferer’s sensory integration. The goal should also aim at bringing about some normalcy in the sufferer’s sensory integration as well as motor planning and this can be done by improving the nervous system’s ability to interpret and register touch related information.

Treatment for this condition is generally carried out by professional occupational therapists. If you feel that your child could suffer from touch sensitivity, it is vital that you get him diagnosed by a trained and qualified person who specializes in dealing with sensory integration related problems.

You should consult your pediatrician to start with and he can refer you to a suitable therapist who would first diagnose your child’s condition and then treat it. The therapist would chart out a treatment plan for your child and would also guide you on how you can make things around the home better for your child.

Keep in mind that tactile defensiveness is only one amongst a number of sensory motor integration deficits that are known to affect children, and it can also coexist with other medical conditions such as Bipolar Disorder and ADHD.

Although statistics surrounding sensory integration disorders continue to remain unclear, what is clear is that they occur quite commonly. While conditions like these can have quite a telling effect, you must know that a majority of the cases can be treated.

If you feel that there is a possibility that your child suffers from touch sensitivity, it is imperative that he be taken to a therapist that specializes in sensory integration & trained motor planning for an overall evaluation.