sensory-seeking behavior | Autism PDD

We went through a "door thing" as well. I wasn't willing to wait for him to grow out of it - I would have lost my mind first!!! We put child locks on all cabinet doors, and those foam "no pinch" things on the top of every door in the house. OK, the downside was no door in our house except those to the outside could ever be closed (unless I reached up and took off a foam thing) but it took all of the fun out of slamming doors for C so he eventually just stopped. (Of course he then moved to light switches, a whole separate issue, but at least it was quieter!)Zachary is 4.0. He will be eval'd in 2 weeks. I have a couple of questions:

1. What is sensory-seeking behavior?

2. Z likes to bang doors and cupboards and such repeatedly. It is as if he is seeking noise input. He almost needs the noise input. But he hates high-pitched, loud noises (toys, radio, etc.) Could this be sensory-seeking behavior?
Sensory seeking behavior is seeking input from an object. For my kids it is swinging, climbing with my youngest, with my oldest ds it was self abuse for pressure input. He would bang his body into objects to get the pressure he needed. Spinning the wheels on toys. It is possible with the doors that he is seeking the sound as well as the muscle reaction he gets from the feeling of the door slamming. A couple things you can try are wrestling with him to see if that gives him some of the muscle input he is seeking or creating like paper plate drums ( paper plates filled with beans, rice, etc. and stapled together) that he can bang on walls and things but that don't hurt anything in the house. I think Tom is sensory seeking. He loves jumping and swinging, crashing his body onto the couch, touching hair and faces, prefers spicier or stronger tasting food and loves big bear hugs and crashing into us a lot of the time.Yes it definitely sounds like Sensory seeking behavior - iour son also has a lot of it and - just do a search on Sensory Diet in this formu and you will find a wealth of info on how to help your child wiht this need

My ds did this forever it seems

A 9/93 NT

B 9/00 NT

C 7/02 ASD

Mommy

Thank you. Now I have a better understanding of what sensory-seeking behavior is. I hope

that Z outgrows the door thing. Sometimes it drives me NUTS.

You can chart out your child's sensory issues by completing this checklist. It includes examples of sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding behaviors in all the senses (including the less heard of senses: proprioceptive ie deep muscle/joint input, and vestibular ie body's position in space, balance/gravity).

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html

Good luck with everything.