Are sensory issue the root of your problems?

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My eight year old son with autism loves to read books about astronomy. I took him to the main branch of the Phoenix Public Library yesterday to check out books about astronomy. Of course, we had to go to the adult section of the library to find material that he would enjoy. Despite the fact that he can read about astronomy for six hours at a time, he can not watch a Youtube video about astronomy for 2 minutes.

Thus, I started to ask myself if sensory issues are at the root of autism. The boy is very loving and affectionate. Yet, he is socially clueless. He will run outside naked if he is having a bad day. Yet, he will attempt to bond with anyone. For example, when my wife was unexpectedly not at home one day, he started asking ladies in the neighborhood if they would be his Mommy. I think that he was very worried that his mom would not come home.

Sensory issues are a significant problem for me, but if I had to cite one problem as the essence of my autism, it would be the difficulty in shifting mental focus from one subject to another. It accounts for a lot of my trouble in the workplace and in social situations, and is probably also central to my executive disfunction, as I can't see the big picture when I'm lost in the detail of what I'm actually doing.

Is your difficulty with shifting focus responsible for your sensory issues?

Are sensory issues only important when you are in hyper focus mode?

Although a psychologist would probably put me in the category of NT, I know that I have big sensory issues when I need to complete my annual Federal Tax Return.

Once I'm focussed on a task, I usually don't notice any sensory issues at all,. and can even injure myself without realising it, though the injuries haven't been all that serious yet - just cramps, repetitive strain injuries, etc.. Sensory issues are only an annoying distraction when I'm trying to deal with the elements of life that hold no natural fascination for me.

I'd say autism is several components put together.

Sensory issues are pretty much universal in autistics. But they're also seen in some non-autistic kids. I know a 5 year old boy with mild delays in some skills, good social skills, hypotonia and tactile defensiveness. I wouldn't call him autistic. And since you can have sensory issues without being autistic, there must be more to autism.

Another piece is executive functioning. Autism, ADHD, Tourette's, all those conditions have executive dysfunction. (Attention is controlled by executive functions.) But that's not the whole thing of autism either.

Autistics do not always have severe sensory dysfunction, so its not the root.

Same for me. Inertia is my biggest issue. I think chronic depression and autistic inertia have really become intertwined in me. Each feeds back and makes the other worse. The more loss of motivation I experience the greater need I have for intense focus in order to have any sense of contentment in the moment. Yet, the more I need focus the more the world pushes back and the more stressful the situation becomes the more diffecult it becomes to focus on anything, or even have the drive to do anything new.