Describing the sensory abnormalities of children and adults with autism.

Watson et al. (2007) used the DISCO interview to map sensory issues in clients with autism.

They asked about touch, taste, smell, vision, and hearing across children and adults.

The team wanted to see how many people had problems in more than one sense.

Over nine in ten clients showed sensory quirks in several senses at once.

Smell, taste, and vision differences stood out when compared with other clinical groups.

The issues stayed put no matter the client’s age or IQ level.

Leader et al. (2020) later linked these sensory quirks to feeding. They found that kids who sniff or taste food differently often refuse or select foods by texture.

O'Hearn et al. (2011) zoomed in on vision. They showed that autistic adults still miss visual changes in busy scenes, proving the vision gaps R found do not fade with age.

Eussen et al. (2016) added touch data. They showed that autistic adults feel the same surface as rougher and give jumpy ratings, backing up the idea that sensory noise is part of the profile.

You can add the DISCO sensory section to your intake. It takes minutes and flags smell, taste, and vision issues that fuel food refusal, social withdrawal, or problem behavior. Pair the results with feeding checklists and tactile tasks to build sensory-friendly lessons that cut problem behavior before it starts.