Educators Describe the "Best Things" About Students with Autism at School.
Sensory features in autism can keep getting worse, and when they do, anxiety tags along—so keep checking.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mirenda et al. (2024) tracked sensory features in autistic and non-autistic kids over time.
They used a growth-mixture model to spot three clear paths: stable mild, stable intense, and a path that keeps getting worse.
Most kids in the two intense paths were autistic and also scored higher on anxiety or cognitive tests.
What they found
Sensory issues do not stay the same for everyone.
One group stays mild, one stays intense, and one keeps climbing.
The climbing group carries the heaviest anxiety load, so worsening senses signal rising worry.
How this fits with other research
Storch et al. (2012) first showed that early sensory over-responsivity predicts later anxiety in toddlers; Pat et al. now map the full uphill curve.
MacLennan et al. (2021) linked preschool hyperreactivity to anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty; Pat et al. extend this by showing the link can keep growing through school age.
Krzysztofik (2026) found that COVID-19 stress made sensory issues spike; Pat et al. give the baseline picture that such spikes may be part of an already worsening trajectory.
Hwang et al. (2020) showed intolerance of uncertainty mediates sensory-anxiety ties in adults; Pat et al. suggest the same mechanism starts in childhood and accelerates along the worsening track.
Why it matters
If a client’s sensory profile is climbing, expect anxiety to climb too.
Re-assess at every big transition—new classroom, new job, new home.
Add intolerance-of-uncertainty tools early: visual schedules, priming, and safe exit plans.
Catching the upswing gives you a wider window to teach coping skills before anxiety hardens.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Prior longitudinal investigations of trajectories of sensory features in Autism Spectrum Development (ASD) have not explored heterogeneity. The present study explores initial levels and trajectories of sensory features in ASD as well as, for comparison, typical development. METHOD: Growth mixture modelling was used to explore classes of autistic and typically-developing participants based on caregiver-reported total sensory behaviours on the Short Sensory Profile (SSP) at two time points, when children were aged 2-5 and 4-10 years of age, respectively. RESULTS: Three classes are described: a mixed class of autistic and typically-developing participants with few problematic sensory behaviours ("Stable Mild"), a mostly-autistic class with more problematic sensory features ("Stable Intense"), and a small class of autistic participants whose sensory features reportedly worsened ("Increasingly Intense"). Autistic participants in the Stable Intense class exhibited high anxiety, while autistic participants in the Increasingly Intense class appeared to obtain high scores on cognitive assessments. CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneity of sensory features and challenges found in the present study may suggest that practitioners should conduct individualized assessments of sensory features in ASD. Furthermore, practitioners should be aware of links between sensory features and anxiety in ASD, which may imply that sensory accommodations and supports could protect against anxiety. Finally, the worsening of sensory features over time in the Increasingly Intense subgroup may indicate a need for continued monitoring of changes in sensory features, perhaps especially as sensory environments change during periods of transition.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.1093/pch/pxy076