The importance of senses
Sensory Processing and Behaviour Analysis, Recognising What Behaviour May Be Communicating
When a person covers their ears, leaves a busy room, repeatedly rocks, chews their nails, fingers or clothing or simply refuses to enter a particular environment, it can be tempting to focus only on stopping the behaviour. When we analyse behaviour, we need to look beyond the behaviour and explore the ‘why’ behind what is happening. This is why all behaviour analysts should have an understanding of sensory processing, because some behaviour can occur to help a person escape or access sensory input and regulate their nervous system.
Understanding the relationship between sensory processing and behaviour can help us move beyond what a behaviour looks like and start investigating why it is occurring. This can lead to more respectful, effective and person-centred support and improve quality of life.
What is sensory processing?
Sensory processing is the way the nervous system receives, interprets and responds to information from the body and environment.
This includes the senses that we are all familiar with; sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, as well as some extras that you might not be as familiar with including,
Vestibular input, associated with movement, balance and spatial awareness
Proprioceptive input, which provides information about your limb positions and how much force you might be exerting.
Interoception, involving internal bodily sensations such as hunger, pain, temperature, thirst or the need to use the toilet
We all use our senses unconsciously, we feel the textures of clothes on our skin, smell our favourite food, throw a ball for a dog. Even holding a pen to write involves multiple senses; proprioceptive input to know how hard we need to grip the pen and press on the paper and visual input to see what we are writing.
Although we all interact with the world by using our senses, not everyone experiences and responds to sensory information the same way. A sound that is barely noticeable to one person may be overwhelming or even painful to another. A fabric that one person loves may be so irritating to another that they can’t wear it.
Awareness of sensory differences has grown recently especially among the neurodivergent community, but anyone can have differences in how they process sensory input. Research into how individuals diagnosed with autism experience sensory input indicates that sensory reactions are varied and multidimensional and can affect mental health, adaptive functioning and everyday participation. Increasing or decreasing sensory input may also be a way that people regulating their emotional state (Tavassoli et al, 2026).
Sensory seeking versus sensory avoiding behaviour
People seek sensory input when their nervous system needs additional input to concentrate, stay focused or to feel calmer. A person may actively seek additional or more intense sensory input by,
Rocking, spinning, jumping or pacing
Touching objects or people
Chewing clothing or non-food items
Making repetitive sounds or movements; tapping fingers or feet, bouncing their knee.
Seeking firm pressure on their body or squeezing into tight spaces
These actions may help the person feel calmer, more alert, organised or connected to their body.
The opposite is sensory avoiding, which is when people try to minimise sensory input because it is overwhelming them. A person may attempt to reduce, escape or control sensory input by,
Covering their ears
Avoiding particular foods, fabrics or personal-care activities
Leaving crowded or noisy environments
Not wanting to be touched
Closing their eyes or turning away
Becoming distressed when routines or environments change
It is important to note that everyone’s sensory profile is different and a person can seek one form of sensory input while actively avoiding another. For example, trying to avoid or escape a noisy environment (decrease visual and auditory sensory input) while using a fidget toy (increasing tactile / proprioceptive sensory input) to help regulate their emotional state. Responses may also change depending on fatigue, illness, pain, anxiety, environmental predictability and how much sensory demand the person has already experienced.
Signs sensory input may be contributing to a behaviour
Sensory factors should always be investigated as part of a functional behavioural analysis, some of the patterns to be aware of are,
The behaviour regularly occurs around particular sounds, lights, textures, smells, movements or environments.
The behaviour begins during activities such as showering, dressing, eating, hygiene tasks or travelling.
The person repeatedly seeks a particular sensation, like chewing on something or repetitive movements.
The behaviour continues when task demands have been removed.
Signs of distress occur / increase in crowded, unpredictable or sensory-dense settings.
The person appears calmer after movement, pressure, reduced noise or access to a preferred sensory activity.
The behaviour is more likely when the person is tired, unwell, hungry, in pain or already overwhelmed.
The person communicates that particular sensations are uncomfortable, painful or regulating.
Practitioners should resist declaring a behaviour “sensory” based on appearance alone. While rocking may provide vestibular input and be helping someone to regulate, it can also be communicating anxiety, anticipation, discomfort or a wish to disengage.
Sensory triggers and behaviours
Sensory overload or unmet sensory needs may contribute to behaviours described as “challenging”. These might include self-injury, aggression, property damage, absconding or refusal.
The term sensory trigger can be useful, but it should not oversimplify the situation. Behaviour generally occurs within a broader context that may include:
Communication barriers
Pain or health conditions
Trauma
Anxiety
Sleep disruption
Task difficulty
Lack of predictability or control
Social demands / lack of connection
Changes in routines or relationships
Inaccessible physical environments
A sensory explanation should therefore form part of a comprehensive assessment and not be the only assessment.
Assessing sensory processing
A good sensory processing assessment draws information from several sources.
Useful methods include:
1. Listen to the person
Wherever possible, ask the person what they notice, enjoy, dislike or find painful. Communication may occur through speech, behaviour, augmentative and alternative communication, visual choices, gestures or information from observation or supports.
2. Observe across settings
Observe or review what happens before, during and after a behaviour across different activities, people, environments and times of day.
Record environmental details such as:
Noise levels
Lighting
Number and proximity of people
Temperature
Clothing or surfaces
Movement demands
Waiting time
Routine or unexpected events.
For example, “When the hand dryer in the bathroom started, Jordan covered their ears, cried and ran towards the exit.”
3. Look for patterns
Compare occasions when the behaviour occurs with occasions when it does not. If noise is suspected, does the behaviour occur around every loud sound or only unpredictable ones? Does it change when headphones are available? Does the person tolerate the environment better at quieter times?
Patterns help practitioners develop hypotheses rather than assumptions.
4. Use a sensory profile checklist
A sensory profile checklist can help organise observations and identify areas requiring further investigation. Just remember that checklists are screening and information-gathering tools not standalone diagnostic assessments. There are various sensory screening tools that behaviour analysts can use, we have a simple one that you can download here (Insert Link). At The Practice Academy we recommend that you complete the sensory checklist with a client or support who knows them well, this allows you to gather more detailed information through conversation.
Standardised tools, like the ‘Sensory Profile 2.0’ or the ‘Evaluation in Ayres Sensory Integration (EASI)’ are based on peer reviewed research but also may have specific training, qualification and licensing requirements that need to be met before they are administered. They should be used only by professionals who are competent and understand how to administer and interpret them.
5. Work collaboratively
Sensory processing is an area in which collaboration between an individual, informal and formal supports, behaviour support practitioner, occupational therapist and other relevant professionals can be particularly valuable. The aim is not to collect competing professional opinions. It is to create a shared understanding of the person’s experience and translate it into practical support.
Including sensory needs in a behaviour support plan
Including sensory processing information into a behaviour support plan should convert assessment findings into specific, individualised strategies. Vague recommendations such as “provide sensory breaks” give implementing teams very little to work with. Particularly if they don’t have a good understanding of what sensory processing is or what particular inputs an individual struggles with or enjoys.
A stronger plan might specify:
Which environments or activities are difficult
Early signs that the person is becoming overwhelmed / distressed and what to do at this stage.
How the person communicates the need for a break
What supporters should do and avoid doing
Which sensory tools or activities the person has chosen
When and where these options should be available
How environmental demands can be reduced
How effectiveness and unintended effects will be monitored
When occupational therapy or medical advice is required
Strategies should support autonomy and participation rather than aim to make the person appear ‘less different’. Repetitive movement, headphones or withdrawal to a quieter space may be adaptive responses that are needed in certain settings. Adaptions should not automatically become treatment targets simply because other people find them unusual.
Sensory processing and restrictive practices
Unrecognised sensory distress can contribute to escalation of behaviours. If intervention occurs only at the point of crisis, then environmental or physical restraint, seclusion or other restrictive responses can be put in place without adequately addressing what made the situation distressing in the first place.
For example, preventing a person from leaving a noisy area does not resolve their sensory distress. It removes their means of escaping it and may intensify the situation resulting in physical aggression, absconding or self-harm as a person tries to remove themselves from an environment that is causing them distress.
Assessing sensory needs can support the reduction of restrictive practices and improve quality of life by identifying preventative alternatives, including:
Modifying noise, lighting or crowding
Increasing predictability
Offering meaningful choice and respecting the choices
Providing access to preferred regulation strategies
Scheduling demanding activities at more manageable times
Teaching an accessible way to request “stop,” “break” or “leave”
Recognising and responding to early signs of overload
This does not mean that every restrictive practice results from an unmet sensory need. It means sensory factors deserve proper consideration as part of comprehensive assessment, proactive support and ongoing review.
Start with curiosity
Sensory-informed behaviour support is not about attaching a sensory explanation to every behaviour. It is about remaining curious enough to investigate a person’s lived experience.
Ask:
What might this environment feel like to the person?
What happens immediately before the behaviour?
What does the behaviour help the person obtain, regulate, communicate or escape?
Have we listened directly to the person?
Are we changing the person when we should be changing the environment?
When practitioners combine functional assessment with sensory awareness, they are better equipped to develop support that is preventive, respectful and genuinely individualised.
Because sometimes the most important change is not teaching a person to tolerate more. It is creating an environment that asks them to endure less.