Dr. Asad Rafi

No, I haven't.

So if we think about, typically we think about sensory sensitivities with respect to our five senses.

And when we look at the wider scope of understanding sensory sensitivities, there's something called alexithymia.

Okay, so please don't feel flattered that they've named it after you, Alex, right?

Yes, you have influence, but not to that degree.

Okay, so alexithymia is certainly very much prevalent within neurodivergent individuals.

And it's when you struggle to understand or recognize your emotions, you struggle to process them.

You struggle also to articulate them.

Interception is when you struggle to recognize bodily signals and correlate with emotions.

So it's things like knowing when you're hungry or knowing when you're full.

It's knowing when you're tired or fatigued.

It's even knowing when you need to go to the loo or when you need to hydrate or even when you're in pain.

So lots of these signals are

can often be delayed or not even picked up in many neurodivergent people.

So when we start to see challenges like obesity, types of diabetes, disordered eating patterns, it starts to make sense.

You see that correlation.

You start to understand more about sleep issues.

Then you start to understand, is that child actually being disruptive in the classroom?

Who's always putting his hand up and asking to go to the loo?

Or does he truly have a difficulty?