Triveni Goswami Vernal
(Registered Special Educator A64010)

Stims, as we know, refer to self-stimulatory behaviour. Individuals with Autism, often engage in stims to regulate their sensory experiences, which they may find to be quite overwhelming/under-whelming. The previous blogs looked at Auditory and Visual stims and the activities that can be done to work on Auditory and Visual Processing.
This blog will provide a brief overview of Olfactory Stims and the forms they may take. Olfactory Stims refer to self-stimulatory behaviour that is related to the sensory experience of smelling.

RESEARCH ON AUTISM AND THE SENSE OF SMELLING
Research on the subject of Autism and the sense of smelling, have provided varying results. But some of the research has shown that individuals on the Autism spectrum, have an impaired odour sensitivity and odour identification, which is related to decrease in activity in the olfactory cortex (Impaired Odor Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated with Decreased Activity in Olfactory Cortex, Kohler et al, Chemical Senses, Volume 43, Issue 8, October 2018, Pages 627–634, September 2018). A systematic literature review of studies on Olfaction and Autism Spectrum Disorders by a group of researchers in 2015, have also “suggested a possible involvement of olfactory impairment in ASDs, underlining the importance of olfactory evaluation in the clinical assessment of ASDs” (Olfaction in autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review, A. Tonacci et al, September 2015, Child Neuropsychology 23(1):1-25).
A lot of children on the Autism spectrum do not show any response to either good or bad odours. Perhaps, these studies can help us create a better understanding of how an impairment in the olfactory processing, may be the reason for it.

In contrast, there are individuals with Autism, who may be hypersensitive to certain smells or hyposensitive to certain smells.

HYPERSENSITIVITY TO SMELLS can lead to an avoidance of those smells and anything that is associated with it. An individual may avoid foods (spices), or places (supermarkets/hospitals), objects (shampoos/soaps etc) or even people associated with that particular scent.

HYPOSENSITIVITY TO SMELLS can lead to actively seeking out those smells in the environment and everything associated with it. An individual seeking scents, may sniff objects around the house, sniff surfaces, sniff people/clothing, smell food items, or even particular scents of items, like shampoos, soaps etc.

The Olfactory sense is a very important sensory system for every individual. For children/adults on the Autism Spectrum, who may have an impaired sense of smell, it is also very important to teach them various kinds of smells to help them discriminate between them. From the point of Safety too, it is important to teach them to identify various scents. For example, they need to know that certain scents indicate “danger”, such as smoke associated with fire or the odour related to a gas leakage.
In my next blog, I will share resources on activities to teach and augment the sense of smell in individuals who may have impaired olfactory processing.
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Author Triveni Goswami Vernal

Triveni Goswami Vernal is an Autism advocate, registered Special Educator (CRR A64010) and an Independent Researcher. Her areas of interest include Autism, Disability Rights, Gender, Art and Northeast studies. She is a mum to an 12 year old on the Autism Spectrum.

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Artwork “Beach”, Artist Kabir Vernal
Acrylic Painting on Ivory Paper