An autistic individual's extreme difficulty with social relatedness, novelty and change may be in at least in part a failure of habituation. Recognized most often by occupational therapists, sensory defensive children can often benefit from very aggressive OT interventions. Unfortunately, sensory defensive kids are often misdiagnosed by otherwise well-meaning professionals as oppositional and defiant, allergic or anxious, misunderstandings that can lead to stigma and interventions that often do more harm than good. The genuine attention-disordered child theoretically habituates to sensory input far more quickly than his peers. He is likely to cope with his subjective experience of sensory deprivation by seeking new input.
Familiarity is an anchor when storms of anxiety threaten.
With this basic knowledge of habituation, you can help your kids cope in a variety of circumstances. Do this by making as much of the event familiar as creatively as possible long before the event is due to occur. The young or immature child facing surgery, for example, will cope with the hospital stay better if he's visited the hospital, met the doctors and nurses, drawn hospital pictures, bandaged injured dolls and slept in a hospital johnnie long in advance of the actual surgery. Familiarization with the incidentals of the hospital stay can make the entire experience more manageable. Habituation can help children cope with handicaps.