Social skills can be very limited if the child withdraws or picks fights as a result of unexpected touch. Auditory defensiveness can occur with negative responses or fears related to sounds and noises. Some children are so fearful of sounds such as vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, hair dryers, leaf blowers, or sirens that parents must arrange to use appliances when the child is out of earshot. Other children may show intolerance of sounds and noises by clapping their hands over their ears. One child I knew could not tolerate the sound of a flushing toilet, another covered his ears when his preschool class had music.
Visual defensiveness can occur with hypersensitivity to light or avoidance of gaze.
One child I know could not tolerate going into a deli with his mother because the odors made him feel sick. Defensiveness in the vestibular area can result in intolerance to movement or unstable surfaces with fearfulness, avoidance, or motion sickness. The child may be afraid to go down steps or to ride an escalator. One child I knew not only would not step up a few inches on my floor mat, but refused to step up a curb, even holding his mother's hand. Each time they came to a curb, the mother either had to carry him or allow him to get on his hands and knees to crawl over the curb.