What Causes Sensory Processing Disorder? The Evidence

Parenting does not cause this. Sensory processing differences are neurological. They are not caused by parenting style, by too much or too little screen time, by discipline, by how a child was fed, or by anything you did or didn't do. If you've read otherwise — including on older versions of pages like this one — that claim isn't supported by the research. Children with sensory differences are frequently misread as badly behaved, which means parents are frequently misread as permissive or inconsistent. That's a misunderstanding of what's happening, not a description of your parenting.

How common is it? In a survey of kindergarten families, 13.7% of the children represented were reported by parents as having sensory processing difficulties; taken against the district’s full enrollment the more conservative estimate was 5.3%.⁶ A later survey of 925 elementary-age children found that being bothered by certain sensations was common, while other sensitivities were relatively rare.⁷ Both rest on parent report rather than clinical assessment, which is part of why a single agreed figure does not exist.

What causes sensory processing differences?

Strongest evidence Twin studies, replicated

Is sensory processing disorder genetic?

Twin studies are the clearest evidence available. Research from the Goldsmith group at the University of Wisconsin¹, across multiple studies from 2006 onward, found sensory symptoms occur significantly more often in identical twins than in fraternal twins. Because identical twins share all their DNA and fraternal twins share about half, that difference points to a substantial genetic contribution. Sensory differences also cluster in families, and frequently alongside autism, ADHD, and anxiety — which points in the same direction.

Limited evidence Small samples, one sex

Do brain differences cause sensory processing difficulties?

Diffusion tensor imaging studies by Owen, Marco, Mukherjee and colleagues²^,³ found differences in white matter microstructure in children identified with sensory processing difficulties, primarily affecting posterior cerebral tracts — the pathways serving sensory processing and integration. Follow-up work by Chang and colleagues associated white matter measures with auditory and tactile processing specifically.

Be careful how much weight this carries. The original study² involved 16 boys aged 8–11, compared against 24 matched controls. Small samples, one sex, a narrow age band. The findings are real and interesting; they are not a diagnostic test and they do not establish cause.

Consistent association Not shown to be causal

Can premature birth cause sensory processing difficulties?

Premature birth and low birth weight are associated with a higher rate of sensory processing difficulties. This is among the more consistently reported associations in human research. A 2020 systematic review of 27 studies of preterm children found atypical sensory processing in every domain it examined, but with a very wide spread between studies — 28% to 87% for sensory modulation alone.⁸ Preterm birth also arrives with a great deal else: intensive care, medical procedures, early feeding difficulty. That is part of why this stays an association.

Narrow finding Severe deprivation only

Can early deprivation cause sensory processing difficulties?

One area needs stating precisely. Studies of children who experienced severe, prolonged early institutional deprivation⁴ — for example, some children adopted after long stays in under-resourced institutions — have found higher rates of sensory processing difficulties, with the effect related to how long the deprivation lasted (Lin and colleagues, 2005). This is a documented association in an extreme context — not evidence that ordinary parenting, ordinary amounts of stimulation, or the normal ups and downs of family life cause sensory differences. It does not describe a typically raised child, and it is not the same as the unqualified "neglect causes SPD" claim that circulates without this crucial context.

Indirect evidence Animal model

Do prenatal exposures cause sensory differences?

Research led by Schneider and colleagues using non-human primates⁵ linked sensory over-responsivity to maternal stress during gestation, drug and alcohol exposure during pregnancy, and postnatal lead exposure. This is primate research. It's suggestive and it's how a lot of developmental science begins, but it has not been established in humans, and it should not be read as telling any individual parent something about their pregnancy.

What researchers still do not know about the causes

Honest answer: quite a lot.

The mechanism isn't established. We can observe genetic clustering and brain-structure differences without knowing how they produce the daily experience.
Why presentations differ so widely — why one child is over-responsive to sound and another under-responsive to pain — isn't understood.
Whether sensory processing difficulties constitute a distinct condition or are better understood as a feature of autism, ADHD, and other conditions remains genuinely debated.
The research base is smaller than the topic's visibility suggests. Studies are often small, and much of the neuroimaging work has been done in boys.

Why the uncertainty matters practically: it's part of why SPD isn't a standalone diagnosis in the DSM-5 or ICD-11, why insurance is complicated, and why you'll encounter clinicians who take it very seriously and clinicians who don't. That's a real disagreement, and it's not resolved.

What does not cause sensory processing disorder

Worth stating explicitly, because these claims circulate:

Parenting style, discipline, or attachment — no supporting evidence.
Screen time — no established causal link to sensory processing differences.
Vaccines — no. This has been extensively studied in relation to autism and no causal link exists.⁹
Diet or food additives as a primary cause — not supported, though individual children may have genuine food sensitivities that are a separate matter.
Ordinary parenting, discipline choices, or "not enough stimulation" at home — not a cause. The one exception in the research is severe, prolonged institutional deprivation (see above), which is a different situation entirely and does not describe typical family life. Earlier versions of this page listed "neglect" as a general cause without that context; that was misleading and we've corrected it.

Is sensory processing disorder an official diagnosis?

Both current diagnostic manuals now include sensory features in their autism criteria: DSM-5 added hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input in 2013, and ICD-11, effective 2022, carries sensory processing differences too.¹⁰ For families, that matters more than the causal question. Whatever produced the difficulty, it's now recognized diagnostically in a way it wasn't three years ago — and assessments carried out under older frameworks almost certainly never evaluated it.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What causes sensory processing disorder?

The causes aren't fully established. The strongest evidence points to genetics — twin studies consistently show sensory symptoms occur more often in identical than fraternal twins — alongside differences in brain white matter structure and associations with prematurity and low birth weight.

Is sensory processing disorder genetic?

There is substantial evidence for a genetic contribution. Twin studies are the clearest signal, and sensory differences cluster in families and alongside autism and ADHD.

Did I cause my child's sensory difficulties?

No. Sensory processing differences are neurological and are not caused by parenting style, discipline, screen time, or anything you did or didn't do.

Is SPD caused by trauma or neglect?

For a typically raised child, no. The established risk factors are genetic, prenatal, and perinatal, and ordinary parenting does not cause sensory differences. Research has linked severe, prolonged early institutional deprivation — an extreme context, such as long stays in under-resourced institutions before adoption — to higher rates of sensory difficulties, but that is a narrow association in that specific population, not a description of ordinary family life.

Can prematurity cause sensory processing difficulties?

Premature birth and low birth weight are associated with a higher rate of sensory processing difficulties. This is one of the more consistently reported associations in human research.

Do vaccines cause sensory processing disorder?

No. This has been extensively studied in relation to autism, and no causal link exists.

Is sensory processing part of an autism diagnosis?

It is part of the criteria, though sensory difficulty on its own is not a standalone diagnosis in either manual. DSM-5 added hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input to the autism criteria in 2013, and ICD-11, effective 2022, carries sensory processing differences too.

Is there a test to find the cause?

No. There is no genetic or imaging test that identifies a cause in an individual child. Assessment focuses on how a child processes sensory information and what support would help, not on why.

Sources

Goldsmith HH, Van Hulle CA, Arneson CL, Schreiber JE, Gernsbacher MA. A population-based twin study of parentally reported tactile and auditory defensiveness in young children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2006;34(3):393–407. doi:10.1007/s10802-006-9024-0 (PMID 16649001)
Owen JP, Marco EJ, Desai S, et al. Abnormal white matter microstructure in children with sensory processing disorders. NeuroImage: Clinical. 2013;2:844–853. doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2013.06.009 (PMID 24179836)
Chang YS, Gratiot M, Owen JP, et al. White matter microstructure is associated with auditory and tactile processing in children with and without sensory processing disorder. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 2015;9:169. doi:10.3389/fnana.2015.00169 (PMID 26858611)
Lin SH, Cermak S, Coster WJ, Miller L. The relation between length of institutionalization and sensory integration in children adopted from Eastern Europe. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2005;59(2):139–147. doi:10.5014/ajot.59.2.139 (PMID 15830613)
Schneider ML, Moore CF, Gajewski LL, et al. Sensory processing disorder in a primate model: evidence from a longitudinal study of prenatal alcohol and prenatal stress effects. Child Development. 2008;79(1):100–113. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01113.x (PMID 18269511)
Ahn RR, Miller LJ, Milberger S, McIntosh DN. Prevalence of parents’ perceptions of sensory processing disorders among kindergarten children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2004;58(3):287–293. doi:10.5014/ajot.58.3.287 (PMID 15202626)
Ben-Sasson A, Carter AS, Briggs-Gowan MJ. Sensory over-responsivity in elementary school: prevalence and social-emotional correlates. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 2009;37(5):705–716. doi:10.1007/s10802-008-9295-8 (PMID 19153827)
Niutanen U, Harra T, Lano A, Metsäranta M. Systematic review of sensory processing in preterm children reveals abnormal sensory modulation, somatosensory processing and sensory-based motor processing. Acta Paediatrica. 2020;109(1):45–55. doi:10.1111/apa.14953 (PMID 31350861)
Taylor LE, Swerdfeger AL, Eslick GD. Vaccines are not associated with autism: an evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Vaccine. 2014;32(29):3623–3629. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.04.085 (PMID 24814559)
World Health Organization. ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics, 6A02 Autism spectrum disorder. Effective January 2022. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), 2013, criterion B4. Checked August 18, 2026.

Medical disclaimer. This page is for general educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider about your child.