When four-year-old Marcus covers his ears and melts down in the grocery store, it's not a behavioral problem. When his sister Emma seeks out tight hugs and crashes into furniture throughout the day, she's not being destructive. Both children are autistic, and their behaviors reflect the profound ways that sensory processing differences affect how they experience and navigate the world.

When your autistic child refuses to do something one day that they willingly did the day prior, or they melt down over simple tasks they've done many times before, it's easy to feel frustrated and wonder if they're just being defiant.