31/05/2026
SENSORY DECODING: SMELLING EVERYTHING
It is not odd. It is information.
James smells things. Objects, people, places, food before he will consider eating it, new environments before he can settle into them. And the world has always had a reaction to that. The stares. The comments. The quiet embarrassment of people around him who do not understand what they are seeing.
But what they are seeing is not strange behaviour. It is an intelligent nervous system doing its job.
When James smells something he is gathering data. What is it. Where is it from. Is it new or familiar. Is it safe or not. Smell gives powerful, immediate information about the world that his nervous system uses to build a map of his environment. And for an autistic nervous system that works hard to predict and prepare for what comes next, that map is not optional. It is essential. It reduces surprises. It makes the world feel more predictable. And a more predictable world is a safer world.
What looks strange is often a different way of understanding and connecting.
Many autistic people experience smell more intensely, in more detail and with more meaning than most people ever will. Scents that sit in the background for others can be vivid, immediate and deeply informative for James. A familiar smell can feel like safety itself. It can create a sense of belonging in an unfamiliar place, reduce overwhelm, build connection and calm an anxious nervous system simply through its presence.
Smell seeking is also regulation. Certain smells calm anxiety. Others boost alertness or help with focus. Smelling a favourite fabric, a familiar object or a trusted person is not a quirk. It is a coping strategy. It is comfort. It is his nervous system using every available tool to stay regulated in a world that asks a great deal of it.
And when we shame that, we take away one of his most reliable sources of safety and comfort. For what. To make other people more comfortable with something that was never harming anyone.
It is not weird. It is how his brain works and copes.
When we understand the why, we can respond with support, not shame. Different, not less. 💙
For professionals reading this:
Olfactory processing differences in autistic individuals can manifest as heightened sensitivity, stronger sensory input and greater meaning attributed to scent than in neurotypical populations. Smell seeking behaviours serve multiple regulatory and environmental mapping functions including anxiety reduction, arousal modulation, environmental predictability and safety signalling.
These behaviours should be understood within a sensory integration framework and never shamed, restricted or used as a basis for social skills correction without understanding their neurological function. Where olfactory seeking is intense or significantly impacts daily functioning, occupational therapy assessment and provision of safe olfactory tools and alternatives should be considered.
Empathy and understanding of the sensory function behind the behaviour is the only appropriate starting point.
When we understand the why, we can respond with support, not shame. 💙
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