Chronic Absenteeism: Do Sensory Issues Hurt School Attendance?

On the way into her elementary school, a student takes a deep breath and yanks her T-shirt over her nose. Her mother watches her distress from the parent drop-off line while her teachers placidly observe what looks like quirky behavior.

For some kids, school stinks. 

Perfumes. Disinfectants. Smelly gym bags. It’s an all-day olfactory assault. 

For other kids, it’s not so much the smells as the sounds that overwhelm. Lockers slam, buses roar, feet thunder up and down the bleachers. How is a child with sensory sensitivities supposed to endure a single school day?  For many, the answer is, “I can’t.” 

School distress and sensory issues  

Researchers have identified sensory processing difficulties as a “key barrier” to classroom learning (Connelly et al., 2023). When students regularly have negative sensory experiences, it can impede learning. It can also cause anxiety and limit kids’ participation as well as their sense of inclusion. Sensory issues keep some kids out of school altogether: They’re simply unable to tolerate the overload.

This is how some parents describe their experience:

• “We are able to get her into school most days by carrying her...but if she was bigger...she would be missing school” 
• “Will go but after huge amounts of upset and panic…” 
• “Extreme withdrawal and a corresponding lack of expression/engagement” 
• “…Meltdowns at the end of the day” (Connelly et al., 2023) 

For students with sensory issues, difficulties often involve more than one sensory system: tactile and auditory systems are the most frequently implicated. The more sensory systems involved, the more likely it is that a student will have higher absences from school.  

Overlap with neurodivergence 

In some cases, sensory processing differences aren’t the only factor influencing chronic absenteeism. Autism, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental differences—which often overlap with sensory issues—are also linked to more missed school days.

Research shows that many autistic children process visual information differently than their neurotypical peers. For example, it may take longer for an autistic child to shift their eyes and attention from one object to another. An autistic person might also focus more on visual details than on objects as a whole (Zhou et al., 2023). Autistic students are also more likely to process sounds differently—which makes classroom noise an even bigger educational challenge for autistic students.

These sensory differences can change both behavioral and academic outcomes. For example, there’s some evidence to suggest that repetitive behaviors increase when autistic students face an overload of sound stimuli (Mallory & Keehn, 2021). Academic participation can also be affected: In one study, teachers told researchers that autistic students with sensory sensitivities seemed less attentive, less aware, and less “available” in learning contexts (Gentil-Gutiérrez et al., 2021). 

Similar difficulties exist for students with ADHD (Rani et al., 2023). Sensory stimuli present an extra demand on a student’s attention—on top of the challenges posed by ADHD itself. Sensory difficulties add to the other risk factors for chronic school absenteeism, making it more likely that students with neurodevelopmental differences like ADHD and autism will miss school (Russell, 2022). There’s just too great a mismatch between the student and the environment.  

Improving the sensory ecosystem for everyone 

Schools are inherently stimulating—and often unpredictable. So how can educators reduce the cognitive load and attentional demands of school settings?

Here are a few strategies researchers suggest: 

1. Begin with a clear understanding of a student’s sensory needs. Some students need greater sensory input and some need less. Some students are likely to respond to sensory overload directly—even aggressively; others may respond by withdrawing. Knowing a child’s sensory profile will help you make better decisions about modifications to the educational environment. 
2. Collaborate with parents to learn how the child functions best at home. Parents are experts in their child’s needs, routines, and behaviors. They may be able to shed light on a child’s sensory triggers. Plus, strategies that work at home may improve a child’s experience during the school day.  
3. Design educational spaces with function and predictability in mind. Researchers have found that clearly defined activity zones support autistic children who appreciate routine and order (Tola et al., 2021). Using “wayfinding” cues can help visually oriented students navigate the classroom with ease. 
4. Minimize visual clutter. Autistic students and those with ADHD are capable of intense focus, particularly when they are working on tasks that interest them. To capitalize on this strength, you may want to select classroom posters and displays that are task-relevant rather than distracting (Mallory & Keehn, 2021). 
5. Include sensory spaces that allow students to separate from others (Irish, 2022). The features of these classroom areas can be adapted to the specialized needs of your students, including lighting and color choices. Sensory-friendly areas often supply familiar sensory items to calm or engage students who need them (Nair et al., 2022).  
6. Consider how you might vary lighting in a classroom. Since students respond differently to the intensity and quality of light, it might be helpful to allow students to choose their seating so they’re closer to a preferred type of light. Dimmer switches may also be a good way to give students and teachers additional lighting control (Nair et al., 2022).  
7. Prevent auditory overload by reducing ambient noise, especially speech. Less extraneous noise can help autistic students direct their attention, engage more with their work, and use classroom-appropriate behaviors. 

Key Messages 

People perceive, process, and respond to sensory information in so many different ways. For some children, the ceaseless sensory barrage of an average school day is just too much. They may opt to be absent for their own self-preservation.

Since chronic absenteeism is high across the nation, it’s important to find out why a student is missing school. If sensory overload is part of the reason, there are steps you can take to address the mismatch between students and surroundings so that everyone has an opportunity to be physically, mentally, and emotionally present.