The sensory overload in people with fragile X results in social withdrawal, hyperarousal and anxiety. It shows up in early infancy and progressively worsens throughout childhood.
New research provides insight into why fragile X syndrome, the most common known cause of autism and mental retardation, is associated with an extreme hypersensitivity to sounds, touch, smells, and visual stimuli that causes sensory overload and results in social withdrawal, hyperarousal, and anxiety.