Re: Re: nne P. - Sensory question...

[Guest guest]

Karmen,

 

As a child I had a love of soothing heat, preassure, and sometimes the tingling

cooling / heating sensation of bengay...actually ate a tube and was air lifted

via helicopter as a toddler afterwards...

 

Anyhow, as a person with autism who has tried to adapt my abnormal

sensations...I try to approach the more sensitive parts of my body with

sensations I enjoy, then slowly expose them to sensations that are not so

pleasing.

 

If it is preasure that is acceptable, begin with that. Several times a day touch

those areas with the acceptable stimulus. Slowly begin to introduce during those

times other sensations after the accepted sensation is implimented and for very

short periods of time.

 

For instance...I like the rythmic pattern of the base of the hand patted firmly

on my back; however, do not like a light touch of a rubbing hand anywhere on my

skin, much like the application of cold lotion, hot lotion applied after firm

rubbing in a light manner is more than tolerable. If I were to try to adapt to

the sensation of a light rubbing touch I would have someone begin first with the

liked firm rythmic pounding and go into firm rubbing....as I begin to adapt to

the firm rubbing it would go lighter and lighter.

 

One thing to note is that with every desired encounter of the undesired

sensation you should always begin and intertwine the acceptable sensation. If

someone were to rub my back lightly to begin with I would still not be able to

tolerate the sensation. Although I am able to control my physical reaction, my

internal reaction is still painfull and not one I can escape even with strong

will. When I have the desired sensation first; however, I can tolerate for a

period of time the lighter sensation of light rubbing.

 

I love the sensation of a heated wet towel, but will not stand for a bag of ice

to so much as  touch me .... if the heated wet towel is wraped around a bag of

ice and left there for the cool to slowly begin to replace the heat, I don't

notice it so much and my tolerance for it is extended long enough for treating

swelling for injuries.

 

The same is true for one of my neice with autism. If you needed to change her

you first had to touch her firmly, rub her firmly, and sometimes be sure to wipe

her with warm towels firmly or it was a struggle to even change her.

 

If you constantly pressed as firmly as she preferred there is doupt she would

have skin left, but the inital sensation being introduced allowed her tolerance

for a less firm touch and a successful cleaning or diaper change to occur.

 

http://speakup.today.com

 

Subject: Re: Re: nne P. - Sensory question...

To: Autism_in_Girls

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 7:29 PM

Hi nne,

I understand it is a sensory issue with my daughter, however other than the

brushing technique, which I posted in an earlier email was unsuccessful with my

daughter (trained OT's as well as myself performed the brushing), what else, if

anything, can be done to help desensitize the area around her ears and neck? Any

advice will be greatly appreciated.

Karmen

Re: Sensory question...

Hi,

I am an Occupational therapist and an RDI consultant and have just recently

joined. I thought I could explain a few things about the light touch and

hair issues. We have two touch systems in our nervous system that result in

two types of behaviorial responses 1) protective or 2) discriminitive. What

tends to happen with kids with various kinds of neurological issues is light

touch (particularly unexpected) on their skin (hair brushing against the

ears or neck, hair brushing, face washing, people brushing past their bare

arms/legs, loose clothing etc.) is incorrectly interpreted as a threat and

triggers the protective system (instead of the discriminitive system). So

they react with fear, anger ... basically the fight, flight or fright

response. Deep touch (deep pressure, massage, firm rubbing) can over-ride

the pain they feel. This explains why we sometimes rub an injuried area of

the body. So it is better to touch your child firmly than lightly. Some

OT's prescribe brushing techniques or sensory pressure games to help kids

overcome this. This also explains why some kids do really poorly in busy

hallways when they are looking into their lockers and other people are

unexpectedly touching and brushing past them. I worked with one young man

who was hitting people in the hallways and getting into lots of trouble and

this was the reason.

Hope this helps!

nne Papadopoulos OT Reg. (MB) (SK)

Occupational Therapist

RDI® Program Certified Consultant