Guest guest Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 Hi Doris This isn't a " solution " to the issue of sand. I assume your son loves running it though his hands etc?? But, this is a piece of research by Dr Ramachandran in San Diego that helps to make sense of this type of obsession. Dr Ramachandran monitored the physiological reaction of children with autism when engaged in simple play activities in a quiet play area. He found that all children with autism experienced significant physiological reactions even when engaged (alone) in what NT children would consider to be relaxing activities. In other words the graphs showing these reactions were a mass of peaks. A NT child would only show peaks like this with great excitement/fear/surprise etc. The only exception was when the children with autism were engaged in things like running sand through their hands. Only then did they have a " restful " graph.. In other words - everything they do causes them to sweat, their heart to thump and the blood to surge! So it's not surprising they seek out some calm time with sand etc. As an aside, a minority of ASD children (10 % from memory) did not show such a physiological reaction. Their graphs were flat. This group of children only reacted to self-injurious behaviours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 thank you ! I'm going to follow this thread and see what other information I can find. It does appear that sand 'calms' him. He loves going to Ocean City. He has a big play area at home complete with a sand area. I have to admit - it is pretty calming to dig around in sand esp with your toes. doris > > Hi Doris > > This isn't a " solution " to the issue of sand. I assume your son loves > running it though his hands etc?? But, this is a piece of research by Dr > Ramachandran in San Diego that helps to make sense of this type of obsession. > > Dr Ramachandran monitored the physiological reaction of children with autism > when engaged in simple play activities in a quiet play area. He found that > all children with autism experienced significant physiological reactions even > when engaged (alone) in what NT children would consider to be relaxing > activities. In other words the graphs showing these reactions were a mass of > peaks. A NT child would only show peaks like this with great > excitement/fear/surprise etc. The only exception was when the children with autism were engaged > in things like running sand through their hands. Only then did they have a > " restful " graph.. In other words - everything they do causes them to sweat, > their heart to thump and the blood to surge! So it's not surprising they > seek out some calm time with sand etc. > > As an aside, a minority of ASD children (10 % from memory) did not show such > a physiological reaction. Their graphs were flat. This group of children > only reacted to self-injurious behaviours. > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.