Sensory needs
&
Getting your child's body under
control.
You may
wonder why your child with autism seems to lose control of their body. The
short answer is, he has different sensory needs than a typical person.
Specific sensory
input is as important mentally to children with autism as eating.
Imagine how you feel (other than hungry) when you miss a meal, you
are sluggish, unable to concentrate, irritable, etc. This is how
someone with autism feels when their sensory needs are not being met.
Understanding your child's individual neurological responses can
help you gain insight to many of your child's
self stimulating or
"stimming"
behaviors such as
rocking, hand flapping,
waving their fingers in
front of their face, scratching repeatedly, biting themselves,
grinding teeth, humming, rubbing genitals, running hands under water for long
periods of time, or any other repetitive movements or sounds.
Different sensory needs include
auditory(hearing),
proprioceptive (muscle&joint),
tactile (touch),
vestibular (movement & positioning) and visual.
A sensory diet can be constructed to
proactively meet your child's sensory needs and enable you to help your
child get his body under control.
The neurons in your child's brain send misfires to the nerves throughout
the body that may cause either a heightened sensory experience or
a dulled
sensory experience. In some cases a child may be over
sensitive to touch and what might seem like a small tap to you could
feel like a sharp heavy blow to them. This is usually a cause of
depression to parents. All you want to do is show your child that you
love them by giving them hugs or snuggling them, but they push you away.
It is not because they don't love you or don't recognize you, it is
because their brain is misinterpreting the tactile input they are
receiving. Children
with autism use their senses differently than other children and must be
treated on an individual basis.
You might see your child flapping their arms or tensing their body in a way that
seems illogical or even uncomfortable but chances are, they are just trying to
orient their body or help their body parts know where they are.
Anxiety in children with autism can be crippling to your child.
Developing a routine for your household can help tremendously.
Making your child aware of any changes in your routine will help
to ease any over stimulation. Over stimulation from simple or seemingly
unrelated incidents (i.e. mom on business trip, a new article of
clothing, hangnail, different smell, etc) can lead to hyperactivity,
distractibility, poor coordination, poor balance. Under
stimulation (i.e. skipping vital sensory diet activities, or off routine
activities) can lead to a distant, almost comatose state of existence.
Being conscious of your child's sensory needs will help ease your
child's frustration both academic and socially.
Your
child may
need sensory input to calm their bodies down while others will need it
to wake their bodies up. You may need to try different combinations of
calming input and invigorating input depending on the time of day. As
needs change, different activities can be planned.
No comments:
Post a Comment