Re: I need to share some joy!

[Guest guest]

Sounds like big gains to me. You go girl!! Love and blessings, Pat K**************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)

[Guest guest]

Good work

Teaching soft touch, or gentle hands, often requires a lot of practice. It

requires the

parents to frequently model nice heads and have child practice it. Flood a lot

of attention

around it, and take every opportunity to prompt nice hands throughout the day.

I will

often play a game with the child where we both go around and touch things with

soft (or

nice) hands. I usually start with lightly massaging the child's arm and then

having the

child do it back with me. The child tries to copy what I am doing. I will pick

a few things

and we will practice soft hands. Then, I have the child pick a few things then

I follow his

leads. So we go back and forth, and add mom or dad in the game.

Often the problem is poor emotional regulation. As the child becomes excited.

or upset,

he loses his ability to regulate his behavior and becomes overpowering. By

teaching the

child what soft hands feel like, you are giving him a tool to learn to regulate

his emotions.

As the child becomes excited and his touch becomes rougher, you redirect the

child to

soft hands and do it with him if needed (praising cooperation). As the child

focuses on

appropriate touch, he gains better control over his emotional regulation. The

important

thing is making sure you focus on his attempts to use soft hands, and take focus

off when

he slips up. The more competent you can help the child feel, the more

confidence he

gains in controlling his emotions and behavior.

Children with autism often have difficulty measuring degrees of relativity

(hard/soft,

loud/quiet, fast/slow, etc.), I will play " regulating " games with the children

trying to

follow my lead. One of the fun ones is banging on a drum. Both parent and

child have a

small drum and a drum stick each. The child tries to follow the parent's lead

in

drumming. Parent will drum soft, soft , soft, soft, hard, hard, hard, hard,

soft, soft, soft.

soft (repeatedly back and forth) until child is effectively copying the drumming

of parent.

Then we will do fast and slow, loud and quiet, etc. These kind of game helps

the child

follow the lead of the parent to learn what it " feels like " to regulate his

behavior. All child

learn regulation from another, more experienced person (parent) first, before

learning self

regulation. Once the child learns how to regulate his behavior, his emotions

are easier to

regulate.

Bill

>

> My son, just yesterday, learned what " nice touch " means (soft

> touch)...He is practicing, and not only practicing, but sharing it with

> me, as if to say, " I know this makes you happy mommy. " It's is so

> wonderful when they " get " it.

>

> Another thing he's beginning to do is recognize things...like he semi

> pointed (with his middle finger, and I'm going to have to work on that

> one ...and said " Elmo " of course I got him the Elmo...

>

> He even " played " with Elmo today...he tried to give him a bite of his

> cookie...makes me cry just thinking about it...I think we are making

> big gains...and I don't want it to stop!

>

> Thanks for letting me share.

>

[Guest guest]

Bill I cannot tell you how much you help...I love your responsed not

only to me but to others...we are blessed to have you.

Thank you, Thank you!!!

Bill when you get a minute...I have a question.

I know needs sensory integration...he's the one who cannot

handle being touched by anyone other than me or daddy or sister...he

panics when spoken to by strangers...I mean panic...he is also the

one who " failed " PT I knwo he didn't fail...I'm his biggest fan,

but he must have SI before anyother therepy...other than Floortime or

RDI, etc...

Ok question:

How will SI help him to better be able to to PT? How does it

work...how does it help them better handle their world outside of the

actually physical place that they recieve OT...

Am I making sense?

Thanks.

[Guest guest]

I am not sure you son has sensory defensiveness, but if he does then you need to

address

it. He may also simply be afraid of strangers and the uncertainty they present.

Kids with

autism fear " uncertainty " , that is part of why they harbor such rigid,

inflexible thinking.

For sensory defensiveness you are looking for clusters of symptoms. The sensory

scale

that I gave out has clusters of symptoms that would indicate sensory

defensiveness. For

example, for tactile defensiveness (touch) you would expect to see that light

touch would

irritate him, certain clothes would be irritating, possibly avoid touching

things that are

messy, and he might also avoid a lot of touch that others initiate. He would be

more

comfortable with him initiating the touch, and will sometimes grave deep

pressure touch.

If the child is oversensitive to sensory stimulation, this is defensiveness.

The child usually

attempts to escape the stimulation (touch, noise, bright lights, etc.) His

nervous system

will often be anxious and on guard. He will want to control most everything

that is going

on to him and around him.

With sensory integration therapy, you would desensitize the defensiveness by

providing

frequent stimulation in graded amounts. One of the common techniques is the

Wilbarger

brushing technique. With this procedure you would firmly scrub the child's skin

with a

surgical brush, and provide joint compressions for several minutes approximately

once

every two hours, for several weeks. There may be a variety of tactile (touch)

activities that

the child engages in during the day (a sensory diet). By providing a variety

of touch

activities over the day, it tends to reset the child's nervous system's reaction

to the touch

and desensitizes the nervous systems overreaction to touch. Once the sensory

defensiveness decreases he will probably become responsive to interaction and

touch by

others.

Bill

>

> Bill I cannot tell you how much you help...I love your responsed not

> only to me but to others...we are blessed to have you.

>

> Thank you, Thank you!!!

>

> Bill when you get a minute...I have a question.

>

> I know needs sensory integration...he's the one who cannot

> handle being touched by anyone other than me or daddy or sister...he

> panics when spoken to by strangers...I mean panic...he is also the

> one who " failed " PT I knwo he didn't fail...I'm his biggest fan,

> but he must have SI before anyother therepy...other than Floortime or

> RDI, etc...

>

> Ok question:

>

> How will SI help him to better be able to to PT? How does it

> work...how does it help them better handle their world outside of the

> actually physical place that they recieve OT...

>

> Am I making sense?

>

> Thanks.

>

[Guest guest]

Got it!!! Thanks.

[Guest guest]

Wow Bill! I am so thankful to have you on this group! I think that everything you are saying I am going to start doing with my little guy! We don't have drums though so could we use pots and metal spoons for this?Stacie BAurora ILSent via BlackBerry by AT&TDate: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:28:49 -0000To: <AutismBehaviorProblems >Subject: Re: I need to share some joy! Good work Teaching soft touch, or gentle hands, often requires a lot of practice. It requires the parents to frequently model nice heads and have child practice it. Flood a lot of attention around it, and take every opportunity to prompt nice hands throughout the day. I will often play a game with the child where we both go around and touch things with soft (or nice) hands. I usually start with lightly massaging the child's arm and then having the child do it back with me. The child tries to copy what I am doing. I will pick a few things and we will practice soft hands. Then, I have the child pick a few things then I follow his leads. So we go back and forth, and add mom or dad in the game. Often the problem is poor emotional regulation. As the child becomes excited. or upset, he loses his ability to regulate his behavior and becomes overpowering. By teaching the child what soft hands feel like, you are giving him a tool to learn to regulate his emotions. As the child becomes excited and his touch becomes rougher, you redirect the child to soft hands and do it with him if needed (praising cooperation). As the child focuses on appropriate touch, he gains better control over his emotional regulation. The important thing is making sure you focus on his attempts to use soft hands, and take focus off when he slips up. The more competent you can help the child feel, the more confidence he gains in controlling his emotions and behavior. Children with autism often have difficulty measuring degrees of relativity (hard/soft, loud/quiet, fast/slow, etc.), I will play " regulating " games with the children trying to follow my lead. One of the fun ones is banging on a drum. Both parent and child have a small drum and a drum stick each. The child tries to follow the parent's lead in drumming. Parent will drum soft, soft , soft, soft, hard, hard, hard, hard, soft, soft, soft. soft (repeatedly back and forth) until child is effectively copying the drumming of parent. Then we will do fast and slow, loud and quiet, etc. These kind of game helps the child follow the lead of the parent to learn what it " feels like " to regulate his behavior. All child learn regulation from another, more experienced person (parent) first, before learning self regulation. Once the child learns how to regulate his behavior, his emotions are easier to regulate. Bill > > My son, just yesterday, learned what " nice touch " means (soft > touch)...He is practicing, and not only practicing, but sharing it with > me, as if to say, " I know this makes you happy mommy. " It's is so > wonderful when they " get " it. > > Another thing he's beginning to do is recognize things...like he semi > pointed (with his middle finger, and I'm going to have to work on that > one ...and said " Elmo " of course I got him the Elmo... > > He even " played " with Elmo today...he tried to give him a bite of his > cookie...makes me cry just thinking about it...I think we are making > big gains...and I don't want it to stop! > > Thanks for letting me share. >

[Guest guest]

That is great! I remember the first time tried feeding his doggie which he calls goggie and still does! It was priceless and I took a pix of it and all and my pc crashed and I had lost files! Someone recovered it for me on a cd but can't find any of my pix or the memory card either! He was 3 then. He is 5 now! How old is your little one?StacieSent via BlackBerry by AT&TDate: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:16:04 -0000To: <AutismBehaviorProblems >Subject: I need to share some joy! My son, just yesterday, learned what " nice touch " means (soft touch)...He is practicing, and not only practicing, but sharing it with me, as if to say, " I know this makes you happy mommy. " It's is so wonderful when they " get " it. Another thing he's beginning to do is recognize things...like he semi pointed (with his middle finger, and I'm going to have to work on that one ...and said " Elmo " of course I got him the Elmo... He even " played " with Elmo today...he tried to give him a bite of his cookie...makes me cry just thinking about it...I think we are making big gains...and I don't want it to stop! Thanks for letting me share.

[Guest guest]

He is 20 months old :0)

He is 5 now! How old is your little one?

> Stacie

> Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T

>

> I need to share some joy!

>

>

> My son, just yesterday, learned what " nice touch " means (soft

> touch)...He is practicing, and not only practicing, but sharing it

with

> me, as if to say, " I know this makes you happy mommy. " It's is so

> wonderful when they " get " it.

>

> Another thing he's beginning to do is recognize things...like he

semi

> pointed (with his middle finger, and I'm going to have to work on

that

> one ...and said " Elmo " of course I got him the Elmo...

>

> He even " played " with Elmo today...he tried to give him a bite of

his

> cookie...makes me cry just thinking about it...I think we are

making

> big gains...and I don't want it to stop!

>

> Thanks for letting me share.

>

[Guest guest]

Pots and metal spoons may drive everyone else in the house crazy. You could

also use

something quieter like drumming on books.

Bill

> >

> > My son, just yesterday, learned what " nice touch " means (soft

> > touch)...He is practicing, and not only practicing, but sharing it with

> > me, as if to say, " I know this makes you happy mommy. " It's is so

> > wonderful when they " get " it.

> >

> > Another thing he's beginning to do is recognize things...like he semi

> > pointed (with his middle finger, and I'm going to have to work on that

> > one ...and said " Elmo " of course I got him the Elmo...

> >

> > He even " played " with Elmo today...he tried to give him a bite of his

> > cookie...makes me cry just thinking about it...I think we are making

> > big gains...and I don't want it to stop!

> >

> > Thanks for letting me share.

> >

>