depends what touch means.
one of the ways support staff deal with challenging behavior,general not being well,and meltdowns of mine is to use very very acute bear hugs from behind with a heavy blanket,they wont do it from front due to hitting out,biting etc.
its like being ultra calm and then am sent to sleep from coming down from the stress chemical release.
am not able to take normal pressured hugs,nor any contact from the front,am not able to initiate hugs or touch either,its a concept that will always be above self as it is part of initiating interacting.
had been completely unable to handle any touch at all not that long ago,it was only upon coming into a LD institution a decade back where staff were hands on [in more ways than one],they werent afraid of the kicking off that happens from touch,whereas family were unable to cope with it so never helped to build tolerance.
in own view,child autists shoudnt be left as they are if they challenge a parents/carers action;such as touch, sensory integration is one method that can be teamed with ABA to help us develop tolerance early and not have such a negative view of it as adults,touch can have huge benefits for us if we can get to a stage where it helps calm our arrousal system rather than just heighten it,it needs to be done before adult age really as its much more difficult and much more painful trying to work on this as adults.
unpredictible touch is worse as it has a higher level of fight or flight response caused which means more of the stress chemicals released.
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>severely autistic.
>>the residential autist;
http://theresidentialautist.blogspot.co.uk
blogging from the view of an ex institutionalised autism/ID activist now in community care.
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