<description>Do you remember when you had your babies? And when they were sleepy or cranky or colicky you would go through the list of things-to-do in your head to make them stop crying? Check the diaper. Bust out a booby or a bottle. Wrap them up like a little burrito and rock them back into blissful slumber. This was my checklist. We used to swaddle up those babies so tight. They would thrash and yell until eventually they would tired themselves out. Eventually they just stopped fighting and would lie there on the bed, whimpering or even going immediately silent, and let us swaddle them up tight. It was pretty awesome.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; There's a "hugging" machine that people with autism can use to help calm their sensory system. I believe it was Temple Grandin who invented the machine. It gently but tightly squeeeeezes the body and helps to "relax" the nervous system. I relate to it like this: I used to have braces when I was a teenager. Always after they were tightened they throbbed for days and days. And sometimes I would bite down as hard as I could because the relief from un-clenching felt so much better than the throbbing pain of before. I imagine it might work something like that. Anyway, we were taught to squeeze our little guy into a ball when he went into meltdown mode. We had to do this a lot when he first started his early intervention (a little after 2 yrs old). Boy did he struggle and fight. So obviously I didn't think he liked it and I believed it just didn't work for us.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; But...&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Lately we've been having a lot of meltdowns. I think they've surged in numbers but for what reason I don't really know. Maybe he's going through a growth spurt and his little sensory system is all messed up. So my husband started swaddling him again. I didn't think it would work since he struggled against it so much at other times during meltdowns. But I think it's been working. In fact I became convinced yesterday when I had to swaddle him myself. I expected struggling and screaming but he seemed to realize what I was doing and just went limp, allowing me to wrap him up tight. Then I picked him up like a baby and just gently rocked him. It took him a while still to recompose himself - the whole thing probably lasted about an hour - but all while he was swaddled he was relatively quiet and calm. I could tell he was trying to hard to relax and stop crying. My heart just melted.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; So I guess now that he's older and perhaps more aware of his own tendencies and difficulties, he's realizing the benefit of us doing something like swaddling him. Personally I was shocked to find that it worked at his age (almost 4 yr). But even if it doesn't work every single time he has a rage, I am definitely turning to this method of calming, first thing.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3106788052801319196-8905799761384405068?l=autismathome1.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>

autism at home

[email protected] (the mon☆star)

autism getting older or have we just learned how to get attention? Our recent experience.

MAR 12, 2011-1 MIN
autism at home

autism getting older or have we just learned how to get attention? Our recent experience.

MAR 12, 2011-1 MIN

Description

Do you remember when you had your babies? And when they were sleepy or cranky or colicky you would go through the list of things-to-do in your head to make them stop crying? Check the diaper. Bust out a booby or a bottle. Wrap them up like a little burrito and rock them back into blissful slumber. This was my checklist. We used to swaddle up those babies so tight. They would thrash and yell until eventually they would tired themselves out. Eventually they just stopped fighting and would lie there on the bed, whimpering or even going immediately silent, and let us swaddle them up tight. It was pretty awesome.<br /> <br /> There's a "hugging" machine that people with autism can use to help calm their sensory system. I believe it was Temple Grandin who invented the machine. It gently but tightly squeeeeezes the body and helps to "relax" the nervous system. I relate to it like this: I used to have braces when I was a teenager. Always after they were tightened they throbbed for days and days. And sometimes I would bite down as hard as I could because the relief from un-clenching felt so much better than the throbbing pain of before. I imagine it might work something like that. Anyway, we were taught to squeeze our little guy into a ball when he went into meltdown mode. We had to do this a lot when he first started his early intervention (a little after 2 yrs old). Boy did he struggle and fight. So obviously I didn't think he liked it and I believed it just didn't work for us.<br /> <br /> But...<br /> <br /> Lately we've been having a lot of meltdowns. I think they've surged in numbers but for what reason I don't really know. Maybe he's going through a growth spurt and his little sensory system is all messed up. So my husband started swaddling him again. I didn't think it would work since he struggled against it so much at other times during meltdowns. But I think it's been working. In fact I became convinced yesterday when I had to swaddle him myself. I expected struggling and screaming but he seemed to realize what I was doing and just went limp, allowing me to wrap him up tight. Then I picked him up like a baby and just gently rocked him. It took him a while still to recompose himself - the whole thing probably lasted about an hour - but all while he was swaddled he was relatively quiet and calm. I could tell he was trying to hard to relax and stop crying. My heart just melted.<br /> <br /> So I guess now that he's older and perhaps more aware of his own tendencies and difficulties, he's realizing the benefit of us doing something like swaddling him. Personally I was shocked to find that it worked at his age (almost 4 yr). But even if it doesn't work every single time he has a rage, I am definitely turning to this method of calming, first thing.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3106788052801319196-8905799761384405068?l=autismathome1.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>