AUTISM THERAPY
Two Remarkable
Autism Therapies
You Need to Know
By Meredith SISKRON
W
hen asked to name a therapy that will
help the autism community, most peo-
ple will say applied behavior analysis
(ABA), occupational therapy (OT), or
even speech therapy, but I am here to
tell you there are additional therapies
out there that can help. In this article,
I will describe two specific therapies, their benefits,
and what typical sessions might look like:
1.
Autistic Touch Therapy
The first type of therapy that may help the au-
tism community is called Autistic Touch Thera-
py. It is taught by Tina Allen who founded the
organization Liddle Kidz who travels the world
teaching people how to massage children of all
ages and disability types. Autistic Touch Ther-
apy is a type of massage where the therapist
uses different objects that the child likes, such
as a toy car, hairbrush, or even a hand puppet,
to name a few, in the therapy session. The ben-
efits include providing relaxation, stress reduc-
tion, and calming muscle spasms. It can also
help a child become more accustomed to tac-
tile stimulation and aids in body awareness. It
is useful for a child who has difficulty sleeping,
and needs help with sensory integration and
regulating gastrointestinal tract (GI) issues.
When you perform Autistic Touch on a child,
along with regular sensory integration, it will
reduce inattentiveness, touch aversion, and
withdrawal. A typical Autistic Touch Therapy
session will last for approximately 30 minutes.
In the first session, the therapist will get ac-
quainted with the child along with the child’s
family and then, in the next session, the ther-
apist will begin the touch therapy. First, the
therapist will make the child pick out the ob-
ject that the child wants to use, and then the
therapist will ask which part of the body he/she
would like the object to be used on. Of course,
the therapist always has a parent in the room
during the sessions. Then, if the child is young,
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