Autism Parenting Magazine Issue 72 (Member's Dashboard) | Page 19

SENSORY Calming Self-Injurious Behavior with a Simple Touch By Tal BADEHI The hardest part of treating people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is observing self-injurious behavior. It is especially difficult for the individual’s family and carers to witness self-harming with such aggression when they do not always understand the reason or cause of the trigger. T herefore, I take my clients’ needs very se- riously, and I work on a one-on-one basis, using personalized techniques to help iden- tify the cause, lessen the distress, and pre- vent self-injury. Mary (not her real name), is one of my clients. She has an ASD diag- nosis complex-needs. Before Mary attend- ed my sessions, she would often display reparative self-injurious behavior, involving hitting herself in- cessantly around the eyes and temples. The hitting was affecting her vision and could eventually lead to blindness. Mary’s carers had no choice but to make her wear a protective helmet (made from foam-like rubber). It covered most of her head, leaving only a small opening at the front of the face, and causing Mary to sweat a lot. The Shiatsu treatment As I had already learned, people with autism expe- rience different sensory-regulation than neurotyp- ical people do, so I thought Mary might hit herself to pacify some sensory stimuli around her eyes and temples. Assuming so, I tried placing my  hands on Mary’s temples and forehead and just stayed there, seeing what happened. I was astonished to see the self-hitting immediately stop. Not only did it end, but Mary started smiling and laughing! She seemed to enjoy the touch on her sore temples very much. Mary takes part in weekly Shiatsu sessions. As she comes to the treatment and lies down on the Shiatsu mat, she keeps banging her head. During the Shiatsu session, Mary becomes relaxed, and the beating stops for  short moments.  Therefore, I remove Mary’s hel- met  during the sessions  so she can get some relief from it and I can get to treat her around the head and neck. I place myself in a position that allows me to protect Mary’s head if she tries to hit herself. What happened here? I have noticed Mary sometimes lift her hand towards her head but holds herself and stops the movement before the strike. Witnessing this made me think that her self-hitting might not be voluntary and that she is trying to stop herself, with little success. I won- dered how I could assist her in taking control of her movements. In my understanding, either Mary felt pain around her afflicted temples and eyes, or she required the stimuli of touch in those areas. She was not able to satisfy these need without hitting herself forci- bly and perhaps exacerbating the situation in the process. The relaxing effect of Shiatsu, combined with placing hands on the sensitive areas, probably 20 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 72