Autism Parenting Magazine Issue 72 (Member's Dashboard) | Page 38

SENSORY only purpose of the therapy. Instead, it is designed to help improve brain function, which then results not only in improved sensory processing, but also in improved IQ, attention span, eye contact, speech, social skills, and many other of the core symptoms associated with autism. SET can be traced back to an accidental discovery made during research on animals by Donald Hebb in 1947. Pet rats would outperform lab rats in prob- lem-solving tests. Why was that? Did the pet rats learn things from the humans? Hebb did not draw conclusions at that time. It was not until 1962 that Mark Rosenzweig discovered that it was the enriched environment the rats were exposed to, whether or not they were pets, which would result in larger, healthier brains. To be the right kind of stimulation, the enrichment activity should involve the senses or movement and combine more than one sense or motion at a time. It is best when that combination is not normally found in a day-to-day experience and is interesting enough to capture the participant’s attention. The stimula- tion should also be as pleasant and as free from dis- traction as possible. SET has taken the research from Environmental En- richment and “humanized” the protocols. It introduc- es the right sensory stimulation and movement in a pleasant way, combining multiple sensory inputs or movements at once. There are now hundreds of pro- tocols that strike that balance and are put together like games that you can play with your child. 3. Following a bath or shower, have a warm tow- el ready to wrap around your child. (You can put the towel in the dryer for a few minutes to warm it.) Give your child a foot massage and a hand massage with scented lotion. 4. Place mats of different textures in a place where your child may frequently walk without shoes. 5. Set up the environment with more textures, smells, music, art, and other pleasant passive sensory opportunities. These are things which can be done for free and can make a difference. If you can make a daily habit of sensory enrichment, you can begin to see improve- ments. Structured Sensory Enrichment Therapy: Individual programs Structured SET involves more than just good sensory ideas such as those outlined above. To create an indi- vidual program, SET begins with an assessment that gives an idea of which areas of the brain to focus on, and therefore which daily sensory enrichment exer- cises to follow. A set of three or four exercises make up a worksheet that is followed daily. The therapy takes about 10 to 15 minutes, once a day. Here is an example of one of the exercises that may be done in Sensory Enrichment Therapy: Tips for sensory enrichment at home Here are a few things you can do to introduce a little sensory enrichment at home: 1. Introduce a pleasant fragrance to your child several times a day while giving him/her a gentle, pleasant back rub with your fingertips. If the child doesn’t like that, find a place he/ she likes or where he/she will at least tolerate a gentle, pleasant touch, e.g., the cheek, fore- arm, forehead, or the palm. 2. At bedtime, play peaceful instrumental music while the child is falling asleep and put a scent- ed cotton ball inside the pillow-case. Any safe scent that is pleasant will do.  Step 1: The parent prepares two large bowls. One has warm water, and the other has cool water.  Step 2: The parent instructs or helps the child place one hand in each bowl simultaneously. For example, the left hand in warm water, and the right hand in cool water, at the same time. If possible, avoid touching the bowls. We want temperature, but not pressure. Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 72 | 39