Soothing Autism
Massage Therapy for Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Autism and other autistic spectrum disorders, like Asperger 's Syndrome are on the rise. As more and more people are affected by this disorder, researchers are looking for more and more ways to treat the children who suffer from it. Massage therapy can be combined with other therapies to help calm the mind and body and help people with these disorders become more accustomed to human touch. The number of children diagnosed each year is steadily on the rise. These diagnoses cross socioeconomic, racial, and cultural lines.

Even though autistic spectrum disorders are considered to have no cure, parents and health professionals have experimented with diets and alternative therapies. These experiments have brought some improvement in quality of life to many people with these disorders.

The cause of autism is still largely unknown. Some say its caused by mercury poisoning, others say it's caused by environmental factors and still others say it's caused by genetics. Many think it's probably a combination of the three of these things.

People with autism exhibit touch aversion and lack attachment to others. They demonstrate limited verbal skills and engage in self stimulating behaviors such as rocking or fluttering their hands.

Massage Therapy

massage for autism Because people with autism have an aversion to touch, they usually won't receive a typical massage session. The therapist will start out getting the person used to being touched. Overtime the person will get more and more used to the therapist's touch and the session could eventually last for 30 minutes. The light touch associated with social interaction is usually what over-stimulates the person causing a negative reaction. The firmer touch of massage is easier to tolerate. Because they like routine the predictability of having the massage at the same time every week also helps them tolerate the massage better.

The Touch Institute in Miami did several studies on massage and autism. They found that autistic children who were massaged regularly had less touch aversion and had more regular sleep patterns than the control group.

When they taught parents of autistic children massage and instructed them to massage their children every evening for 15 minutes even more progress was made. The parents reported that their children were more cooperative when doing daily tasks and more responsive to their requests. In addition to this progress the parents said that massaging their children made them feel closer to them. This is good because many parents feel hurt by the aloof nature of their autistic children.

People with autism seem to benefit most from deep tissue massage and neuromuscular therapy. Because they sometimes have some cranial compression, CranioSacral therapy also helps.

My Story

Three years ago I married a man with a son with Asperger's Syndrome. Before I married him, I didn't realize how difficult living with someone with this syndrome would be. Once we married, the situation with my stepson became a struggle for me almost immediately.

He displayed the common characteristics associated with this disorder. He had no friends. He focused on one topic intensely and would often give us long speeches about the topic. He didn't understand the meaning of conversation at all. He thought of it as just a way to dump information. He was extremely awkward physically. Worst of all was his temper. He tended to have large explosive tantrums that would last for an hour. He was very rigid and couldn't take any changes in schedule. During the day we were constantly walking on eggshells because we didn't want to set him off. He also had digestive problems, mainly horrible constipation. He didn't have a normal sleep pattern and was often up much of the night.

His diet was quite bad. He would only eat cheese and soft doughy items. Like soft bread and pancakes. He loved chicken pot pies, but would pick all of the vegetables out. He also had severe hay fever.

About a year ago we changed his diet. We cut gluten and casein out of his diet. Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley and casein is the protein found in dairy products. Both can be difficult for the digestive tract to handle. Some autistic people have seen big changes in their lives once they start these diets.

Starting the diet was a struggle. He threw regular tantrums because we no longer bought the food he liked. This period was so frustrating that we wanted to give in, but we were so desperate for some kind of change that we didn't. With much persistence, we were finally able to get him to try new foods. We saw an improvement within months. The first thing we noticed was a physical change. His hay fever went away and so did his constipation. Slowly, his tantrums became less intense and less frequent. He still tended to have long one-sided conversations and he was still socially and physically awkward.

Though he has problems with conversation still, we are able to explain what he's doing in conversations that might annoy people and he doesn't get angry. He takes that information and tries to use it when he remembers it. He has gotten noticeably better socially. He has some friends and tries to join in with the group at school and church.

He has the strength and energy to join in with physical sports now. He even says he likes them, imagine that?

We've recently started giving him melatonin for sleep. Now that he's sleeping through the night we see even more improvements in his behavior and ability to socialize.

I can't say that everything is all great now. It's still a struggle. It will probably always be a struggle, but making those few adjustments has make a big difference in his life and in our lives as his parents.

If you have a child with autism, don't give up. There's tons of information online and in books to help you.