In my PTA class yesterday we learned about sensory stimulation and neuro facilitation and it was fascinating! We read an article on spioworks.com about deep touch pressure garments and how it helps some children with sensory issues with such things as ADHD and autism/aspergers to better function and react with the world. I read another article from the site and copied the most important parts below:
Calming Effects of Deep Touch Pressure in Patients with Autistic Disorder, College Students, and Animals
TEMPLE GRANDIN, Ph.D
http://www.spioworks.com/files/Calming%20Effects%20of%20Deep%20Touch%20Pressure%20in%20Patients%20with%20Autistic%20Disorder,%20College%20Students,%20and%20Animals%20by%20Temple%20Grandin.pdf
Light touch pressure is a more superficial stimulation of the skin, such as tickling, very light touch, or moving hairs on the skin. In animals, the tickle of a fly landing on the skin may cause a cow to kick, but the firm touch of the farmer's hands quiets her. Occupational therapists have observed that a very light touch alerts the nervous system, but deep pressure is relaxing and calming.
In anecdotal reports, deep touch pressure has been described to produce a calming effect in children with psychiatric disorders. Deep pressure stimulation, such as rolling up in a gym mat, has been used to calm children with autistic disorder and ADHD. Children with sleeping problems appear to sleep better inside of a mummy sleeping bag, which adapts to fit the body snuggly. It also has been used to reduce tactile defensiveness in children who cannot tolerate being touched. Foam-padded splints on the arms reduced self-injurious behavior and self-stimulation in an autistic child.
Research on autistic children indicates that they prefer proximal sensory stimulation such as touching, tasting, and smelling to distal sensory stimulation of hearing and seeing. Autistic children will often seek out deep pressure sensations. At various lecture meetings of parents of autistic individuals, parents have reported to me various types of pressure-seeking behavior of their offspring, such as wrapping arms and legs in elastic bandages, sleeping under many blankets even during warm weather, and getting under mattresses. In my case, l used to crawl under sofa cushions and have my sister sit on them. A high functioning autistic woman stated, "I need heavy blankets on me to sleep well, or else my muscles won't calm down."
As a child, I craved to feel the comfort of being held, but I would pull away when people hugged me. When hugged, an overwhelming tidal wave of sensation flowed through me. At times, I preferred such intense stimulation to the point of pain, rather than accept ordinary hugs. On the Ayres Checklist for Tactile Defensiveness (1979), I had 9 out of 15 symptoms by age 10 years. Whenever anyone touched me, I stiffened, flinched, and pulled away. This approach-avoidance characteristic endured for years during my childhood.
At age 18, I constructed the squeeze machine to help calm down the anxiety and panic attacks. Using the machine for 15 minutes would reduce my anxiety for up to 45-60 minutes. The relaxing effect was maximized if the machine was used twice a day.
The squeeze machine device developed by the author consists of two padded side boards which are hinged at the bottom to form a V shape. The user steps into the machine and lies down on the inside in the V-shaped crevice-like space. The inside surfaces of the device are completely lined with thick foam rubber. Deep touch pressure stimulation is applied along both sides of the person's body, with lateral pressure pushing inward onto the body
Although the squeeze machine can be used for younger children, there are many easy methods for applying deep pressure stimulation to children under the age of 5: rolling up in gym mats, "mat sandwiches," and resting under a pile of beanbag chairs. It is simply impossible to hold older children securely using these alternative methods.
Children with ADHD are often strongly attracted to the machine. There are suggestions that the use of the machine may allow reduction in the dose of psychostimulant required to treat these children.
It appears that the squeeze machine may be beneficial to some children with autistic disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and is of little value to others.
-What I took away from this article was that some Autistic/ADHD children/adults who struggle with sensory perception may benefit from deep touch or compression.
The SPIO orthosis appears to be most beneficial for those children who exhibit a primary or secondary sensory deficit which is impairing dynamic stability, postural activation, and movement control. We have found SPIO to be most helpful for children with: 1) moderate to severe hypotonia, particularly axial hypotonia, 2) deficits in dynamic stabilization, tone fluctuations, and unpre- dictable movement control from dyskinesia, 3) moderate-to-severe hypertonia that is compensatory for poor deep sensation, 4) whole body sensory awareness deficits, and 5) some types of sensory inte- gration problems.
www.spioworks.com
Below are other forms of deep touch compression and ideas:
Autism Pressurized Snug Vest
Pressure can help to relieve anxiety by regulating the sensory system when it is overstimulated. The Snug Vest inflates to provide adjustable and evenly-distributed pressure to the sides, shoulders, and back of the torso for a comforting hug-like squeeze without pressure placed on the stomach or chest. The stylish Snug Vest promotes independence as the user can self-inflate their vest in a discrete way to get the exact amount of safe pressure they need. The Snug Vest enables the user to complete daily tasks with ease anywhere they go!
www.snugvest.com
Focus Lappy
The Focus Lappy is a weighted lap pad, that has interchangable fidgets attached to it. It comes in three different sizes/weights, and is a great classroom accommodation for kids who need help sitting still and keeping their hands busy! It has a washable fleece cover, and comes with two free Focus Fidgets. It is super durable and school approved! Kids love it because it gives them permission to fidget, and teachers love it because it helps kids maintain their behavior.We encourage you to try it!
www.focuslappy.com
My Sensory Shelter
We design and build custom Sensory Retreat Rooms for families impacted by Sensory and Spectrum Disorders. Our desire is to create designated spaces in the homes of special needs families, purposed to prevent challenging situations for spectrum individuals from disrupting the entire family.
http://www.mysensoryshelter.com/take-a-look/retreat-room-ideas/
Affordable Weighted Blankets
Affordable weighted blankets, pillows, and vests! By using clearance duvet covers, end-of-line sale fabrics, and purchase poly pellets in bulk my blankets are affordable. Blankets range in size from toddler to adult, lap pillows can be made in many sizes, and vests can be made using pre-existing vests. Poly pellets are used so the products are machine-washable and do not attract rodents. Weight is sewn evenly into a grid of pockets inside the blanket and double stitched for durability.
weightedblankets.wix.com/weightedblanketsmn
Friday, November 14, 2014
Monday, October 6, 2014
Food Allergies
Short Version:
Hi, my name is AJ and I have had food allergies for a long time. Wheat, milk, soy, eggs, corn, yeast, potatoes, lettuce, sugar, you name it. They've gotten exponentially worse as I've gotten older. When I was tested at age 21, the only thing I wasn't allergic to from the 42 needles was bananas and chocolate. Unfortunately, without milk, chocolate is... well... super gross. 2 months ago I could barely get past any meal without huge stomach aches and the awful effects of improper digestion. Let's just say that if you could sum up my childhood with one adjective, it would be: "stinky."
Solution: went to a foot zoning lady named Tammy. She performed muscle testing on me and banished my allergies away. It's been 2 months now and I can eat anything I want to. She changed my life! Thank you Tammy!
Long Version:
While zoning my wife's feet, Tammy told me she could make my food allergies go away with one session. I was ecstatic beyond belief, hoping it could be true while beating my inner skeptical self back with a bat in my mind. It was a month before I started back to college so I was uber-stressed, which only makes my tummy issues worse. I told myself I wouldn't just hope for it, but that I would believe it could and would be true with my whole heart.
When I returned for my session, Tammy explained how muscle testing is a scientifically based practice and how there are many practitioners who use it, but ineffectively. They only test one allergen at a time, checking for yes or no answers, and verifying allergies via neurological energy channels exhibited by by our muscles and manifested through our brains. English version: you hold a "thingy", they ask you if you're allergic to the "thingy," then they apply force to the muscle and test/measure it's reaction strength. If you answer truthfully, you exert a stronger measured force, if you answer falsely, it's a weaker force.
Now let me back up. Our bodies have flesh and bone, but something "magical" moves them about. The world calls this our subconscious, soul or spirit. In my religion we call it our spirits. Our spirit knows SO MUCH about our body, much more than our conscious brain reports. In the New Testament of the Bible, Matthew quotes the savior "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." We are given bodies that cannot always process or endure the trials which we were sent here to earth to experience. We are here to learn and grow and find the joy in living life as we experience good and evil. It is our purpose to find gratitude in the good moments we experience because we can compare them against the bad, for without the bad, we could not understand the good.
Now, science is involved in the treatment of allergies by testing one by one. Followed by shock therapy to retrain the mind and body to remove the allergy. Well, what if you could just test for all of them at once? Tammy did just that. She politely asked me if her spirit could communicate with my spirit. What happened? I panicked! I was scared, because I didn't know what my expectations were. But before I could ask her to explain more before we began she said "Whoa, you're spirit just totally freaked out!" "This lady is legit," was what went through my mind. She asked again, and said "ok, now you're spirit says it's alright. Let's begin."
We went through a book full of lists of foods, where she then muscle tested using her finger muscles to ask my spirit what I was allergic too. She touched her thumbs and middle fingers together and linked both her hands. And like magician rings, she would try to pull apart the loops her fingers made. If they came apart, the answer was no, because falseness or untruth makes our bodies response weaker than a true answer. As we progressed through the list (rapidly I may add), she would tell me what I was allergic to and I would write them. When 3/4 of the page was full, she was finally finished. What I had listed correlated with what I was and wasn't allergic to when I was needle tested at the hospital 9 years ago. Except this list was much, much longer. We also went through trees, grasses, molds and other allergens. I kept writing.
She then explained how we link foods to fears. This is still a very interesting concept to me, but it rang true. The example she gave me was if you're eating watermelon when you're mother walks in the room and states that grandpa just had a heart attack, your mind may link watermelon to heart attacks or death or fear of death. So the next thing we tested for were my fears. Many made sense, and then there were some that I didn't even know I had. But as the tears rolled down my cheeks, I related some experiences such as Fear Of Losing My Support System. When I was young living overseas, my father had to leave for periods of time because of the Air Force. He was a big, strong, studly guy. I didn't know I relied so much on that seeming strength to guard and protect me from the scary world we lived in at the time of war while Desert Storm was going on. She told me things I wasn't afraid of too, which made sense.
Then the most crazy and awesome thing happened. (paraphrasing best I can remember here) She told my spirit to take these fears and to unlearn them. To return my understanding to the day that I was born even to a cellular level that I would not fear these things and that my body would respond correctly and appropriately to the molecules and elements that I encounter in life. That my mind would know how to react correctly to the stimuli of the world. (mind blown)
She explained how if my body were to try to do this 'reset' all in one day that it would be like spiritually throwing up for a full day. I would be exhausted and want to lay and sleep all day. She said that everyone reacts in different ways and that she couldn't tell me how I would feel exactly. So she asked my spirit what days I would like to be my 'clear days'. It told her 8 days, about a 3 days apart, then a week apart for the last two would be good for clear days. On these days, my spirit incrementally let go of fears and relearned how to deal with my allergies. It took a month after my visit to complete my clear days and although I was more tired those days, I also felt really good. It was interesting how my fears would come to my mind and I would ponder on them. It was like I had tucked the fear away to deal with it on a later day, and these were much much later days.
Do I still have fears? Yes. The same ones? A bit. But the fact that my body knows that I should deal with them when they appear instead of tucking them away helps. Can I eat ice cream and corn on the cob now? YES!!! Everything I want to! (not cauliflower or bean sprouts. Those are gross) What does it do to me? Sometimes some mild discomfort if I eat a lot, instead of huge discomfort for eating a tiny bit. She told me that it may take a few foot zones in the future to help clear out some inflammation because my body has been under so much stress. I haven't had one yet, but I believe it would help. I drink some cool stuff daily called "Miracle Tea" from a natural shop that helps keep my gut flora happy. I haven't taken any probiotics lately, but I probably should. I've been able to eat yogurt now though which has some naturally which I'm sure helps. My body is still learning how to cope with this 'new life' of non allergies. I still look in my pantry and feel my body tense as my eyes sweep over items that I used to be allergic to. It'll be a while before I can train my brain that I don't need to fear them anymore because they don't cause me the harm like before. Like Pavlov's dog, I'm retraining my mind and body, little by little to be normal again. :)
Moral of the story: If you have these issues, go to a foot zoner and ask them if they do this procedure. It doesn't have to be Tammy, she's just the special person who I was lucky to find. I'm convinced she does it more betterer than anyone in the whole world, but that's my opinion
.
Hi, my name is AJ and I have had food allergies for a long time. Wheat, milk, soy, eggs, corn, yeast, potatoes, lettuce, sugar, you name it. They've gotten exponentially worse as I've gotten older. When I was tested at age 21, the only thing I wasn't allergic to from the 42 needles was bananas and chocolate. Unfortunately, without milk, chocolate is... well... super gross. 2 months ago I could barely get past any meal without huge stomach aches and the awful effects of improper digestion. Let's just say that if you could sum up my childhood with one adjective, it would be: "stinky."
Solution: went to a foot zoning lady named Tammy. She performed muscle testing on me and banished my allergies away. It's been 2 months now and I can eat anything I want to. She changed my life! Thank you Tammy!
Long Version:
While zoning my wife's feet, Tammy told me she could make my food allergies go away with one session. I was ecstatic beyond belief, hoping it could be true while beating my inner skeptical self back with a bat in my mind. It was a month before I started back to college so I was uber-stressed, which only makes my tummy issues worse. I told myself I wouldn't just hope for it, but that I would believe it could and would be true with my whole heart.
When I returned for my session, Tammy explained how muscle testing is a scientifically based practice and how there are many practitioners who use it, but ineffectively. They only test one allergen at a time, checking for yes or no answers, and verifying allergies via neurological energy channels exhibited by by our muscles and manifested through our brains. English version: you hold a "thingy", they ask you if you're allergic to the "thingy," then they apply force to the muscle and test/measure it's reaction strength. If you answer truthfully, you exert a stronger measured force, if you answer falsely, it's a weaker force.
Now let me back up. Our bodies have flesh and bone, but something "magical" moves them about. The world calls this our subconscious, soul or spirit. In my religion we call it our spirits. Our spirit knows SO MUCH about our body, much more than our conscious brain reports. In the New Testament of the Bible, Matthew quotes the savior "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." We are given bodies that cannot always process or endure the trials which we were sent here to earth to experience. We are here to learn and grow and find the joy in living life as we experience good and evil. It is our purpose to find gratitude in the good moments we experience because we can compare them against the bad, for without the bad, we could not understand the good.
Now, science is involved in the treatment of allergies by testing one by one. Followed by shock therapy to retrain the mind and body to remove the allergy. Well, what if you could just test for all of them at once? Tammy did just that. She politely asked me if her spirit could communicate with my spirit. What happened? I panicked! I was scared, because I didn't know what my expectations were. But before I could ask her to explain more before we began she said "Whoa, you're spirit just totally freaked out!" "This lady is legit," was what went through my mind. She asked again, and said "ok, now you're spirit says it's alright. Let's begin."
We went through a book full of lists of foods, where she then muscle tested using her finger muscles to ask my spirit what I was allergic too. She touched her thumbs and middle fingers together and linked both her hands. And like magician rings, she would try to pull apart the loops her fingers made. If they came apart, the answer was no, because falseness or untruth makes our bodies response weaker than a true answer. As we progressed through the list (rapidly I may add), she would tell me what I was allergic to and I would write them. When 3/4 of the page was full, she was finally finished. What I had listed correlated with what I was and wasn't allergic to when I was needle tested at the hospital 9 years ago. Except this list was much, much longer. We also went through trees, grasses, molds and other allergens. I kept writing.
She then explained how we link foods to fears. This is still a very interesting concept to me, but it rang true. The example she gave me was if you're eating watermelon when you're mother walks in the room and states that grandpa just had a heart attack, your mind may link watermelon to heart attacks or death or fear of death. So the next thing we tested for were my fears. Many made sense, and then there were some that I didn't even know I had. But as the tears rolled down my cheeks, I related some experiences such as Fear Of Losing My Support System. When I was young living overseas, my father had to leave for periods of time because of the Air Force. He was a big, strong, studly guy. I didn't know I relied so much on that seeming strength to guard and protect me from the scary world we lived in at the time of war while Desert Storm was going on. She told me things I wasn't afraid of too, which made sense.
Then the most crazy and awesome thing happened. (paraphrasing best I can remember here) She told my spirit to take these fears and to unlearn them. To return my understanding to the day that I was born even to a cellular level that I would not fear these things and that my body would respond correctly and appropriately to the molecules and elements that I encounter in life. That my mind would know how to react correctly to the stimuli of the world. (mind blown)
She explained how if my body were to try to do this 'reset' all in one day that it would be like spiritually throwing up for a full day. I would be exhausted and want to lay and sleep all day. She said that everyone reacts in different ways and that she couldn't tell me how I would feel exactly. So she asked my spirit what days I would like to be my 'clear days'. It told her 8 days, about a 3 days apart, then a week apart for the last two would be good for clear days. On these days, my spirit incrementally let go of fears and relearned how to deal with my allergies. It took a month after my visit to complete my clear days and although I was more tired those days, I also felt really good. It was interesting how my fears would come to my mind and I would ponder on them. It was like I had tucked the fear away to deal with it on a later day, and these were much much later days.
Do I still have fears? Yes. The same ones? A bit. But the fact that my body knows that I should deal with them when they appear instead of tucking them away helps. Can I eat ice cream and corn on the cob now? YES!!! Everything I want to! (not cauliflower or bean sprouts. Those are gross) What does it do to me? Sometimes some mild discomfort if I eat a lot, instead of huge discomfort for eating a tiny bit. She told me that it may take a few foot zones in the future to help clear out some inflammation because my body has been under so much stress. I haven't had one yet, but I believe it would help. I drink some cool stuff daily called "Miracle Tea" from a natural shop that helps keep my gut flora happy. I haven't taken any probiotics lately, but I probably should. I've been able to eat yogurt now though which has some naturally which I'm sure helps. My body is still learning how to cope with this 'new life' of non allergies. I still look in my pantry and feel my body tense as my eyes sweep over items that I used to be allergic to. It'll be a while before I can train my brain that I don't need to fear them anymore because they don't cause me the harm like before. Like Pavlov's dog, I'm retraining my mind and body, little by little to be normal again. :)
Moral of the story: If you have these issues, go to a foot zoner and ask them if they do this procedure. It doesn't have to be Tammy, she's just the special person who I was lucky to find. I'm convinced she does it more betterer than anyone in the whole world, but that's my opinion
.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
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