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Touch-based Treatment for Autism

Published on Mar 13, 2014 New research confirms that a parent-delivered massage treatment for autism decreases autism severity, improves children’s relationships with family and friends, and reduces parenting stress. The massage is an effective sensory treatment for autism. For information, visit http://www.qsti.org. The following is a transcript of the video: Autism starts long before it is diagnosed at the age of three. The most distinct characteristic of autism is delay of social development. We don't know why there is social delay in autism, but we do know that if there is any barrier to touch in the first three years of life, there will be social delay. This is because touch is the most important sense for early social development. In autism, there is a barrier to touch. Children refuse touch on different parts of their body; they struggle with it; and parents end by avoiding it. It's not the parent's fault that the child refuses touch, it's an actual problem with the child's sense of touch. What should feel good to the skin, doesn't feel good (a kiss on the face is uncomfortable; causes the child to pull away). What should hurt, doesn't hurt (cuts, burns, freezing temperature). Sensory nerves in the skin are affected, and there is a problem with the sense of touch. The organ of touch is the skin. And the skin covers the entire body. It has millions of tiny little sensory nerves that send messages to the brain when the skin is touched. This is the way the brain and the body connect and get to know each other. When the baby isn't touched, the connections between the skin and the brain are dormant. But when the mother touches the baby's face, it sends up a message, "this is my face". When the mother nurses the baby, it sends up a message, "this is my mouth, I'm nursing". And within a few days of life, the baby seeks the parents face while nursing, and makes eye contact. This is the first social interaction. The baby's life cycles continuously between little periods of upset, and periods of calm. Each time there is an upset, it is parent touch that brings the baby back to calm. Parent touch is the oldest and most effective way to help the child self-regulate emotional upsets, attention, sleep, and behavior - all respond to touch. A problem with touch can interfere with parenting. A graph of touch problems and parenting stress in children with autism and typical children, shows that parenting stress in autism is 4x than that for typical children. And the more difficulty with touch the child has, the more difficult the job of parenting becomes, and the greater the parenting stress. The good news is that there is something that parents can do for the problems with touch, and it's called Qigong Massage. That might not be a familiar word in the West, but it has been a familiar practice in the East for thousands of years. I've taught this to hundreds of parents and it works - it reverses the problems with touch, and self-regulation improves. It seems simple - a fifteen minute daily massage - but it can be difficult at first, because the child resists touch. Here is where it is really important for parents to have training and support. There are techniques for each area of the body, to help work through resistance. With training and support, parents stop avoiding areas that are uncomfortable, and work the problems through. As touch problems improve, children become more comfortable, more open to the people around them, and more social. Massage is the strongest, most organizing medicine that we have for young children with autism. Massage can turn things around. Research shows that after about five months of parent and therapist massage, touch problems improve, and autism is about 30% less severe. Severe children move towards the moderate range of the spectrum, moderate children moves towards the mild range, and mild children can move off. The stress level of the parent goes down; the connection between the parent and the child is strengthened; and the emotions of love, trust and belonging can flow again. Everybody feels better. To learn more about autism training for professionals and parents in qigong massage, please contact www.qsti.org.