Autism and Self Injurious Behaviour

[Jesusfreak303]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Paul and I am a support/social worker for an organization called Christian Horizons here in Ontario. We serve people with all types of exceptional needs, among them being Autism.

One of the individuals in my care whose name I won't mention for confidentiality reasons has Autism. This individual exhibits extreme Self Injurious Behaviours such as head hitting, biting, scratching, pinching, etc and requires constant two-to-one staffing/supervision.

One of the dillemmas that we are faced with is that this individual seeks the sensation of deep-pressure recieved from being restrained, yet us as staff do not want to feed the behaviour by restraining when he/she lashes out at staff. I would appreciate it if someone could share ideas of possible intervention methods that you have tried/seen/used, etc.

I am aware of the wide variety of psychotropic and behaviour modifying medications out there, but as far as I am aware, none of them seem to work as prescribed for this individual, or have the exact opposite effect that is desired. As far as rumours go, I have heard of a medication type that is known as an "opiate blocker" which has the effect of nullifying the body's natural secretions of opiate material so that the recipient begins to "feel" the effects of the Self Injurious Behaviour.

Once again, if you have any experience with this type of behaviour and have seen any methods/medications, etc that thave been assistive or effective in helping to reduce the frequency, intensity and duration of this type of behaviour, I would value your response highly.

 

[we5frogs]

Hi - my son also required deep pressure restraint when he was younger, and we found we were able to use weighted jackets and blankets to keep from increasing the behavior by paying too much attention to the undesirable behaviors and being in close proximity during a meltdown. They were very calming, although it took some adjustment time and the effect was not always as fast working as human deep pressure can be, but over the course of time we were able to decrease the amount of weight needed. Then, through 2 years of sensory integration training (both at the rehab hospital and at home) he became able to provide the deep pressure for himself, eventually using only textured pads (they looked like the flat soap dishes with big bumps on them) placed under his desk and in his pocket so that he can do this without even being noticed.

Abilitations is a company that has all the products that we used at home, as well as books about the processes. They have a website (not sure what it is off the top of my head, but they would come up if you do a search) as well as a paper catalog they will send to you which I ordered off the website.

At school, we actually had a room built that had padded walls, and a half door. Until he was able to calm down using the weighted jacket and/or blanket, we would lead him to this room so that everyone involved was safe, and we were able to keep an eye on him while not appearing to do so, so that we could intervene if needed. At home we had a room with nothing in it that could hurt him, and pads just around the center, and also a half door to keep him contained without closing him in. We used a helmet for a short time, but once the weights became effective, we rarely intervened physically ourselves unless he was not calming and/or seemed to truly be in danger.

I know some of this may seem harsh to some, but the alternative is to put both the child and those attending him at a greater risk than this process afforded us. Also, as he improved, we were able to reinforce the fact the he was capable of self treating, and getting him to take responsiblity for maintaining self control using/adjusting his self control tools was a much smoother transition.

God bless you for being so motivated to help this young man. For every one of our kids that makes huge leaps in progress at some point in their lives, there is always a person or persons that we can point to other than ourselves that God placed in our path to lead us toward our goals.

I'll be praying for you and for him!

 

[midnightbirdgirl]

Sounds like sensory integration disorder. I know my AS son does well with jumping on the trampoline to help the need to feel, also I have heard that the brushing technique can help as well.

MBG