Deep Pressure

An important strategy I learned from my aunt that helped tremendously with Grace is something called deep pressure.  Pressure is used extensively with autistic children and in fact Temple Grandin (who I mentioned previously) created a "hug machine" just for this purpose.  Autistic people crave pressure and it tends to provide great comfort for them.

When I said before that there was nothing you could do for an overflow tantrum I left one thing out.  There is one thing that does help and I was thrilled to learn about it and see if it would help Grace.  Deep pressure is also effective for sensory challenged individuals as well as the autistic population.  Here's how it works.  Please know that  I have a very limited understanding of this.  I could apply pressure to the side of Grace's head using the palms of my hands.  This was done at the temple area.  The pressure needed to be quite firm.  The other pressure point was the chest.  I would put one hand on her back and one on her chest and press very firmly.  I could also sit her in front of me on the floor with her back to my chest and press her chest into me.  Again, this pressure really has to be quite deep - thus the term "deep pressure".  This didn't always work, but I found that if I caught the "tantrum" (which really wasn't a tantrum at all) before it was too far gone I could, in fact, settle her down.  This was a huge, life changing event for us.  Grace would even, on occasion, ask for deep pressure.

Many autistic children wear weighted vests.  They find this to be very soothing.  After some time I purchased Grace a weighted lap blanket.  It was a simple, pink blanket that weighed about 8 pounds.  It was only about 18 inches long.  Grace loved it.  She sat with it on her lap when she watched TV and she fell asleep with it laid gently over her back.  When I could see her starting to get upset we would get it out and put it on her lap.  Sometimes it would help, sometimes not.

At this point I still had no idea what was wrong with Gracie.  I was fairly confident that she was autistic - mildly autistic, but autistic.  It was the only thing that made sense to me.   Every little step we took together brought us a little bit closer to answers, but the pieces just didn't seem to all fit together.