Massage For Kids With Autism
If you work with children with autism you know you have to get to know each child’s likes and dislikes when it comes to massage. A parent may inform you ahead of time if his/her child does not like a certain area massage. Hopefully you will be given a document that will inform you of any important information you need to know about the autistic child you are about to give a massage to.
If you are a parent you know by trial and error what works and does not work for your child when you massage him or her to try to calm him/her down. Pass this information onto any person that will be working with your child to give your child the maximum benefit.
Children massage for kids with autism can start out with you and the child on a comfortable rug or mat. Have the child lay on his or her stomach. You can use a yoga ball to roll over the child from head to toe. Push firmly on the ball. Some days the child may want you to push harder down on the ball than others. Have the child roll over onto his/her back and roll the ball slowly over the child from head to toe again.
When some autistic children get over stimulated you should not touch them as this may cause them to get even more stimulated. You can tell if an autistic child is over stimulated when he/she claps his/her hands, jumps up and down, runs back and forth and may even make loud noises. Try to talk to the child using as few words as possible. You can have the child take deep breaths, sit on a rug and turn the lights down or completely off to settle him or her down. Once they are calm, you can massage their head. Go in circles. You can take the palms of your hands and gently squeeze on his/her head if pressure is needed.
If you need to wake up the autistic child, you can have the child lay on a rug or mat. Put your palms up in the air. Gently drop each hand one at a time so that you are softly pounding on the child’s body. Start from the shoulders all of the way down to the feet. Go up and down the body about eight times. This will feel good to them and wake up their muscles.
Another way you can use children’s massage for kids is to use circular motions on the child’s hands and feet to massage him or her. You can do this for about three minutes or until the child starts to fidget. You can move onto the next children’s massage technique.
There are many different children’s massage techniques you can use on the autistic child you are working with. You can test them by trial and error and once you know what is liked, you can make up a massage plan to use frequently.
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Autism Therapy – ABA
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