WHY DO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM COVER THEIR EARS? The Western Medicine Perspective: Many children with autistic spectrum disorder either under react or overreact to sensory stimuli. When information is collected through the sensory channels, it is transmitted to the brain, interpreted and organised, prior to the individual responding appropriately. This process is called sensory integration. In Autism, the brain seems unable to balance these senses appropriately. When sensory input is not organised or aligned properly, problems in learning, development or behaviour may be evident. Covering their ears at certain noises is a way of protecting themselves from the outside world but also a form of a self regulation. Sound sensitivities cause constant anxiety, discomfort and even physical pain for those children. Sudden noises such as a ringing telephone can be upsetting, and they may respond by covering their ears and making repetitive noises to drown out the offending sound. Here is what some professionals think: Shelley O’Donnell is an Occupational Therapist specializing in children with autism at Seattle Therapy Services. She say; “This could relate to many things, such as the child covering their face as a way to block out too many sensory stimuli, to self-regulate, or to express feeling scared/anxious. Many children with autism have auditory sensitivities to specific sounds, such as a fire engine, baby crying, or toilet flushing. Covering their ears is one way to lessen the auditory input.” Jim Mancini is a Speech Language Pathologist at Seattle Children‘s Autism Centre. Jim says; “Covering ears can often become a learned behaviour and may be linked to anxiety as a child becomes fearful of potential unpleasant noises.” Emily Rastall is a Clinical Psychologist, at Seattle Children’s Autism Centre. Emily says; “Children with autism are often hyper-sensitive to auditory stimuli. Thus, sounds that are tolerable to us may be very loud and uncomfortable for them.” Ears and Autism in Traditional Chinese Medicine theory I agree with the all above and have no intention to argue with specialists and professionals from the Western prospective. I have so much respect for all of them however the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory and in particular Tui Na massage is very much overlooked or forgotten in easing the symptoms of Autism. What is very interesting is that parents of children I’ve treated very often report that a huge percentage of them not only cover the ears but also apply unconsciously pressure around the ear region or the ears themselves, in order to relieve the pressure and pain. In Chinese medicine the ear presents an upside down baby, and all the organs have an acupressure point in the ear. What is also interesting to note is that three out of twelve acupressure meridians directly travel around the ear region: Sanjiao (Triple heater), Gall Bladder and Small Intestine meridian. In total there are 14 major acupressure points located around the each ear. In my opinion there is large amount of energy congestion and stagnation around both ears and in massaging around the ears we help the energy flow down to the upper and lower extremities. The ears in autistic children can be in a lot of instances tricky to approach in the beginning as a huge percentage of children won’t let you work or touch around the ear region. With the right approach this can be easily overcome after a week or so of treatments. In fact, there are so many layers of energy blockage around the ears I refer to this treatment as like ‘peeling an onion ‘. Sometimes, the children will let you do circular movements, on other days you will have to use the tapping technique and so on. The more you work around the ears, the more blockages you clear. Children will soon request this massage as it brings such relief. In my experience treating children on the spectrum, boys will always have more congestion around the right ear whilst girls will have more congestion around the left ear. In Chinese Medicine Theory put simply this is because the boys have more Yang (right side of the body) whilst the girls are more Yin (left side of the body). The direction of massage around the ears is of extreme importance. The treatment should always start from the middle of the ear where the jaws open and then circle around the ear to the top of the ear. Then, follow around the ear downwards towards the neck, shoulders and arms. It should never be performed the opposite way as this may cause even more congestion. In relation to the meridians and Tui Na theory, this technique seduces Sanjiao and the Small Intestine (working the opposite way they run) and activates the free flow of the Gall Bladder meridian (so it can reach the feet). On the same note you should never massage around the both ears at the same time as this can bring too much sensory input and pain in children with Autism. I strongly recommend that you should do one ear first and then move on to the other one. With children who have seizures the tapping (as shown in the video ) in my opinion should not be performed unless you are fully trained in Tui Na as this (although in a very small amount of cases) may increase the number of seizures. It takes around a month of daily ear massage to clear all the blockages but after that time parents in most cases see significant improvements in sensitivity to sounds. I’m pleased to say that they also notice positive changes in understanding language, speech development and recognising or showing the facial expressions. East and West together: There is also a big connection between acupressure points around the ear and face region and the way the cranial nerves run, most notably pairs of trigeminal, facial and accessory nerves which run around the ear, face and the neck region. Tui Na therapy around the ears and face traditionally works on the acupressure points but interestingly at the same time awakens and relaxes trigeminal and accessory nerves which in turn help with: • Support of speech development • Increase in facial muscle tone affecting improved expression • Stimulation of middle ear structure that naturally regulates the volume of sounds we receive and regulates the ability of the eyes to focus on target. If you found this post interesting and would like to hear in more detail why we think children with Autism may be covering their ears and our view on other symptoms of Autism and how Tui Na therapy can help, come and join us at one of our workshops. The video attached is a simple explanation on how the meridians run around the ear region and how to treat them. If you would like to book one of our presentations or courses please contact us directly on [email protected]
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:13:13 +0000
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