YHave you ever saw a child head bang before? Well, of course you have! All children do! Have you ever seen a child head bang excessively to the point that you feel their skull will simply...crack? Every day many parents of children who have ASD experience this cringing event multiple times per day. The more theY try to prevent the head banging, the more intense it becomes. Recently, I read an article by Dr. Sonya Doherty who shares that head banging isn't a behavior but rather a cry for help for children that are experiencing high levels of brain and gut pain related to 1 or 2 reasons: 1) Sensory Overload - many children with ASD have difficulty with processing information and where they are in "space and time." Ever been intoxicated and the world won't stop spinning? Multiply that by 100 and then MAYBE you'll have a minute awareness of what it means to be loss in "space and time." Often you will see this child with ASD lay down on the floor, spin or head bang to help them reorganize or block out data that they just can't process. This inability to process data causes direct pain to the gut and brain. 2) Digestive disorder - many children with ASD experience food texture sensitivity. Most children that I've work with who have ASD, simply don't want to eat. There was this one bright , silly , handsome teenage boy that I worked with for over a year who ate pizza and jalapeno chips everyday for over 10 years straight (according to mom). He suffered from migraines caused by a poor diet. With the help of his parents, I was able to introduce him to a more healthier diet. Nevertheless, poor diets lead to constipation, gut pain, toxins stored in the body which causes serious illnesses and headaches. Often you will see a child with ASD cover their ears, scream, or head bang to help them block out the pain. This inability to process food and or eliminate the waste from the body causes direct pain to the brain. What can you do to help your child ease the gut and brain pain? Introduce a healthy diet. Remember, often children need to be offered a food at least 16 times before they will eat it. It's like that song you hear on the radio for the first time that you hate and then weeks later you are bopping your head to it. Include fresh fruits and green vegetables. Reduce or eliminate sugars. Exclude ALL meats from the diet which takes at least 2 weeks to digest. Although, I must admit my opinion here is rather biased since I'm a vegetarian. Give deep compressions to your child's body helping the molecules to move around and connect with space and time. Swing your child in a hammock, support them with bouncing on a large exercise ball and most of all...contact Early Intervention to get the support you need for you and your family. For more information regarding Early Intervention, please contact ABEL If you have information, videos or pictures that you would like to share regarding head banging or any other developmental delay, please forward to [email protected] BE WELL!
0 Comments
|
AuthorABEL Archives
September 2017
Categories |