MeganPa
06-05-2002, 10:24 AM
Hello Has anyone tried brushing? You are suppose to brush (using a special brush)them starting with their backs then arms and on to legs. This is followed by doing compressions. I was told to try brushing my son, that it helps gather them together. It helps desensitise them, I've thought about doing this and trying before I cut his hair. Has anyone read the book "Soon Will Come The Light" by Thomas McKean? I loved,it he is an autistic man and says the brushing helped him a great deal. Are there any other books that anyone recomends? Megan
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Rascalsmom
06-05-2002, 12:39 PM
On advice of my son's special instruction therapist we used brushing for about a month. I did see an improvement in him letting other people touch him. He has always been fine with family hugging and patting him, but not other children, etc. Since the brushing, that has really changed. Just be sure not to brush on the stomach, although I do use one of those nylon scrunchy things that you can buy everywhere now to use with liquid soap when I bathe him, and he doesn't seem to mind it anywhere on his body. Our instructor also told us to be sure to do it the brushing only in one direction, and after the brushing to do the joint compression, which we had already been doing before she added the brushing.
The brush they gave us to use was a surgical scrub brush with bristles on one side and a sponge on the other. I looked online when we were doing it, and there are actually several brushes that can be used, all along same that line, one of which has bristles on both sides. I found one like that at a beauty supply store (they sell it for cleaning your feet) for something like $1.49 versus the several dollars it would have cost through a medical/OT vendor.
The brush they gave us to use was a surgical scrub brush with bristles on one side and a sponge on the other. I looked online when we were doing it, and there are actually several brushes that can be used, all along same that line, one of which has bristles on both sides. I found one like that at a beauty supply store (they sell it for cleaning your feet) for something like $1.49 versus the several dollars it would have cost through a medical/OT vendor.