Earlier this week, my son got
over stimulated by the vacuum, and started stimming (he wouldn’t stop spinning).
I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t getting dizzy with all of the spinning he was
doing. I tried to stop the spinning, but then he started screaming and covering
his ears. The spinning was helping him process the noise, so I let it continue.
After a while of spinning, I decided to ultimately remove him from our house to
change our environment. I thought that going to lunch might calm him down. It
worked! He calmed down in the car. After lunch, I was so happy that we got to
go to his Occupational Therapist. I thought that he really needed OT after a
hard morning. After his therapy session, the OT said that he had a hard time
and seemed to be zoned out. He also seemed off at home that night, so I decided
to do some research on spinning. I found an article called, “The Effects of
Spinning on the Brain” by Angie Voss.
I learned that even though
children stim to try to organize their brain and take in information, lengthy stimming
like spinning or shaking the head can actually disorganize the brain and can
cause neurological impact on the brain that can last hours after the spinning.
Learning this, I felt horrible that I let him engage in spinning for as long as
I did.
Here are some tips I found for
next time:
1.
If
the child wants to spin, keep it controlled. Do 5 to 10 spins one way, and then
5 to 10 spins the other way.
2.
Try
other vestibular activities to stop the stimming, such as: swinging, hanging
upside down on monkey bars, jumping on trampoline, bouncing on an exercise ball
to give the child sensory input.
3.
Change
the environment that is causing the child to stim
I am so glad that I learned this
today, so I know what to do next time my son starts spinning or shaking his
head. For more ideas to help a stimming child, read the handbook,
Understanding Your Child’s Sensory Signals by: Angie Voss.
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