Why does DS2 do this?(Amber, if you're there I'd really appreciate your input)

[sphil]

DS2 (6, with ASD)has always had phases of putting his fingers in his ears, both as a response to noise and as a way of blocking out anything unwelcome or overwhelming.This became much less frequent after a course of Therapeutic Listening so that he was doing it very rarely before Christmas. Over the last two weeks he has started putting his whole arm across his eyes - almost wrapped round his head really. Do you think this means he has become more visually sensitive (something which has never been a problem before)or is it another way of 'blocking out the world' in general?

Two examples: he did it in the car park yesterday when a car was coming towards us with its headlights on (this has never been a problem before) and today when his teacher was asking him, very gently and nicely, whether he would like to sit on a chair or the floor (he had a cast off a broken leg yesterday). But underneath the arm he was smiling - and it looked like a genuine smile to me, not an anxious one. He was excited to go back to school on two feet instead of a wheelchair and went into the classroom confidently.

I think it could well be a result of the whole broken leg thing - he was obviously scared when the cast was removed ,has created a huge fuss about going in the bath since and is still walking very awkwardly. I guess it could have thrown his whole system out of kilter?

What would be a good way to deal with him when he does this? Atm I just talk to him very quietly, trying to reassure him (but am aware that what I'm reassuring him about might not be what's bothering him, iyswim)

My personal thoughts? I think the arm across the head thing is a way to cancel out other worrying sensory signals. It's fairly effective - same sort of idea as wrapping ourselves in a duvet. With car headlights, I guess if there's something else worrying him/very different, it could just have threatened to push his coping mechanisms into not coping any more. With the removal of the cast, he's got to learn to balance all over again, and have sensations of hot and cold and pressure on the leg that he hasn't had for a while. Those are Big Things for us.

Quiet short explanation can help. Giving him 'permission' to retreat to a safe corner at home or at school is important too. He's learning strategies for helping himself, so it's progress for him. Social stories may help too, since it's a visual way to get the information into his brain rather than him having to use his ears?

Lots of other people here usually have good ideas on this too, though. I can only ever come up with ideas from my own point of view as I'm not an Expert in autism generally, IYSWIM?

hi sphil - snap!

dd1 does the hands over ears thing, usually when she is unsure about something, but that something can be a "no" iyswim. so she tries to block out us giving her the wrong answer (eg no more icecream) as well as when she is actually unsure about something. In her case, it is to help her retreat to her safe space - concentrating on singing to block out whatever she wants to ignore.

If your ds2 was genuiniely smiling, do you think he could have benn doing it to get a response from you? I mean that in a positive way, ie if your ds2 was NT, then yesterday would still have been a big day - going back without a cast on, maybe a little anxious about balance etc, and woud probably have asked for an extra hug or two, or extra reassurance that all was ok. But your ds2 couldn't necessarily ask for that, so he did it the way he knew how. So maybe he was feeling a little anxious, but not really enough to make a fuss over.

Whenever dd1 justs needs a hug (eg when out shopping and soemthing small startles her) she does this kind of thing - uses a strategy that will get instant sympathy because it is usually for somehting big, but then when I bend over, I notice the big grin and her dimples and know it wasn't actualy serious, but she just wanted a hug.

Does any of that make sense?

sorry I knew I'd do that.

Am hopeless at this namechange lark

Tee-hee SF- thought there was another person joining our clones club! That makes a lot of sense, and something I'd not thought of before. DS2 does the hands over ears thing in response to an expected 'no' as well - and also sometimes when he's excited.
Thanks Amber - reason I asked was because your explantions often make a lot of sense for DS2. I like the thought that it's a coping strategy and therefore positive - that's much better way of looking at it (I am ashamed to say that I sometimes try to distract him from doing it because it makes him look 'different' and people stare )

I do the distraction thing too, more oftenthan I should

It was easier to deal with the shouting/screaming sometimes as that was obviously different, and couldn't be mistaken for anyhting else.

Now that she is so much better t dealing with things, it does give me an air of "normality", and so ocasionally (especially if we have been having a really good day) I have less patience at coping when she is finding things hard, which isn't right

It's just that the times when we are out and people are staring are becoming fewer (mostly, as long as we do quick raids on the shops ), and so when dd1 does something that makes people stare I am less used to dealing with it...

Sphil - My ds who is 5, often does this in response to noise, which is a bit strange as it doesnt actually block out the sound.

I also think it must be a comfort thing, a bit like a barrier against the world.

ds used to do this...when excited or frightened ..also the hands over ears thing too.
Somehow he has learned to cope with sensory overload (he's 11 now). I suspect he does it by going within himself...he is much more withdrawn now than he was when younger. He has learned to 'switch off'.Unfortunately this also means he switches off from lots of things he needs to be paying attention to. Don't get me wrong he can sometimes still panic and go into overload mode if something is particularly overwhelming/noisy.
Slightly off key but we were watching 'Dog whisperer' (ds really likes this for some reason)the other day and there was a panicky dog on it(which was going ape at sounds and sights). Ds said 'i used to be like that dog didn't i mum?... I know what's wrong with that dog...it doesn't like noises and circles.'
I said 'circles'.?
and he said 'yes...all the things it doesn't like have circles...i didn't like corners'
I was . ...he used to put his arm over his face when we turned a corner when he was little.

Troutpout, that all sounds very familiar . I know that I do 'go within myself' when I'm stressed by too much input or something unexpected. In my case I replay music in my head very very loudly (currently Westlife (grr - knew I shouldn't have listened to the Now cd this morning)). If that doesn't work, I'll try tapping my feet invisibly to the music. If that's not enough, I might risk moving my fingers a little as if playing the piano to it. If none of this works, I know I'm in trouble and there's going to be a shutdown any moment. The only question then becomes how to get away from the situation, fast.

The knack as an adult is to hide every part of this process. Some of us can manage to totally disguise it in front of others for at least a couple of hours.

The dog thing is familiar too. I know what's upsetting animals, because it would upset me also. And corners are particularly scary. No idea why other people don't find them so. They're either sharp and likely to hurt, or if it's a building, anything could be round the other side of it

Oh I do the music thing too- but with me it's not deliberate, it's something that happens when I'm under stress - almost like a stuck record. And DS2 puts his arm over his face when we go round corners too - or go from one place to another, like getting out of the car for example.