14. Some Other Integration Techniques

Studies have shown that the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) has a direct effect on reducing cortisol levels and calming down Fight or Flight. It provides a balance between the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous systems, getting everything to calm down and flow smoothly. It engenders a calm emotional state which promotes health, wellbeing and clarity of mind.

Autism is a physical manifestation, so working with the body as well as the mind gives a clarity of connection that is not possible otherwise. We live an embodied experience and it is this that the autist is yet to learn. Some or all of these techniques may prove useful to you. You can find links to them at the back of the book in the section ‘Some Resources to Explore’.

Emotional Freedom Technique

The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) involves tapping on acupoints, specific acupressure or meridian points, while talking through emotional issues. The tapping sends signals directly to the stress centres of the mid-brain. It accesses the amygdala (the part of your brain that initiates FFI) and gets it to calm down. Tapping while talking through the issue simultaneously deals with stress on a physical and emotional level. It calms the mind and the body and helps to re-educate both.

This technique helps to calm and reorganize the brain. It is a great thing to do when you are feeling stressed or un-calm. There is a full-body version, but I like this little one as you can do it anywhere, any time, and you don’t look too silly.

If you are worried or anxious, you can say something like ‘even though I am worried’ or ‘even though I am scared’…and do this tapping technique.

Tap the outside of your thumbs – the side closest to you – with your middle fingers; and then the outside of all your fingers (near your cuticles) with your thumbs. What you are doing is tapping all of your major meridian points, and soothing the body. Do this for a few minutes whilst talking through your problem. It is very calming. This works very well with children. It works because it engages the brain and the body. The references to EFT at the back of this book are well worth a look.

Structural Integration

Another body strategy is Structural Integration (or Rolfing), designed by Ida Rolf. It very gently wakes the body up to where it should be and better aligns the body in the gravitational field. By resetting the body’s learnt patterns, it allows increased use of balance at finer levels of the neuro-fascial-musculo-skeletal system. It promotes physical adaptability, resilience and general wellbeing, as well as reducing biomechanically caused pain.

This strategy gently and very effectively retrains the body. It incorporates moves that release the muscles around the lower spine, as well as around the jaw and face. It is very good for teens and adults, as they have become much more entrenched in their body learning than younger children, although young autists can get a good deal of benefit from it.

Rolfing Structural Integration has the ability to dramatically alter a person’s posture and structure. Rolfing SI can potentially resolve discomfort, release tension and alleviate pain. Rolfing SI aims to restore flexibility, revitalize your energy and leave you feeling more comfortable in your body. The genius of the work rests on Dr Rolf’s insight that the body is more at ease and functions most effectively when its structure is balanced in gravity.

The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration

The Listening Project Protocol

Dr Porges has found that he can improve autism by stimulating the social engagement system. With the use of acoustic sessions using the frequencies of the human voice he has shown that he can stimulate the social engagement system and get it working more efficiently.

He initiated The Listening Project Protocol, when he was director of the Brain–Body Center at the University of Illinois in Chicago, where he worked with autists to exercise and enhance the social engagement system. He uses voice frequencies to soothe and promote positive emotional states that are associated with safety. He employs computer altered vocal music, rather than other sounds, since the voice stimulates and exercises the neural (brain) regulation of the middle ear muscles and other aspects of the social engagement system. The body processes the sound of the voice differently from other acoustic signals. It is the most soothing.

Integrated Listening Systems

This is another tool that is used by families of autists. Many find that it provides positive changes in the ability of their child to participate in the world.

Integrated Listening programs effectively ‘re-train’ parts of the brain involved in learning, communicating and moving. Combining an auditory program with specific visual and balance activities allows iLs to rapidly strengthen neurological pathways and improves the ability to learn and to process information.

The three main systems for organizing sensory input – visual, auditory and balance (vestibular) – are highly interrelated. Exercising all three simultaneously is a holistic approach which can help build comprehension in the classroom and build literacy, numeracy and communication skills. This holistic approach also helps clients of any age to feel sharper, more focused, and more self-confident.

iLs Australia

Anat Baniel Method

This method evolved from Anat Baniel’s professional work as a clinical psychologist and dancer. Close collaboration with Moshe Feldenkrais and the experience born of 30 years of remarkable outcomes with thousands of children and adults brought about a unique method that she has been able to reproduce and teach to others. Through innovative movement exercises and the ‘Nine Essentials’, new neural patterns are created which give increased strength, flexibility, vitality and awareness to the individual.

ABM is a cutting-edge, science-based approach that utilizes practical brain plasticity techniques which dramatically enhance physical, cognitive, emotional and creative performance.

Anat Baniel defines her work as a NeuroMovement® approach. She does special mastery training to teach her practitioners how to work with children with special needs and specifically with children on the spectrum. With more and more research emerging as to the movement components of autism spectrum disorders, Anat Baniel’s approach seems destined to become an integral part of any successful strategy for working with children on the spectrum. References to her website and to fascinating YouTube videos are at the back of this book.

Feldenkrais Method

The Feldenkrais Method works to bring about an improved interplay with the body via the central nervous system. It works to improve physical function and promotes general wellbeing by increasing students’ awareness of themselves and by expanding their repertoire of movement. Feldenkrais taught that increasing a person’s kinaesthetic and proprioceptive self-awareness of functional movement could reduce pain and improve motion.

Classes are called ‘Awareness Through Movement’. A Feldenkrais practitioner guides the participants through a gentle sequence of movement explorations and, as they move, attention is drawn to the movement. Participants learn to observe their movements, and learn easier ways of moving in everyday activities.

Individual lessons are called ‘Functional Integration’. This is a hands-on process. The practitioner guides movements through precise touch while the client lies or sits, comfortably clothed, on a low padded table. The practitioner brings present movement habits into focus and shares new movement options. The learning is then applied to daily activities such as standing, walking and sitting.

A major difference between this and ABM is that many Feldenkrais practitioners do not have the experience of working with children and they do not train specifically with brain plasticity and the need to be organic in their approach. Autists need a particularly individual programme, tailored around them and open to change. Look for a Feldenkrais practitioner who has experience in this area.

Body/Mind training

Physical exercises are excellent for retraining the mind–body connection. Juggling, dancing, martial arts, swimming and gentle horse-riding all help the autist to calmly re-engage with the body and retrain the brain to process visual and auditory information. Horses seem to be particularly soothing at a body level, but a quietly-spoken martial artist may be equally beneficial.

Bothmer

Bothmer was developed in 1921 by Fritz von Bothmer after being invited by Rudolf Steiner to develop a gymnastics programme for his school.

Bothmer is holistic movement training. It teaches the child to take hold of their body in stages, to integrate the mind–body connection, physically, emotionally and consciously. It encourages the child to take hold of their body with joy and imagination. Bothmer is ‘a play between weight and lightness’, between gravity and levity, and it prepares a space for creative activity. Bothmer is still taught in Steiner Schools today.