Alternative Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) & Asperger’s Disease
I developed a reiki and acupressure technique which I have used for self-healing over a five year period, without negative side-effects and get great results in enhancing and repairing my nervous system and curing myself from a congenital deformity in the spine.
I can see from the results I’ve achieved, that my therapy and technique are good to repair the nervous system in the brain and body, thus I feel it can be effective to help those with autism. Because children are still in a growing process, I feel they can get good results as they have the greatest capacity to heal. I think to do this, it is important that a parent or caregiver learn how to do the treatment then they can give it to the child and even teach the child later on, as this is the most cost effective. My technique is easily learned and can be taught to caregivers, parents and even the autistic child themselves, to provide a valuable tool for self-regulation, self-healing and immediate stress relief for the caregivers as well!
I give people information about healing and effective tools they can use to do self-healing and healing of others, so they can become independent from ‘needing healers’. The more you use the tool yourself, the more empowered you will feel, as you start to see results happening out of your own efforts. Once people are convinced that they have a tool that indeed works, then they will feel empowered to enter into their own healing process. The reality is that it can take hundreds of hours of sessions to fully heal an established disease or illness and you could never afford to pay that much. This is why I feel it’s so important that you learn how to do a energy healing technique yourself.
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?
Autism is a biological and neurological spectral disorder that typically appears during the first three years of life. It affects brain function and can be a life long disability resulting in behaviors that affect both verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Symptoms include certain ‘trait’ behaviors and affected social development. This complex developmental disability is four times more common in boys than girls and occurs in 1 in 166 children born today (Dept. of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics, Medical Home Initiatives & First Signs Inc.). At the time of writing this article ASD is on the increase in number of children being diagnosed with this today.
Autism is characterized by its early onset. Typical behaviors show up before the age of 36 months, but the symptoms are often masked during the first two years of life by developmental milestones. Autism is a spectral disorder that has a wide range of severity from person to person. Simply put, people afflicted with autism do not process what they see, hear and sense in a typical manner.
Symptoms may include:
- Lack of or poor eye contact
- Lack of or significantly delayed speech
- Various self-stimulatory behaviors such as hand flapping, rocking, spinning or other repetitive behaviors.
- Covering ears with hands
- Difficulty in socializing with other children
- Insistence on sameness; resists change in routine
- Inappropriate laughing and giggling
- No real fear of dangers
- Sustained odd play.
- Apparent insensitivity to pain.
- Echolalia (repeating words or phrases in place of normal language)
- Preference to be alone; aloof manner.
- May not want cuddling or act cuddly.
- Not responsive to verbal cues (may include his/her name); acts as if deaf.
- Fascination with spinning objects.
- Inappropriate attachment to objects.
- Difficulty in expressing needs; uses gestures or leading others instead of words.
- Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity.
- Tantrums – displays extreme distress for no apparent reason.
- Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
- Uneven gross/fine motor skills (may not want to kick a ball but can stack blocks.)
What is the Cause of Autism and What Therapy Might Help to Treat Those with Autism?
I have studied a little about autism and believe the symptoms might to be due to an underdevelopment of the mirror neurons. I just read the book: Mirroring People by Marco Iacoboni, which explains how mirror neurons work and they present an interesting theory on what might be the cause of Autism. I highly recommend reading this book to any parent with autistic children.
Excerpts from the book with my comments in italics:
Chameleon Affect: Mirror neurons send signals to limbic system (emotional center) in brain. Neural activity in limbic system triggered by these signals from mirror neurons allow us to feel the emotions associated with observed facial expressions. Only after we feel these emotions internally are we able to explicitly recognize them. We understand the mental states of others by ‘simulating them’ in our brain, using mirror neurons. When these neurons fire then our mirrored muscles fire and we feel the same thing as them, thus we can read the other.
Theory: mirror neurons are neural glue between self and other to be able to distinguish the difference. Mirror neurons are formed in infant brain by interactions between self and other (the self-image/ personality builds up) other people’s behavior is a reflection of our own behavior. In other people we see ourselves with mirror neurons. Self-recognition and imitation go together because our mirror neurons are born when the ‘other’ imitates the ‘self’. Kids who can recognize themselves in the mirror imitate each other much more than kids not yet having this ability. We get to know ourselves thru the ‘reaction’ we see in the other thus also why we provoke to get a reaction and we are used to living ‘out there’, in the bubble or mirrored view. We are identified with our self-image and that image exits outside of our self. Apes who live with humans can recognize self in mirror, while wild ones can’t. So exposure to humans ‘rubs off’ and self-awareness increases… In the presence of others – mirror neurons fire when we observe action and perform these actions. In short, when we (& apes) look at others, we find both them and ourselves. Rich and long infant/mother interactions, shape mirror neurons and sense of self – primates, dolphins, elephants – all types of animals with long mother/infant times together. Children, near end of 2nd year recognize themselves in the mirror.
Hypothesis: dysfunction of mirror neuron system is responsible for autism; essentially these people are locked inside themselves. Imitation can be a form of treatment for autism. The problem in autism is a missing ‘emotional’ connection. They have inability to resonate with others emotions. (“Mu” rhythm = expression of oscillatory electrical activity that can be recorded over central motor regions of the brain.) When we move our hands, the Mu rhythm is reduced. Mu rhythm suppression is clear sign of motor activity in brain. Just watching other people it goes down.
Hypothesis for cause of Autism: early development failure of mirror neuron system – leading to cascade of development impairments. Therefore a possible helpful therapy would be to imitate the child with autism – which gets them to recognize you and start to interact. Like meeting them at their wavelength.
A little about my Quicken Touch therapy using Reiki & Acupressure
Reiki and acupressure are rapidly becoming more widely accepted into the mainstream as an effective mind body energy treatment, and today is being used by many hospitals as complementary and integrative therapy with modern medical therapies. Studies have shown it to be an effective therapy to treat autism spectrum disorder including Aspergers. I feel that my therapy can be great complementary therapy for autism spectrum disorders, but it will need daily sessions over an extended period of time. When one combines reiki with acupressure you get an effective way to treat chinese meridians in the body without having to use excessive pressure or needles. Once it is learned it is easy and you only need to do it for one hour each day. Multiple people can learn how to give the child the treatment, as well as the child can learn it, thus spreading out the responsibility and time commitment it takes to bring about healing.
As soon as treatments are started you will notice a reduction in emotional tension and stress buildup as well the child will sleep better. This therapy is safe and natural and will not produce negative side effects that might interfere with other protocols or medicine the child is taking.
Note: This article was written several years ago, I encourage you to search in internet to find new resources and ideas for alternative therapies for autism and to share what you have found that works for your child with others. Together we can find a cure!
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD & Asperger’s) Resources:
Article: Effective Therapies for Autism and Other Developmental Disorders
Alternative Therapies for Children with Brain Injury and Developmental Disorders
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