Deep Pressure Massage and Children with Behavioral Issues

The school OT suggested we use a technique known as deep pressure massage during the 2 week Chrismas break. It's my understanding that this is a technique that some OT's use with patients to try and stimulate the brainstem. The brainstem stimulation teaches the child to learn to "chill out" during very stressful times instead of having a tantrum, head-banging or swearing, which is more common for him.

So, we began on Friday night....every 2 hours when he is awake, we take a small brush (it's a surgical scrub brush) and apply deep pressure, similar to a massage, to his arms, back, and legs for about a minute. Then, we follow it with joint compression (I think that's what it is called) for all of his joints. So far, we've been doing it for almost 48 hours and he welcomes it. He likes to try and give Mom the massage - which I think is cute. We'll train his babysitter tomorrow to complete it when he's at daycare and then will work with the special education teacher to do it when he starts back to school. According to the OT, we'll count this period as a very intense deep pressure massage for the next 3 weeks. Then, after that, we'll only bring it out when we know he's going to face a stressful time - for example, the start of the new school year.

I have more information about deep pressure massage that I will post later. It is a technique that is very controversial and cannot be used for every child. If you think it may help your child begin to learn coping strategies, please engage the help of a trained occupational therapist.

Jackson's First Few Weeks of Kindergarten

It's the start of the school year and our little guy is so excited to ride the big yellow school bus to Kindergarten! Off he goes and I sit buy and cry! I can't believe he's grown so fast...where did the past 4 years go? In my mind, it was just like it was last week when we were in Russia.

From the very start, I started receiving phone calls and visiting with his teacher about her concerns. She was seeing significant behaviors that had begun to affect the classroom. Here's what was going with Jackson: difficulty sitting in the bus and not standing on the seat; not able to be redirected when they asked him to stop doing something (like kicking the seat); not sitting in the circle; kicking chairs; head banging and head butting the teacher; swearing; full-out temper tantrums; angry voice; striking out at peers; refusing to write; etc. I remember sitting in our first SAT school meeting in mid-September and was heartbroken. Here was my son - the child who has overcome so much in his short life - being, again described as a monster. We were not seeing behaviors of this magnitude at home nor at day care. So, suddenly, I began realizing that the school environment was triggering something for him - look at preschool and now Kindergarten. Again, diagnoses were thrown out: autism, attachment disorder, ADD, etc.

So, as a parent of the only internationally adopted child within our district at this time, it became my crusade to educate myself. Over the next few weeks, I've done so much research on orphans who spent time in orphanages and the impact that has had in their transition to school.

As time goes by, I'll update you on what has worked, what hasn't, and resources that we have found helpful.