behaviour needs of individuals
with ASC: suggestions for
supportive interventions.
Dr. Wendy Lawson Cpsychol
2013
What to expect from this talk
 An
insight into some of the
difficulties those of us with ASC
have
 Sensory issues
 Communication issues
 Thinking/processing issues
 Strategies/interventions that
might help
CHANGE
Change, change and more change,
Of context, place and time.
Why is it that Life’s transient stage
Plays such havoc with my mind?
You said, “We’ll go to McDonald’s”
But this was just a thought.
I was set for hours,
But the plan then came to naught.
My tears and confused frustration,
At plans that do not appear,
Are painful beyond recognition,
And push me deeper into fear.
CHANGE
How can life be so determined?
How can change be so complete?
With continuity there is no end,
Security and trust are sweet.
So, who said that change would not hurt me?
Who said my ‘being’ could not be safe?
CHANGE
Change said, “You need continuity”
In order to find your place.
For change makes all things different,
They no longer are the same.
What was it that you really meant?
All I feel is the pain.
Cognitive differences
 Nancy
Minshew and others
have demonstrated our brains
are ‘wired up’ differently to
typical individuals.
 “The way people with autism
think forms the basis for their
behavior” (June 2003).
FOR MORE INFO...
Google current research on ‘brain and autism’. Local autism
support groups. Email Wendy: lawson_wendy@hotmail.com
Cognitive differences
scientists examined brain tissue .
 They focused on structures within the
brain known as cell minicolumns which
play an important role in the way the brain
takes in information and responds to it.
 the minicolumns of autistic individuals
were found to be significantly smaller, but
there were many more of them.
 Dr Casanova said the increased amount of
cell minicolumns could mean a constant
state of overarousal. (January, 2004)

Increased Number of
Minicolumns in Autism
Casanova et al., 2006
Memories are built from connection
As
chemicals
flow in and
between
Synapses
information
is
exchanged.
The neurons present in the brain that connect the sensory and the motor neurons.
Uni-sensory &
Multi-sensory
connections allow
for different
concepts/experien
ces/memories and
will lead to
different
behavioural
outcomes.
GAMMA
Excess GAMMA in ASC
Anchored GAMMA in NT
Sensory Connections
Neuro-feedback
NT
ASC
other
interest
+--------------------------------------------
Highly
focused
Interests
take
precedence
attention
Multiple
diffuse
interests
_ATTENTION_________
_____
Cognitive differences

autism is a system-wide brain difference
that limits the coordination and
integration among brain areas. This is
the paradox of autism: Some people with
autism have normal or even superior
skills in some areas, while many other
types of thinking are disconnected. The
team's study is published in the August
(2004) edition of the British journal Brain
and is available online at
www.brain.oupjournals.org.
Implications
–Cognition (being single minded )
impacts upon:
–Sensory experience
–Leads to uneven ability
–Interferes with the gaining of
concepts
–Complicates understanding of self
–And understanding of ‘other’
Background to behaviour
Before considering practical
interventions we need to understand:
 What does the behaviour achieve?
– Gets wants/needs met?
 Is the behaviour the problem?
– Sensory/physical/Environment?
 Is there something else we need to
change:
– Ourselves; our demands; the
environment or situation…

Brain connection
 If
we operate one sense at any one
time:
 Integration Issues may lead to
system dysphoria (some studies
show genetic link to autism & gut
issues)
 Possibly connections in autism and
the GI Tract - 'Sensitivity' Issues to
food, Taste, smell = Pain
Brain Gut Connection
 Painful
Stimulus -> Magnification
of message (Pain makes
associations louder).
There is a magnification of the
pain message. This
magnification is an 'increase in
sensitivity‘, explained as the
system over-reacting.
Brain Gut Connection
E.g. After a painful event, a much
smaller event might cause a painful
reaction that is out of proportion to
the actual event.
 If the first event or two was eating
crunchy food causing tummy cramps
and gagging, future events cause
same response, sometimes by
sensation and/or association.

Brain Gut Connection
 Afterwards,
a small amount of
crunchy food, may cause the same
huge cramping and gagging.
seen in child who gags on anything
cold, chewy, or crunchy etc...no
matter how small an amount the
system has the 'pain memory' and
reacts inappropriately. The reaction
can be triggered by smells, sights,
textures, temperatures, even
sounds.
Sensory Integration

The sense/pain become one, even
though the 'Non-painful' stimulus is not
a problem in itself… but is the trigger > Magnified sensation to an extreme and
unpleasant level...(PAIN)
(Note: The point here is that there is a
real physical event that results in
another physical event that may be
painful or at least uncomfortable. The
person is reacting appropriately to the
physical event as they feel it).
Brain Connection
 It
is the sensory response system
that is acting inappropriately. It is
definitely not just bad behaviour or
an attempt for attention.
Unfortunately, children and especially
someone with a communication
impairment, is not able to accurately
express this in usual ways.
Brain Connection
 Often
it takes the form of
poor behaviour, 'overreacting' to what others
around them perceive as a
little thing, stimming,
tantrums, or other
behaviours.
Brain Connection
 Eg:
light tough causing a
person to jerk away their arm
like it had been hit. The nerves
are responding inappropriately.
Something like the brushing
technique helps because it retrains the nerve response.
Retraining?
 This
can produce very good
results in working with autism.
‘Moulding' and re-training the
nerves is a foundation of many
of the therapies/conditions
housing a number of
interventions.
Food Allergy
 multiple
neurological problems in
children with food allergy including
anxiety, behavioural abnormality,
and even psychosis which have
been reported as being resolved
with food restriction.
- Incidence of food allergy is cited
at 8% in general paediatrics, best
small study in ASC states 36%
incidence
Causes ASC?
 No
evidence that any gut problems
CAUSE autism conditions (but
shared genetic codes). Although
correcting the gut problems will not
cure autism, being in discomfort
would likely make symptoms much
worse. Treat these problems and the
person with autism will feel better
and have a better quality of life
Dr. Lucy Miller Star Institute
 Sensory
diet or sensory lifestyle?
 Play forms the basis for all sensory
and relational shared interaction.
 Children jumping on a trampoline,
riding their bikes, playing with water,
sand, bubbles & so on.. All help to
connect our senses.
Hypo or Hyper?
 Reactions
to things seen, touched,
heard or movement can either be
too much or too little:
 Auditory hypersensitivity results in
tantrums or the covering of ears
when certain sounds are heard;
Auditory hyposensitivity seems like
selective hearing and there is often
concern of hearing loss
Visual System
 we
use to ‘see’ the world around us.
 Some of us find this sense
uncomfortable, so we might try to
interfere with it (look out the sides
of our eyes; look through gaps in
our fingers; look upside down;
sideways) to make it less
uncomfortable, or we might try to
block it out all together (fingers in
front of eyes; hide beneath
material).
Visual Sense
 Visual
detail scrutiny occurs
when a specific object or
group of objects, are chosen
to be visually inspected
repeatedly (i.e. shiny leaves,
wiggling string, corners etc)
Description
Vision allows too much information
‘in’ we feel over whelmed
 Vision lets in pieces of disconnected
information
 Vision allows information through
which appears non-sensical
 Vision mixes inappropriately with
other senses and distorts
information causing us to see in
patterns or misrepresenting what’s
‘there’; giving rise to sudden ‘seeing’
or seeing after event has passed.

Scotopic Sensitivity
 Approx
70% of information is
accommodated visually.
 visual perceptual problems may
not be identified via traditional
eye tests.
 If discovered, may be remedied
by the use of tinted lenses (Irlen
lenses).
 Vision Therapy (specific eye
exercises) often very helpful
Sensitive vision.
 Some
autistic individuals can
see the flicker of florescent
lights. (Lawson, 2001) Coleman
et al. (1976) found that florescent
lights increased repetitive
behavior in some children with
autism.
FOR MORE INFO...
Wendy’s books; Temple Grandin’s story; Donna Williams and
other personal accounts. Literature on Sensory dysfunction &
Autism.
Outcomes of visual discomfort
eye contact avoidance, blackboard visual
avoidance, poor and uneven handwriting,
inability to listen and look
simultaneously, over use of peripheral
vision, a stiff-legged walk and poking at
the sides of the eyes (Audrey Adams).
 Picky eaters- choosey about appearance
of food on plate;
 Seems to ‘scan’ environment & items
 Visual processing difficulties (Jackie
Jackson, 2005)

Resources
 Trained
OT.
 Shades
 Irlen
Lenses
 Educational Optomotrist
/exercises?
 Understanding Family
 Supportive School environment
 Reducing visual over load
Procedures
Do all sensory therapies FIRST and
THEN behavioural therapies and
interventions.
 Check physical health, please don’t
assume child is attention seeking or
trying to avoid tasks for avoidance
sakes.
 Read sensational Kids (Lucy Jane
Miller)
 Educate, accommodate, facilitate!

things that might help
To improve visual discomfort:
 Use natural lighting, not fluorescent
 Use colored over lays or Irlen lenses
 Employ visual activities (exercises)
– Hand to eye coordination; catching of
balls; following finger to and from
nose; walking along straight lines
whilst eyes looking at a fixed point;
fixing on and off of spinning objects;
counting objects; specific program
put together by developmental
optometrist or occupational therapist.

Tactile sense (touch)
 Tactile
detail scrutiny occurs
when there is a fixation on
the tactile qualities of an
object (i.e.. The smooth silk
on the blanket)
Strategies
 Slowly,
increase contact with
tactile discrepancies. For
example: brush arms gently;
pull soft material across the
individuals body; Try clothing
on, take off again. Aim is to
increase tactile coping and
decrease tactile
defensiveness.
Peca (everything goes into mouth)
 Taste
sensory stimulation occurs
when things are put in the mouth but
not eaten (i.e.. gravel, twigs, leaves)
 Some children require more sensory
legitimate ‘play’ with things like
dough, to help with this. Other’s
need pictorial support for what is
allowed in the mouth and what is
not. Often both are needed.
Smell and movement
 Smell
fixations occur when
objects are smelled as a way
of exploring them
 Movement over reactivity
occurs when there is a strong
like or dislike to experiencing
movement (i.e.. swinging,
jumping)
Fragrance
 Some
fragrances are
experienced as over whelming
so we need to desensitize the
individual as much as possible.
 Other fragrances are
experienced as under
stimulating, and the individual
wants much more of these. We
can work on this too.
Role of Attention
 What
we know about ASC is
that we use single attention
 If attention all in one place
then sensory issues will take
precedence when they exist
 I won’t have spare attention
for learning,
 My senses are occupied!
Free up attention
 Attention
can be ‘freed up’ as
we attend to the sensory
profile of the individual and
deal with the difficulties:
 Social
 Environmental
 Physical
Social
 Less
demand
 Build concepts
 Create fellow feeling and
value via shared interest
 Use stimuli reduced teaching
aids:
 Computer- IT
Environmental
 Check
lighting for
appropriateness
 Floor coverings
 Furniture – crowding
 People factor
 Texture
 Color
 Structure
Physical
Check health
Check for food allergy
Metals in the blood stream
Clothing
Brain gut connections
Muscle tone
Physical Activity
 Hand
stretching
 Leaning forward to assist
with concentration
 Open them close them….
 Relax
 Sucking thro a straw
 soft brush to skin
Resources
 www.wendylawson.com
 Books
dealing with sensory
issues
 Published by Jessica Kingsley:
 www.jkp.com
 Wendy’s books