acupuncture, autism and seizures

Her seizures and her behavior began to take a turn for the worse, besides seizure meds we decided to take a different route- acupuncture. Surprising for a girl who doesn't feel much pain and sometimes seeks it, for I'm guessing some sort of sensory related, did pretty well. We did it for almost 3 months(slowly and gradually, 30 minutes twice a week) and did see some improvements(calmer, less seizures, and overall a happier mood) but due to financial issues we had to stop, although do recommend it for people who are willing to try it(it is not for everybody but it is something out there that can be helpful).


Things to know before doing acupuncture especially with individuals who have autism:

1. Make sure the acupuncturist knows about the childs conditions, and that they may not last a minute or even a couple seconds(see if the doctor is understanding and whether they will work with you if anything does happen). Also so they are prepared ahead of time, make sure you do an initial visit with them and your child so they get to figure out how to handle it themselves before the actual acupuncture is done(sort of like a pre-acupuncture visit of just the two meeting each other).

2. Depending on how functioning an individual is, try a social story or a play by play of what may or may not happen at an event like this.

3. If the individual does not like needles, cannot handle them at all, do not rush to try this.

4. Always keep the individual distracted when having the needles put in; with lights, noises, texture, anything to keep their mind off what will happen. Also make sure they aren't cold or too warm, and somebody is always in the room in case anything can happen. Sometimes it nice to have music playing too(this video was taken after a couple visits but you can see in it she has her stim toy and there was calming music in the backround).

5. After needles are in, make sure to maybe rub their hands or feet, or wherever the needles aren't, to let them know it is okay, as always keep lots of things in room that could be distracting or helpful.

6. Before letting the doctor leave, make sure you do a quick round about to see if they may be upset or start getting upset(with some individuals with autism, their processing is slower so they don't realize its bothering them until its too late, so we always made sure the doctor waited a couple minutes until it was okay to leave!)

Just some 6 helpful hints to follow if you do try this treatment as it may be as helpful as it was for us!

Feel free to private message if you want to know further information about this treatment we tried!

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• autism and seizures

[plushbanana]

after seeing this video and talking to my doctor I started going to acupuncture two months ago. I just wanted to tell you what a great job you did on this video. I do not have autism but I do have seizures. The acupuncture has been helping decrease seizure activity. So thank you so much for making this video

[fastjim]

@plushbanana Your very welcome!!

[DanKelso]

Nice video, but totally the wrong song for this video.

[CDFoakley]

Great tips and thanks for posting video. Anything that helps is worth looking at, as we need as many tools in the toolbox of tricks to use when needed! I hope you can find an acupuncturist who would donate some time to her, or maybe a donation from autism society for a few more sessions.