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Why do autistics rock, bounce, and swing?
In this video, I explain why autistics do one of sixteen different types of behaviours.
Then I'll let you know how to get more information, if you want it. This is one of a series of
16 different videos which I hope will make it easier for you to explain autism behaviours
to extended family, colleagues, educators, friends, or anyone who might be working with
or supporting someone with an autistic spectrum condition.
I'm Jackie McMillan of Thrive With Autism. I help parents, educators, health practitioners,
and adult autistics to reduce or eliminate the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorders,
so that autism no longer defines their lives, or limits their opportunities.
So why do autistics rock, bounce and swing? Well, who else rocks, bounces and swings?
We look at seniors, and they're often in rocking chairs. Why, why do they like rocking chairs?
Well, rocking is soothing. We know this from scientific research.
Who else do we rock and bounce and swing? Well, think about babies. Pretty well standard
movement is to rock, or bounce, or swing a baby. Why do we do this?
There are two parts of our nervous system. One is called the sympathetic nervous system,
and that's the part that gets us revved up and ready to go out there and do things. The
other part is the parasympathetic nervous system. And that part of the nervous system
helps us calm down, and digest food, and learn things, and sleep at night, and heal.
The challenge is that when you're in the autistic spectrum, your sympathetic nervous system
is on high drive all the time. You tend to be very, very stressed, and you need extra
help to get that parasympathetic nervous system up and running, and, you know, doing what
it needs to do. So when we are rocking, and we're bouncing,
and we're swinging, what we're doing is we're allowing that parasympathetic nervous system
to come to the fore, to help us stay calmer, so we can learn and integrate what's going
on around us better, and so we can, we can participate more.
I forgot to mention that when we swing on our bellies, it's a good indicator of gut
dysbiosis, one of the five root causes of autism. If you want more information about
Thrive With Autism, there are four webinars coming up.
Autism Essentials, which gives you the keys to help the autistics you love at home, school,
and work, will be on August 22nd at 8pm eastern, and on September 25th at 2pm eastern.
The Five Root Causes of Autism, which will help you find the unique blend at the root
of your particular autistic challenges, will be on August 26th at 8pm easter, and on September
18th at 2pm eastern. Thank you for caring about someone with autism.