Newsgroups: bit.listserv.autism
Date:         Fri, 22 Jan 1993 12:50:40 CST
              <AUTISM@SJUVM.BITNET>
From:         Jim Sinclair <GOLEM@UKANVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Pain signals
              16 Jan 1993 18:12:11 GMT from <jbadner@WORLD.STD.COM>

On Sat, 16 Jan 1993 18:12:11 GMT JA Badner said:
>I've been thinking about the articles discussing autistic response to
>pain and also the response of some autistics to touch as a painful stimulus.
>What I wonder about are the children who experience touch and other
>physical stimulation as painful but aren't able to communicate it and
>do not have the response that indicates they are in pain.  In effect,
>they are being physically abused although there is no knowledge or intent
>of abuse for the people who are causing them the pain.  I suppose this
>situation is possible in a child that doesn't seek out physical
>contact but also doesn't appear to mind it.

I'd say they're being physically *hurt*, and quite possibly emotionally
traumatized, but I save the term "abuse" for situations where the dynamics
are rather different.  It is a serious concern, though.

Anyone who's ordered a tape of the radio interview with Donna is going
to hear this, but here's a preview of what she says about touch:

"I have just recently learned that when people touch one part of them-
selves to another, they feel it in both.  I learned this when I said to
somebody--I was very shocked--that my leg had told my hand where it was,
because over the years, only my hands told my leg where it was--you under-
stand?--not the other way.  And that progressed to one day they both felt
it, and I just was really shocked, I thought something had gone very
wrong.  And this made a lot of sense to me, to why things like touch were
so difficult for me to interpret, even from a physical perception point,
let alone closeness and the social connotations, everything.  And the
sense that my perception of my body is in bits.  There's other things
such as the self and other problem, which means that it's hard to work
out who's doing what to whom: who's doing the wanting, who's doing the
accepting, you know, it's not all working for me, there's not a lot of
interpretation of physical sensation, there's--either my eyes are turned
on, here, and I can see it coming, or there's the physical interpretation,
or there's some emotions but no physical interpretation--it's all very
mono.  Other things like touch hypersensitivity make it very frightening
because it can send me through the roof.  Even having someone walk past
me, if my touch is very hyper at that time, it's like--even touching my-
self is a torture, and it feels like, if it goes higher than that, it's
like overload.  And if it goes into shutdown, I end up feeling as dead as
the table.  If I hit the table, and I hit myself, I can tell the differ-
ence by the texture of the object that I'm hitting, but the inner sensa-
tion, forget it.  So the interpretation inside is anger and betrayal,
because it feels like the other person has killed you off.  And when they
think this is closeness, or this is love, or they then want you to say,
`Oh, yeah, that was great, and I really liked it too,' it is so alienating
and really frightening--how different they are, or, if you say no they're
not different, they're the same, which is often what they tell you, then
you think, they must be crazy!  Why do they do this if they're the same,
if this is their perception?  Also it's very hard sometimes to get all
the mechanics going to say, `I don't want this.'  First you've got to
interpret the `not want,' and to do that you've got to be able to read
your own body messages.  So it means I'm very vulnerable in company of
other people when those people think they like me or something.  You're
much safer with people who don't give a damn."


>I know my niece, Abby, acts as though she is in pain when she first
>sees me no matter how much she eagerly anticipates my visit and I've
>learned not to approach her at all when she is like this.  However,
>she will settle down and seek out physical and emotional contact with
>me.  Unfortunately, by that time, her younger (nonautistic) sister has
>seized the opportunity for my undivided attention and I am not as available
>to Abby as she would like :-).

Not approaching her at first is the sensitive and caring thing to do.  If
you know she's going to want contact later, after she's had some time to
get acclimated to your presence, you might try to structure your visits to
allow for that.  Maybe you could go right to the younger child and give her
undivided "Aunt Judy time" first (with Abby in the room,) and then when
Abby's warmed up you can explain that it's her turn for Aunt Judy time and
give her an equal period of undivided attention (perhaps one of the parents
could play with the other child while you do this), and then afterwards
you can just be there with both kids and let them both seek contact as they
wish?

JS
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