Brushing Protocol

Our Therapressure therapy brush

We've been doing the Wilbarger Brushing Protocol with the Little Man for almost a month now. The Wilbarger Brushing Protocol, also known as the "Brushing program," or just brushing, for short, is a therapy for sensory processing issues that was created by occupational therapist, Patricia Wilbarger.

It's used for people who are tactile defensive, and can be part of a wholistic sensory diet.

The Little Man is an interesting mix of sensory seeking and defensive, and it contributes greatly to his anxiety. It has caused a lot of problems with eating (limited textures, gagging), speech and general motor skills.

The therapy consists of brushing the person with a soft-bristled therapy brush roughly every two hours each day for a few weeks. This is followed by gentle joint compression. It takes 2-3 minutes to do and feels like a nice massage. It is taught by an OT to the parents and teachers who will do it, so that we know it is done correctly. (There are some videos out there that show people the technique, but I don't think it's a great idea to do it without professional help since doing it wrong can actually feel very uncomfortable and make someone more tactile defensive!)

After 2-3 weeks of daily therapy, the OT will re-assess the person and see whether it should be continued or tapered off.

I had heard a bit about it before this was proposed for the Little Man (it was proposed for me and my SPD, but I couldn't find an OT to teach me when I looked). There's not tons of science or studies backing this practice up. Nevertheless, we went into it with an open mind, figuring it doesn't hurt anyone (it feels really nice actually!) and the brush cost us $5.

Our OT set up the schedule and with the help of the staff at school, we've been doing it daily on the Little Man. To our great surprise, we've noticed A LOT of changes very quickly.

Since we started the brushing protocol, he's been:

-more calm, will sit with us
-asks for hugs
-sleeps better
-eats better (larger quantities and more textures)
-talks more
-drinks water (!!  From a cup!!)
-more focused
-seems less anxious
-seems more confident
-more self-aware when upset and able to let us know verbally

I think that him being less anxious means he is better able to relax and eat. I know I spent a great deal of my childhood very anxious and eating was very anxiety-provoking to me. Also, when you can't handle all the different things assaulting your senses all at once, it's hard to find a sense of predictability or stability in the world. The world feels very dangerous to someone with SPD - or at least it did for me growing up and I'm pretty sure my son has experienced a similar sentiment.

As a bonus, the Little Man seems to really enjoy being brushed and the OT agrees with the results we've been seeing, so we're going to continue for the next few weeks.

If you know a person who is tactile defensive with Sensory Processing Disorder and/or is Autistic, brushing is a therapy that doesn't take a lot of time or investment to try and see if it will help. It's just one part of a well-rounded OT program and easy to do at home.

As for me, I need to book more massage appointments for myself :)

Being A Burden

He woke up often at night, scared. He would call out to me. I would sit with him and tell him jokes to ease his anxiety.

It was hard to get him to eat anything. He was picky and had problems chewing. He would choke easily and drool a lot. Eating was always a big mess. He did better with liquids, but I had to give him a straw and watch him carefully to make sure he didn't choke.

He had problems going to the bathroom by himself. I helped him pull his pants down and he'd sit on the toilet for what seemed like hours sometimes. He would later tell me it was difficult to coordinate and relax his muscles to do what they needed to do.

His balance was not good, so we had the help of a physiotherapist and OT. He didn't really like it, but eventually he did the exercises and got some confidence. I remember him walking with the aid of a support harness and the OT hanging on tightly to help keep him up. He still tired easily and fell often, sometimes hitting his head quite badly.

His speech was slurred and hard to understand, so we got him speech therapy. Again, he didn't always want to cooperate, but we all pushed him and supported him in his efforts.

Otherwise he spent most of his day quiet in front of the TV. Or sometimes he listened to music and closed his eyes. It was hard to get him to interact with me. And sometimes when he did, he was verbally abusive. He was very controlling about the way things should be in his room.

He was a challenge and a lot of work, but I love him and I never gave up on him.








I'm talking about my father before he died from Parkison's. I was his caregiver.



He never wanted to be considered a burden. That was his fear. I never considered him a burden, even if at times he did not make the process easy and he certainly wasn't always nice. He abused me verbally my whole life, up until just before he died.

I never once thought of killing him.

Do not tell me caring for someone with special needs is a burden. Do not tell me my father was a burden to society.

Do not tell me caring for my Autistic son is a burden. Do not tell me my son is a burden to society.

Do not tell me either of these situations makes it understandable to murder either of these people, no matter how abusive or difficult things get.


This was written for Flash Blog for Isabelle Stapleton

Mama On A Motherly Instinct Mission

The Little Man had an Occupational Therapy (OT) evaluation yesterday. We had seen one before at the Children's Hospital in the feeding clinic, but I didn't like the way they work (wanting me to bride him to eat good foods by using things like chocolate and ice cream). Not only that, but the psychologist there isn't great with autism and they don't really "believe" in sensory issues - it's just not their thing. So rather than butt heads, we thanked them for their time and stopped going.

Fast forward to us applying for the QC disability allowance and needing a real written evaluation done. I've already learnt that if you want something done around here quickly, you need to go private. Luckily, we have private insurance to cover most of this. The QC government gave me a month to supply them with evals in OT and speech therapy - I luckily managed to get that extended by calling, but all this stuff needs to be done. So I went to the semi-private clinic he normally goes to and got a new OT there. She actually works at the Children's (so again, not a big believer in sensory integration issues) but she did a total developmental assessment on him.

He needs some fine motor skills tweaking, but is mostly age-appropriate (3 years) which is great news. Because of that, we probably won't qualify for the disability allowance, but I don't care at this point. What was really helpful was having her confirm my Motherly Instincts (so useful when you listen to them!) about him really needing to focus on language and social skills.

It's just so annoying out there, with some many businesses trying to make money off of parent's fears and uncertainty - the whole, "if you don't do something right now and do it really intensively and spend eight hundred million dollars on therapy, well....."

No, I know my kid. I know him better than anyone. Crazy intensive ABA therapy would stress him out more than do good. He has problems speaking, maybe apraxia, maybe dysarthria, maybe both. It doesn't matter what, but that's what needs to be worked on. He's a good kid, a bright kid, a quirky kid, but one who is capable of learning and wants to learn.

So really, the OT just reaffirmed my instincts and strengthen my resolve to find a speech therapist who will go into his daycare maybe once or twice a week and work with him. I'm a mama on a mission, a clear mission, to continue to follow my instincts.

Why Me?

The Little Man is almost 29 months old and still makes no two-word utterances other than, 'oh oh' or 'oh no.' If we ask him to make a simple sentence like, 'dada up' he says only either 'dada' or 'up.'

I have days where I want to stick my head in the sand and wish he would wake up the next day suddenly talking. Believe me, the irony in the fact that a linguist has a child who cannot speak is never lost on me. But in some ways, I guess I'm best suited to recognize we needed help and to have an idea of what to do. Even then, it doesn't make it any less frustrating. Part of me wishes I could do more playing with him and fewer exercises. Yes, we still play, but interspersed in that are OT exercises for his mouth and speech therapy. Other mamas don't have to think about intregrating those things into their days. But I guess we all have our issues and I don't want to fall into the, 'why me?' trap. It's hard though, I won't lie. Still, the more we do, the more he improves, though slowly.

Today at lunch he ate half a ham sandwich and a pack of mini Oreos. He's finally chewing and enjoying food. It might not seem like much, but it's a big deal for him and us. I was so happy to clean off his Oreo-covered face and hands. 'That is what a normal 2 year old should look like!' I said. Just happily eating a sandwich and cookies. When it has been such a struggle to get to 'normal' or everyday activities, it's such a celebration.

 In other news, the second blood test he had for celiac came back inconclusive, so we need to have a biopsy of his gut done. It's a quick procedure, but it's done under general anaesthesia, so we'll be at the hospital half a day. It's a three month waiting list, so we're just waiting.