Avital Ya’akovi talks about working with an ASD Child & Timocco

I work with Tomer, age four and a half, who is on the autism spectrum. Tomer communicates using single words though his meaning is usually clear. He is distracted by visual and auditory stimuli although his sensory profile has not yet been fully determined. Providing a sense of proprioception helps him to begin and complete activities, however he is unreceptive and often resists. Tomer generally appears to be inattentive to his surroundings and distracted, constantly wandering around and drifting between tasks, and often “escapes” the staff to run around the nursery. He displays awkward spacial orientation and only while drawing at a desk is he able to persist, (relative to his other activities). He is unable to take on spacial activities and instead lays on the floor. Sitting at a desk minimizes stimuli, orients him to the task, and suppresses his physical difficulties.

I started to work with Timocco to address his spacial orientation. In light of previous experience, I was slightly hesitant. At first, Tomer agreed to play only while seated, later while standing braced from behind, and eventually while I held his shoulders to provide deep pressure to ensure that he was relaxed and to help him remain engaged. After several times of playing on Timocco I no longer needed to hold him and he grasped that he was to remain in front the screen rather than wander around the room. Since he still required deep pressure, I let him play wearing a pressure vest. The last several times we have played Tomer no longer requires a pressure vest while playing on Timocco and succeeds to remain engaged for a length of time, approximately ten minutes, with only verbal assistance.

Working with children on the spectrum is often a very slow process and Tomer’s progress—from complete inability to participate in spacial activities to active participation for a length of time—was astonishing. Not only was he willing to participate in activities, at the beginning of a session he explicitly asks to play by saying: “Monkey, monkey”. During a game, he will ask for specific Timocco games that he especially likes, (Balloons and Bubbles in the Bath among others).
During our last session, Tomer asked to play Timocco and, as we did not have access to a computer, I drew Timocco for him to color. I had him put on his pressure vest, fixed the picture to a door, and Tomer colored the drawing while standing on a vestibular plate.