Some bloggers have sitemeters.

Some bloggers check their sitemeters to see who is searching what subject, if they are brave.

Occasionally I am brave and check. What follows are three pieces upon subjects that three people researched via google.

This is the second topic.

Caressing

I wonder what the searcher wanted to know? For current purposes I shall assume that we are in the realm of touch.I have two different perspectives to offer.My older son often appears impervious to pain.My younger son is on a different spot on the spectrum. Any touch by anything is ‘felt’ almost before contact, especially the area above his shoulders. It is as if he has a force field around him, such that he is able to anticipate touch beforehand. For him at least, he appears to be in a state of heightened alert, on a constant vigil to avoid being touched. This kind of reaction is commonly referred to as ‘hyper-vigilance.’

One of the most important things I have learned about hyper-vigilance is that it’s exhausting for that individual concerned, and I’m sure anyone in the armed services would confirm that to be on constant guard duty takes a heavy toll on the psyche and the body.

We all know people who are tense and jumpy. These nervous individuals flinch and fret at things that many of us are oblivious to. Hyper-vigilance in autistics is ‘merely’ an extreme form of this kind of behaviour. The difference for many autistics is that their fear has a rational basis in that sight, sound, the olfactory system, touch and taste are frequently far more sensitive than the rest of us. What feels like a butterfly wing to my daughter's eyelid, would be a body blow to my son.

‘And what exactly has this to do with caressing’ you may ask? I’m glad you reminded me. Well it means that the cold, undemonstrative child who refuses to be hugged or cuddling is neither cold nor undemonstrative. It is far more likely that the child is super sensitive. There are a great many resources to help parents understand "sensory integration disorder," a ‘condition’ that often comes hand in hand with autism.

As far as caressing goes, I have to be very careful with my children. Whilst my youngest is hyper-vigilant, my older son is quite the opposite, the bear hug type where I fear I may crush his rib cage in response to his craving to deep pressure and contact. Why must I be careful? Well it would never do to muddle the two!

"Cheers dears"