Rhonda

My grandson Zachary has Autism. He is 9 yrs old He is a high functioning autistic and has a high IQ. But Autism means in the Drs words his brain is wired differantly than ours. He has challenges and daily struggles to live in a world that he doesn't always understand.

One thing autistics struggle with is the need for sensory input in their day. We all have this need but our daily needs are so much lower than Zachs. We meet our brains need for this with our daily activities. But Zack requires much more to be able to function. It isn't a want it is a need as surely as he needs to eat.

So we look for ways to fill this need. One way is to provide a swing. We have an outdoor one that is made of tire material and looks like a horse.

Then we screwed a strong hook in the ceiling and rigged a rope to attach a homemade sling swing. But the hook wore out. So Sara(DD) bought a swing frame that we can take down or put up as needed. She uses it at home outside and hooked a tire swing to it. Then she takes it down and brings it here and I attached Zach's sling swing to it.

He spends many hours in it and it creates that sensation that he needs. He is less confrontational and it gives him something to do. He has a hard time controlling his emotions and this soothes that tendency to flare at the smallest irritation. He has a low frustration level!

The material we made the sling swing out of is silky on one side and rough on one side so he gets both textures depending on how he turns the fabric in or out.