All Thumbs

Thank you for your correction, Rhonda. I am fortunate not to have an autistic child in my family and just assumed the blankets were for getting a child to sleep and then a parent would take the weight off the child. Perhaps this explains the comment one made to me once by saying, the quilts are like giant gentle hugs to quiet a child. lol

Sometimes we volunteers do not get the complete story. I will correct myself when I go to Guild next time. Thank you again and God bless you and your grandchild.

aorlflood

Wow! You learn something new everyday!

I'm so glad your group was able to make these! Kudos to all of you!

Rhonda

It is hard to understand these kids needs if you aren't around someone who is autistic. It has been along haul for us in learning how to help Zach. We have had so much frustration with communnication problems and figuring out why he does or feels what he does.

It is so wonderful to have people like you ladies who are willing to help provide a tool that will make these kids' lives better! It is so much more important for these kids than a cuddly blanket to sleep with. This affects the quality of their lives.

For some reason their brain is such that they need to be in close tight places and this blanket will provide that feeling of being closed in. This need drives my mom crazy as she is claustrophobic and can't stand to see Zach shut himself into her coat closet. She wants to tear the door open and save him! I have had to explain that he is hunting for a closed in place to releave these feelings.

He used to drag my couch over by my table and pull all sorts of things into a small area and created a cockpit like area that he could hide in. Or he would curl up in a box and close the flaps. The smaller the box the better.

So the weighted blanket serves two purposes. It provides the sensory feeling of weight and it is a closed in place they can huddle in. Actually 3 because if the child is having a meltdown or severe tempertantrum they can't come out of- then the blanket can be used to put around the child and hold them close til they can calm down.

Rhonda

Just one more comment and then I will be quiet! LOL
We have found with Zach that the more texture you use in the fabric the better. Smooth is not the best choice. I don't know if you have any say in this but thought I would pass it along. My DD had me make a blanket with several differant textures in it and he runs his hands over them and it calms him. Satisfying the sensory needs is every bit as important to these kids as breathing and eating are.

sewbusy

Wow I sure learned a lot today, thanks for sharing.

All Thumbs

Excellent comments and suggestions, Rhonda! I certainly will mention the textured fabrics to my metro-coordinator. I have some rough fabric for a chair cover. Maybe that will work for at least one side. Thank you.

Rhonda

You're welcome. The only reason I know so much about this is my daughter keeps me informed on all she learns and she teaches me so I can use these things when I have Zach. I have him two weekends a month and sometimes other times as well. So this is an ongoing learning process for me.

She and I just talked about these blankets the other day.

wvdek

Thanks for the information and God Bless you for your efforts.

sewgull

I have learned to much from this topic. Thank you all for sharing this information about autisum.

Ruth

WOW Would love to know how u made that. My grandson is Autistic and i think that would help him so much. GOD BLESS YOU and all that help made them. It's ppl like u all that really show love. THANK U ALL SO MUCH