Touch

Our Trent is hypo-touch. He could not feel pain or heat or even slight touch. It was as if his whole body was numb. Yet, another child could be hyper-touch where even silk could be as painful as razorblades. Within these conditions, a child can have varying degrees of contra indicators.

The hypo-tactical child, needs daily therapies to awaken a sense of touch in him. Applying pressure and deep massage helps the child learn to feel touch. The child with this anomaly needs constant attention as he can get 2nd degree burns and not even know he’s hurt. He can get cuts and feel any pain. It takes strong hugs for the child to feel touched. 

It took years of deep pressure and tactical therapies for Trent to recognize gentle touch. I remember calling the relatives to celebrate the first time he got goose bumps. With a “normal” child you can tickle him with just the slightest dusting of a fingertip on a forearm. But with Trent before the therapy I wouldn’t get the tickle giggle until I was squeezing his arm. This at first was very difficult for me because I was afraid I was hurting him. But the therapists worked as much with me as with Trent to break that touch barrier. The battle isn’t over, and we still have to deal with some phantom touch issues. He still loves deep “thunking” or a deep head massage. We have to monitor his head banging and address his need for feeling with therapy.

Imagine if you will if your whole face felt like your jaw does when the dentist deadens it with Novocain before drilling out a cavity. What if your face and possibly your whole body felt numb to touch? At first some people think this could be a good thing. No pain. But we’ve learned that pain is our friend. It’s that instant touch of heat that makes us withdraw from a hot pot or an iron. Being numb is not a good a thing. Once I turned to get something out of the refrigerator and turned back and Trent was looking at this hand and looking confused. He had placed his palm in my preheated skillet long enough for the flesh to cook. I would have been screaming in pain and he didn’t even whimper but felt the tinkle and was curious. Fortunately that was our worst incident, but we had several like when he feel and got a head gash while a babysitter (church care worker) was watching him. She didn’t contact us because he didn’t cry very much so we didn’t find out about it until several hours later. When we did get him to the emergency room, the staff was concerned and said he should have had stitches immediately. Even during all this, Trent wasn’t even aware he was hurt.

If your face was numb wouldn’t you touch it for some feeling? That explains why these children are known as “head-bangers.” They are seeking feeling and any sensation is something.

If Trent had to have his sense of touch affected, I’m thankful he was hypo-tactical, even though it was sometimes a safety nightmare keeping him from injury, he always wanted and sought snuggling and touch. As a mom who believes in cuddling and the miracle of human touch, he didn’t draw away from me like some autistics do. Those who draw away are hyper-tactical.

Another child, let’s call her, Susan, is hyper-tactical. She is so sensitive to the slightest amount of pain that even the gentlest touch can feel like a beating to them. These children are known for not allowing anyone to hug them. They are standoffish and isolate themselves. It makes sense. If someone loving holding her hand felt like they were crushing the bones, you’d withdraw, too. Therapies have to be gentle and slow. The concept is to lower the pain threshold and to sensitize the child to bear some degree of contact. This family has the added hurdle to overcome of people thinking the family is odd or abusive since the child might draw away from them. Sometimes their behavior is reminiscent of how a dog that has beaten cringes when his master’s arm moves. Even though the parents could be as loving as possible, because the Susan is so touch sensitive, she recoils at the merest suggestion of touch. It makes sense to avoid pain.

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