One of my relatives is a child with Asperger's syndrome. He is of the type that craves stimulation. He recently started school. He was having severe behavior problems, and was about to be kicked out of school. His mother had him start wearing devices called Touchpoints. It is a small machine that vibrates, on and off at varying speeds (like a cell phone vibration). You wear one on your left side and one on your right (two total). You can clip it to your clothes or wear it on watch bands. The vibration is timed so the devices alternate.
The devices made an
immediate difference in his behavior. Like right away. Now he is doing much, much better in school, and it has reduced his temper tantrums a lot. Before, his drawings looked like scribbles. Now he started drawing normal stuff like a regular little kid- houses, with fluffy clouds etc. His mother says it is really weird. One of the reasons it may be working so well with him is that he is a sensory-seeking type of aspergers, but we don't know.
No one apparently knows why this is helpful for some people. It has a strong calming effect on him.
I am currently trying a pair of the devices on watchbands to see if it helps my hyperacusis (highly unlikely, but I am giving it a try). I can say it does have somewhat of a relaxing effect. It is a lot like watching a pendulum swing back and forth or maybe marching in time - left, right, left, right. Almost hypnotic.
The negative of the device is that it very cheaply made- it looks like crap- and they have a high rate of defective units. One of mine was defective (vibration would stop periodicially), and the replacement was defective also. Now I have a pair that appear to work. They replaced the defective units free. You have 30 days to try the device and return it for a refund it it is not helpful.
They market the device for general stress relief- I guess they don't have FDA approval to sell it as an autism / aspergers treatment. The website looks like 100% snake oil BS, but I can tell you it has had a very positive effect on my relative. Like I said, I think NO one has a clue why this may help people. It is inspired by a PTSD treatment, so supposedly it may help some people with that illness as well.
Your results may vary. However if you have a kid with aspergers / autism I would say it is worth a try, especially if s/he is the sensation seeking type. Like I said, they do offer a refund.
I can answer questions about my devices, but I can't answer many questions about my relative, he lives some distance away. I am just reporting what his mom and grandmother told me.
https://thetouchpointsolution.com
