A vestibular dance!

I have come across different types of self stimulating movements in children who have an autistic behaviour. It is only infrequently that I have come across this form of Vestibular dance with torsion movements of the trunk from side to side in a range of ninety degrees in the axial plane with extension and flexion of upper limbs away form the body, while seated with broad support with flexed knees placed on the floor. The whole body goes into spasm with muscle contractions although only the upper part of the body is in the 'dance'. The neck goes from side to side almost 180 degrees with flexion and extension and from side to side. The mouth is wide open with protrusion of mouth, which might facilitate mouth breathing to create a hyperventilation.

It is distressing to watch and might not be so for the child as the child triggers the movements voluntarily, while being seated. This heightened stimulation of the vestibular system neurologically creates  euphoria with  a sensual effect on the child.

I have attempted to treat this by inhibiting this behaviour and by medicines, only with minimal effect. 

Those children who are intellectually challenged with limited appreciation and interpretation of the environment and those who are visually impaired with intellectual limitations are two categories of children who slip into this habit forming behaviour. 

The pathology therefore is in the cerebral cortices, basal ganglia and cerebellum, probably in the vermis. 

The recent efforts to give multi-sensorial stimulation with different activities did decrease the frequency and duration.

The child gets exhausted in about five minutes following this intense muscular activity, because muscle activity produces excess lactic acid in the body, which initiates an anaerobic respiratory cycle  creating a carbon dioxide retention. The blood glucose level initially drops following muscular activity, which then ends up in this cascading effect. The pathological effect is similar to what hyperventilation produces  in the body, which is also another self stimulating behaviour  in children with autistic orientation. 

The body is conditioned by the pathology for vestibular dance, but the child puts on the 'switch' when seated in a susceptible body posture. 

The challenge is to find a cocktail of drugs that can displace the stimulating chemicals in the brain. The starting point might be to reduce the level of serotonin in the neuro-transmiter chain. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)