# Light for autism treatment



## socom45 (Dec 18, 2005)

I found this link in another post http://www.techass.com/el/zlite/zlite.php and was wondering if anyone else out there might know of any other really good products that might help in treating autism? The zzz flame looks really good and I think it would work quite well, but trying to find some more sources. Looking for good quality stuff that is well made. Thanks for any help.


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## Makarov (Dec 18, 2005)

I've got some experience with Snoezelen, but I need to know what exactly you want to accomplish to help you. 
Do you need it for a professional purpose, or is it for someone you know.(IE are you trained and have medical knowledge of autism or not)
Do you want to stimulate interest or a light to calm down a person?
Do the person have other disabilities, like epilepsy? (Important!)
Etc...


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## socom45 (Dec 18, 2005)

Hi Thomas,
I am writing from the UK on behalf of my brother and sister in law over in America. Without giving too much information here.... I am inquiring for my nephew who is 8, and is autistic. I have no expertise, and nor does my brother or his mother. The device is needed to either help keep him calm as he gets quite severe at times...or to calm him down after a given situation where he has already gone over the edge. I do know a little about autism and that there are different levels...but can't tell you what level he is. Nor can I say what his capabilites in learning are. I can say that due to improper techniques used by "the professionals" in their home area it only goes to make him worse. I think this is because they don't really understand how autism is to be treated... and the professionals feel they can achieve their goals only by forcing him to try and do whatever task ... and ultimately it seems to me they treat him as you would a normal but spoiled child... and the consequenses of this are not good. If you may be able to direct me or even talk with me I can email you, as well as give your contact details to my brother. I will pm you for email information. I know there has got to be something we can do...but it's knowing what... plus, where I'm from I'm surprised there isn't more help on the matter as there is over here and other countries. But there isn't any help except for the help I already mentioned. Thanks


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## Literator (Dec 18, 2005)

I have a 16 year-old son with autism. He was assessed just into the severe range, which is pretty meaningless since each individual is quite different. My son is not conversational, but can learn through behavior modification. We have had the most luck using the Lovaas methods, developed by Ivar Lovaas at UCLA. My son has learned to read and do basic math. I can't help but think there is a bright kid in there trapped by autism, which doesn't allow him to easily communicate with us. We have not had any major behavioral problems, so I feel lucky.

We have tried many different learning methods, drug protocols, etc. Most have not worked. Some drugs have had the opposite effect, and a phyician from Duke University Hospital suggested that he might not even be autistic, since he responds to medications differently from any other people he has worked with. It's a real enigma. 

My best advice on the lights is to give them a try, and see if they work. That's the only way to know for sure. They're fairly inexpensive, so it can't hurt. Even if there was strong evidence to support use of these lights, that doesn't mean they would work with any individual.

Some families I know, and I know many in North Carolina where I live, have said that music helps, although just like people without autism, the kind of music varies a lot. Country music seems to be preferred, but I'm in North Carolina, where that is a common type of music. My son prefers listening to kids' songs - Raffi was a longtime favorite.

Good luck. I can say that I have a good idea how your brother and his family is being challenged, and it will always remain that way. It wouldn't be fair to say it's bad, but it surely is different!

--Bob


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## socom45 (Dec 18, 2005)

Hi Bob, thank you very much for your input. They live in Arkansas and the best help they are getting is from their family doctor, who is really trying to do what he can. No one else seems bothered...as this from birth is a really long story.

My nephew is intelligent, and can work things out... but I think is like your boy...can't communicate. My nephew however, gets to the stage where he harms himself and then has to be protected from his own actions. They say that people with autism do this because it puts them back into their comfort zone for they want to communicate but don't know how. He also can't be left with anyone else at any time because of this. I know he likes lights, and different colored ones...also likes Enya. Don't think he's into country though. Thank you again.


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## Makarov (Dec 19, 2005)

Hi Socom, I took some pictures from one of our "light"-rooms at work today, this is called the "Blueroom"(obviously!) It's a "room" made of walls of blue cloth, hanging from chains in the roof. 
The "room" also got a roof, so that you feel totaly enclosed. We made this because we didn't have a spare room to use.(Some schools got seperate rooms with dark colored walls for this purpose)

This picture shows how it looks like from the outside. The frame is actually for curtains(bought on IKEA), the first version we made used 4 broomsticks. 




This shows the inside, the christmas decoration and the string of LED lights is just temporary, ordinary there's only the "bubblelights"(don't know any real english word for these, sorry) and the two fiberoptic lights.




This is with the lights on, sorry for the shakey picture, couldn't hold still enough while taking the picture(Brand new camera, haven't really found out how to take good beamshots yet, even when upping the ISO to 400 it's still a problem...) The "bubblelights" are just a tube of water with a small aircompressor lighted with a MR20 through a colorfilter. The light's in the roof is another IKEA product, we have thought of buing several and string them up properly to make a "star-sky". The small fiberoptic lamp in the corner we picked up for cheap at local store.




This is the other fiberoptic lamp. This is a product specially made for Snoezelen, and is quite expensive. It's thick fiberoptic threads enclosed in a clear flexible tubing. They have broken the threads, so that the light shines in several places instead of only on the end. These threads is made so though that you can play with them. It's lighted via a MR20 as well, and it got a rotating colorfilter that makes the threads change color. Quite nice!




Accompanying this we got calm music, we actually use Enya and stuff like that(Sometimes I think it's a bit too much...)

We also got a white wall where we use a light that projects on the wall.

I believe that they have to start somewere, like using some lights in a darkened room, maybe with a dark blanket hanged on one wall. It's important that the boy feels safe, so I think they have to try a little bit at a time.
Give them the link to the Snoezelen site, there's plenty of information and ideas to be found.

And don't they get any help through the schoolsystem? Here in Norway every kid got a right to go to school, whatever their handicap. Hence you get people like me, who's day consist of everything from daily care(changing diapers, giving lunch etc) to adjusting wheelchairs(that's what I did today...)


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## nikon (Dec 19, 2005)

socom45 said:


> I found this link in another post http://www.techass.com/el/zlite/zlite.php and was wondering if anyone else out there might know of any other really good products that might help in treating autism?


 

Can you provide a link to the site which gave the link to techass? Thanks.


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## socom45 (Dec 19, 2005)

Hi Nikon, is this the link you wanted? Eternalights


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