Hug machine
Ahug machine,also known as ahug box,asqueeze machine,or asqueeze box,is a therapeutic device designed to calm hypersensitive persons, usually individuals withautism spectrumdisorders. The device was invented byTemple Grandinto administerdeep-touch pressure,a type of physical stimulation often self-administered by autistic individuals as a means of self-soothing.[1][2]
Autistic peopleoften havesensory processing disorder,which entails abnormal levels of stimulation of the senses (such as hypersensitivity).[3]Because of difficulty with social interactions, it can be uncomfortable or impractical to turn to other human beings for comfort, including hugs. Grandin addressed this by designing the hug machine, in part to help her own anxiety and sensory sensitivity.[3]
Description
[edit]The hug machine consists of two hinged side-boards, each four by three feet (120 cm by 90 cm) with thick soft padding, which form a V-shape, with a complex control box at one end and heavy-duty tubes leading to an air compressor. The user lies or squats between the side-boards for as long or short of a period as desired. Using pressure exerted by the air compressor and controlled by the user, the side-boards apply deep pressure stimulation evenly across the lateral parts of the body.[1]The machine and its development are depicted in thebiopicTemple Grandin.[4]
History
[edit]
The inventor of the machine, Temple Grandin, realized as a young child that she would seek out deep pressure stimulation, but she felt over-stimulated when someone hugged or held her. The idea for the hug machine came to her during a visit to her aunt'sArizonaranch, where she noted the way cattle were confined in asqueeze chutefor inoculation, and how some of the cattle immediately calmed down after pressure was administered.[5][6]She realized that the deep pressure from the chute had a calming effect on the cattle, and she decided that something similar might well settle down her own hypersensitivity.[5][6]
Initially, Grandin's device met with disapproval as psychologists at her college sought to confiscate her prototype hug machine.[7]Her science teacher, however, encouraged her to determine the reason it helped resolve the anxiety and sensory issues.
Efficacy
[edit]Several therapy programs in the United States now use hug machines, effectively achieving general calming effects among autistic people across the age spectrum. A 1995 study on the efficacy of Grandin's device, conducted by the Center for the Study of Autism, working withWillamette UniversityinSalem, Oregon,involved ten autistic children and found a reduction in tension and anxiety.[8]Other studies, including one by Margaret Creedon, have yielded similar results. A small pilot study by Edelson et al. (1999), published in theAmerican Journal of Occupational Therapy,reported that the machine produced a significant reduction in tension but only a small decrease in anxiety.[9]
Grandin continued to use her own hug box on a regular basis to provide the deep pressure necessary to relieve symptoms of her anxiety. "I concentrate on how gently I can do it," she has said. A paper Grandin wrote on her hug machine and the effects of deep pressure stimulation was published in theJournal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.[1]
In a February 2010Timemagazineinterview, Grandin stated that she no longer uses a hug machine: "It broke two years ago, and I never got around to fixing it. I'm into hugging people now."[10]
Squeeze chair
[edit]For several years in the 1990s,urban interventionist/artistWendy Jacobworked with Grandin in developing furniture that squeezes or "hugs" users, inspired by Grandin's hug machine.[11][12]
Animal analogs
[edit]Several compression garments[example needed]are available to treatnoise phobia in dogs.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcGrandin, Temple (Spring 1992)."Calming Effects of Deep Touch Pressure in Patients with Autistic Disorder, College Students, and Animals".Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.2(1).Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.:63–72.doi:10.1089/cap.1992.2.63.PMID19630623.S2CID15343030.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
- ^Grandin, Temple (1995).Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism.New York: Doubleday.ISBN9780385477925.
- ^abSicile-Kira, Chantal (2 March 2010)."What Is Sensory Processing Disorder and How Is It Related to Autism?".Psychology Today.Genesis Behavior Center Inc.Retrieved29 July2021.
- ^Temple GrandinatIMDb
- ^abGrandin, Temple; Johnson, Catherine (December 26, 2004)."Animals in Translation".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
- ^abRaver, Anne (August 5, 1997)."Qualities of an Animal Scientist: Cow's Eye View and Autism".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
- ^Grandin, Temple; Scariano, Margaret M. (1996).Emergence: Labeled Autistic.Grand Central Publishing. p.91.ISBN9780446671828.
- ^Edelson, Ph.D., Stephen M. (December 6, 2009)."Temple Grandin's Hug Machine".Salem, Oregon: Center for the Study of Autism.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
- ^Edelson, Stephen M.; Edelson, Meredyth Goldberg; Kerr, David C. R.; Grandin, Temple (1999). "Behavioral and Physiological Effects of Deep Pressure on Children With Autism: A Pilot Study Evaluating the Efficacy of Grandin's Hug Machine".American Journal of Occupational Therapy.53(2): 145–152.doi:10.5014/ajot.53.2.145.PMID10200837.
- ^Wallis, Claudia (February 4, 2010)."Temple Grandin onTemple Grandin".Time Magazine.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
- ^Nikolovska, Lira; Ackermann, Edith; Cherubini, Mauro (2008)."Exploratory Design, Augmented Furniture?".In Dillenbourg, Pierre; Huang, Jeffrey; Cherubini, Mauro (eds.).Interactive Artifacts and Furniture Supporting Collaborative Work and Learning.Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series. Vol. 10. Springer. pp. 156–157.ISBN978-0387772349.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
- ^"The Squeeze Chair Project".Wendy Jacob.RetrievedApril 14,2019.
