Rotary jaw movement? This is the jaw movement associated with chewing which usually happens around 15 - 36 months of age. Movements can be up/down, forward/backward, lateral-diagonal, diagonal-rotary and circular-rotary. There should be integration of these movements. Why is the development of rotary jaw movement important? This is important in the development of speech patterns and sounds for expressive (verbal) communication skills.

We had a student before in a center I used to work for, the child is three years old and can’t seem to talk much. Why? We later found out that the said child still eats food processed in a food processor so her rotary jaw movement was not developed well. She could only swallow the food served to her. Of course, this chewing part was just a part of the many things involved in having children develop the ability to communicate.

To read about the many many interesting Oral Motor Patterns, please click on the highlighted title. To see if your child is at risk for oral motor problems, click transition. Who would best help if there are problems like these? An occupational therapist and/or a speech-language pathologist would be able to help.

October 28, 2007 was a rather drab day, rains pittered and pattered the whole day and the sun seemed to be hiding behind the silver clouds. But we, we were like the sunshine, things seemed to be perfect. Even if we managed to get ourselves lost once, twice, thrice, we were able to go to two destinations for today.

First:

Then we met Tita Carmen and her husband Pavel at Leslie’s for lunch. After which we went to their house in Greenville.

Next (inside):

Next (outside):

Last (veranda of Tita Carmen and Pavel’s house in Greenville):

Went home around 5:30 pm but wishing to stay and spend the night there. Very chilly!

One of the more apparent “symptoms” or signs of children with autism is their inability to “appreciate” a hug. They are not particularly fond of hugs. There was one video I saw several years back that showed a person diagnosed with autism early on who explained how she felt when someone tries to give her a hug and her explanation was something like this: “It felt like there is a big ocean wave coming at me and i am being swept and lost in it.”

Hugs are one of the ways people show they care. But for those diagnosed with autism, hugs can be very overwhelming. Temple Grandin, Ph.D. has high functioning autism. She is a well-known humane livestock facility designer and college professor.

She developed a machine called “hug machine” designed to calm and reduce the anxiety of children and adults with autism. Very intriguing since they do not particularly love being hugged. They even feel anxious when hugged. How does this work then?

These articles would be helpful: hug machine and Autism.Org.

These videos too would be helpful.