Deep Touch Pressure is Calming

Temple Grandin is one of the world's foremost authorities on both animal mind and autism.

She is, herself, autistic; and she has developed an international reputation in animal behavior, particularly through her design of humane slaughter plants that would minimize fear, anxiety and suffering in livestock slaughter facilities.

As an adolescent, her autism created a troubling internal dissonance for her, as she simultaneously craved the comfort of being held and also the not unusual autistic response of recoiling from human touch. Her solution was to create her own contraption that could mechanically provide her with soothing comfort of deep touch pressure--she termed it her "squeeze machine": http://www.grandin.com/inc/squeeze.html

If you Google "Temple Grandin squeeze machine" today, you will find not only her own version of the squeeze machine discussed and advertised, but also a variety of imitators--usually marketed as "hug machines"--for working with autistic children.

Research seems to support the idea that the deep touch pressure provided by a squeeze machine or human contact has a calming effect on the recipient. Deep touch pressure refers to the pressure of a hug or caress or a cat on your lap, and is distinguished from light touch pressure, such as tickling or scratching.

Both Remedios and Paxil are deep touch machines of remarkable effectiveness, both giving and receiving the calming effects of deep touch pressure. But Shiva, that remarkable individual, abandoned early by his asocial mother and living most of his life in splendid near solitude, bonding with a single stoic of another species, has NEVER been a "lap cat." Yet he remains a sweet, affectionate companion who both provides company and enjoys it. While he spends many hours alone, he will often play with Paxil. And when it has been too long since he received the quantity of brushing and human contact he desires, he will come looking for me, as I sit at the computer.

And there, within a foot or two of me, he will work himself into his own favorite "squeeze machine," an abandoned Wine Country gift basket in which he can feel that reassuring deep touch pressure.