Why do autistic kids like water

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The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. This includes stimuli involving singular as well as multisensory integration Baum, S. Multisensory stimuli involve using more than one sense to understand the environment.

Children with autism have difficulty processing these stimuli. Typical sensory abnormalities in children with autism include; both hyper and hyposensitivity to sensory stimuli as well as strong sensory seeking behaviours.

The link between autism and water attraction is in part due to the inability to process all of the senses at once. This results in an overload of stimuli that amazes the child, in turn, resulting in strong sensory seeking behaviour.

Ahmed Ghanizadeh found that children with autism show stronger sensory seeking behaviour than other normally developing children, which could explain the obsession with water involved in autism. With this autism and water fascination comes the need for swimming lessons. It has been shown that aquatic therapy for children with autism can be extremely beneficial. Convincing your child to stay away from something that gives them enormous pleasure is an exercise in futility.

Teach them how to interact safely with the source of that pleasure. Any doubt about the smiles and giggles that happen when you put a child in the water? Yes, water and kids belong together. Posted in Aquatics , Autism , Rebecca Robinson.

Water can be soothing and calming as well as fun. Children on the autism spectrum may even leave the house looking for water simply because they like it, and, during times of stress, children on the spectrum may seek out water sources to calm themselves. Other stories are told about children found playing in a small amount of water left undrained in a wading pool or children running from home to the neighborhood pool.