Qigong Sensory Training A:  Home Program for Parents

Provided by the Teaching Research Institute at Western Oregon University

Description of course
Eligibility requirements
Topics to be covered during the training
Registration form, dates, cost, location

Description of Course

Research has shown that parents/caregivers who give their child daily qigong massages are able to reduce autistic behavior and sensory problems within four months.  Children relax, open up and participate more in home and school life.  The knowledge of Chinese medicine combined with the power of parent touch opens the way for parents to help children to be more comfortable in their own skin.  

The key to a successful outcome for the child is a parent who is able to get the massage into the child’s daily routine and keep it there for four months.  When this happens, both parent and child relax and enjoy the massage.

Parents need training and support to carry out the home program.  During the four months, as the child’s system comes back into balance and the senses start working together, children pass through predictable healing phases that require modification of the massage, and different parenting skills.

This course is intended for parents/caregivers of children with autism who wish to begin the QST Home program with their child. Class size will be limited to 10-12 families.  It consists of two days of training and is followed by four months of online support for parents. The course will give parents a solid grounding in the home massage program, as well as the opportunity for supervised massage of their child on three occasions over the two days.  Additional topics important to the success of the Home program will be covered.

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Eligibility Requirements

This course is for parents/caregivers of young children on the autism spectrum. Eligibility requirements for the children include:

• Have an educational and/or medical diagnosis of autism
• Be under 6 years of age
• Be on little or no medication (Medication reduces the effectiveness of qigong. The same can be true of supplements.)
• Not be in any intensive medical or behavioral interventions during the QST. (Intensive medical or behavioral interventions should be completed before beginning QST, they are contraindicated at the same time as QST.)

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Topics to Be Covered During the Training

• How to give your child a qigong massage
• Supervised support sessions while parents give the massage to their children
• The brain and the QST massage
• Addressing diet and toxic load in children receiving QST
• Energy and the QST massage
• The healing process for children and parents

Please note that childcare will not be provided during the training.  Parents/caregivers need to arrange their own childcare.  We will ask that, when possible, the children be brought to the training site for the 30-minute supervised support qigong massage sessions by the parent/caregiver who is attending to the child during the training.

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