Professionals

Qigong Sensory Training is a five-month qigong massage intervention that is based on principles of Chinese Medicine.  It has been proven effective in the treatment of autism, sensory impairment and self-regulatory disorders. (See also research studies.)

In this intervention, trainers work regularly with the parents and child, teaching the parents to give the daily fifteen-minute massage protocol, and guiding the five-month process.  At the end of five months, parents will have mastered the massage, and be able to continue to give it to their child as needed.

The intervention is derived from Chinese Medicine and involves patting, pressing and shaking certain acupuncture channels and points.  Therapists are trained to understand and work with the child's body language and reactions to the massage, modifying the technique as the child moves through the stages of the healing process.

The massage works on the sensory and autonomic nervous system, returning sensory hyper- and hypo-reactivity towards normal in all five senses.  In children with self-regulatory disorders, it balances the autonomic nervous system, increasing vagal tone, and decreasing sympathetic tone, allowing the child to self regulate and self-soothe as needed.  Sleep, digestion and mood improve.

A five-month training and supervision for Western trained professionals working with special needs children is available.  The pre-requisites for training are two years of experience working with special needs children, an excellent state of health, and the strong desire to commit time and energy to learning this intervention.  The training begins with 5 days of didactic and experiential teaching, and is followed by five months of supervision while each trainee gives the full intervention to one or two children on the autism spectrum.  To learn more about the research validating the training, click here.