Weighted Vests for Children

[cmack]

Got a kid who won't sit still or pay attention? Strap him down in a weighted vest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_Vqe_s4o0

I've never heard of such a thing, but a quick Google search for 'weighted vests for children' brought up 524,000 search results.

Here's a typical link to a company that markets the vests: http://weightedvest.com/why_use.html

Here's a quote from the site:

Children who are easily distracted, hyperactive and lacking in concentration respond positively to the additional weight a vest provides.

[Xelebes]

Autistic children sometimes use weighted vests.  And as an autistic person, a properly weighted vest feels FUCKING awesome.  Sometimes orgasmic, especially when you're approaching meltdown.  I don't know how useful it is for people who are not autistic.

[Ursus]

They are also sometimes used for kids with sensory integration issues. To my knowledge, I don't think there is any "strapping down" involved. This is strictly something that assists in giving feedback about one's physical limits and parameters, which seems to help in focusing and self-control.

On another page on that website, the analogy is mentioned of some people preferring to sleep with heavy blankets. I know that I myself cannot sleep without a lot of weight on me regardless of ambient temperature. For me at least, it has something to do with being able to "shut out the world" and all its distracting stimuli, which includes gentle air currents and subtle temperature changes.

[cmack]

To both of the prior posters: Thanks, What you've said is interesting and informative. Though, it still seems a little strange for a school to be doing that to a kid with no diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

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