Case Study: Nancy, 12 year-old with Autism, Anxiety and Aggressive behavior
Anxiety is a common issue among people with autism. This anxiety can manifest in many ways, including self-stimulation, tantrums, aggression, and social withdrawal, to name a few. The purpose of this study is to explore further if REI rhythms can have calming effects for children in a school setting with generalized anxiety and anxiety-based behaviors.
This case study is part of a larger formal study that was conducted with ten children between 8 and 12 years old over a eight-week period at a public school. Each subject listened to a single custom-made REI recording once a day in the school setting according to a schedule that we determined best for them. Most of the children had their recording played at times when their anxiety and anxiety-based behaviors were at their worst.
Since 1994, thousands of people have used an REI recording and no observances of long-term negative reactions have been demonstrated. Any transient negative responses to the recordings have been alleviated by withdrawing the recording for two or three days or by turning the volume down to a barely audible level.
Nancy: Age 12; Female; Aggressive and non-compliant, extroverted, highly verbal.
Nancy was a highly verbal, though often inappropriate, extroverted, non-compliant and somewhat physically aggressive 12 year-old. Nancy was quite a force. She entered the room singing a Disney movie song. She engaged with me to the extent that she sang and danced around me, so I just jumped in playing. I started with basic calming rhythms, which had no impact initially as she kept on singing and tried dancing with the psychologist. After about 3 minutes she abruptly stopped singing, turned to me with a serious look and put her hands on the edge of my drum. I stopped playing.
Nancy then began telling me how great I was and how awesome my drumming was. I tried to thank her and start playing again but she kept on, telling me just how amazing I truly was. This exaggerated praise lasted for several minutes until I decided to start playing again. Once I did, she began singing and dancing again until she tripped and fell into the recorder. I kept playing, lowering my volume and rhythmic intensity, as the psychologist held her. She didn't get hurt when she tripped and did not seemed bothered by the incident. She did, however, sit next to the psychologist when he directed her to the chair next to his.
I played for another 12 minutes and stayed with low intensity, relatively simple rhythms to see if she would calm. She did. By the end she was quietly sitting and drawing with a pencil and paper that the psychologist gave her. He led her out of the room and she followed him quietly.
Nancy listened to her REI recording several times a day. Her teacher and caregivers tried to time her recording to when she was aggressive or agitated. I didn't witness this the day I played for her, but Nancy had several aggressive incidents each day in school. These usually involved pushing and grabbing fellow students or school staff. These incidents didn't come out of nowhere - there was generally some initial agitation that could be seen before Nancy acted out. The staff chose this time to put on her REI recording in the hopes that it would stop or at least reduce her aggressive behavior.
The teacher reported to me that Nancy responded well to her recording, calming every time she heard her recording. She also said that whenever Nancy listened while in one on one care, she fell asleep to the recording. It wasn't uncommon for Nancy to listen to her recording more than once a day.
Aggressive behavior in children with autism can come from many causes and manifest in different ways, as we observed in several childen in this study, including Nancy. In each subject, regardless of the cause or specific manifestations, playing the REI drumming recordings reduced the aggressive behavior and calmed the child.
Teachers reported that they have seen an overall reduction in aggressive outbursts in the classrooms since the beginning of the study. They attribute this to the ability to play the REI recording for a child when they become anxious. This is especially helpful for the children, like Nancy, where the teacher can anticipate the aggression and turn the recording on before the anxiety turns into an aggressive act.