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Articles & Ideas

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EFT calms an autistic boy in school

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Hi Everyone,

Ryan Kurczak conducted an EFT workshop and subsequently received an impressive letter from one of his students about her use of EFT on boy with autism.

Hugs, Gary


By Susan McKinley

Dear Gary:

The following is an email sent from a friend who took an EFT 1 class I was presenting at a mental health facility last summer.  When I read her recent account of her success with EFT, I knew more people needed to read it.  She gave me permission to share it with you so others may read it in the EFT newsletter.  I hope you find it worth including.  I feel it is a wonderful testament to how such a simple technique can have such a profound effect on a person's life.

The child she is writing about is a fourth grader with a diagnosis of autism and oppositional defiant disorder.  The state test is a statewide writing exam.

This is the letter from Susan.

Just worked with a kid I had in the classroom.  I had passed him in the hallway on his way to class and he gave me a hug and said "Good Morning Ms. Susan."  I told him to go learn good things and went to my office.  It was less than three minutes later that I heard the teacher kick him out of class telling him (loudly) that she "Didn't even want to see his face or hear his name!" 

The special ed. teacher was out in the hall and said "Great!  He has to take the state test after this class and I know he isn't going to be in the mood to do that now."  I asked her if it would be okay if I took him for a few minutes and tried to get him in a happier space for the test.  She said that would be fine so I headed toward him as the teacher came out in the hall and took his paper and told him loudly "That is a big fat F."

I told the teacher that I was taking him for a few minutes to get him ready for his state test and she said "Good luck with that."

We went into an empty room and sat down.  He was looking down and wanted to lean on the counter.  I asked him to put his hands on his lap and squeezed them.  I told him I really missed seeing him and loved him.  I told him I didn't need to know what happened in class but would like to know how he was feeling. 

He said, "I get so full of angry and get frustrated."  I said, “On a scale of 1-10 … with ten being my head is going to blow up … and one being I am not angry … how do you feel right now?" and he said "A ten."  I said, "Okay lets work on that now.  Do what I do and repeat what I say.

I started the tapping and he was tapping but not repeating.  I didn't correct him because I could tell he was really concentrating on what we were doing.  He took a deep breath on the side of the eye point and started smiling and laughing at the under the nose point.  We did the eye movements and the singing and counting with him smiling the whole time. 

When we were finished I asked how he was feeling and he said, "Lots better."  When I asked about his anger on the scale of 0 to 10, he said "Like a four."  I said, "Wow that is great to go all the way from a ten to a four.  And he said, "You know what - it is like a 2 now!" 

I said, "Let’s get rid of that two."  And we ran through just the short version.  When we finished he said, "I feel good."  I asked what his number was and he said "like half a zero.”  I said I was so glad. 

He said, "Ms. Susan, why don't you work here any more?  You make everything so peaceful and calm."  I told him I could teach him some tricks so he could feel peaceful and calm without me. 

We went through how to use the sore spot and simple affirmations.  Then we talked about the frustration he was feeling about his Dad having a dispute with the principal and his teacher the day before.  When I said asked how he felt about it, (I was thinking we might have to work through it to get to his test nerves.) he said, "It's okay.  I feel good." 

So I went straight to how he felt about the test.  He said he was a little nervous about not getting an A.  I asked how nervous on the 0 to 10 scale and he was a 4.  We ran through the basic steps working on being okay with the test no matter what, and ended with him feeling good about the test and being calm and ready to take the test.

I had him take a moment to write how he feels and he did.  My favorite part was him stopping to close his eyes and take a breath to check in before he wrote more.  I just wanted to share this with you.  He is a great kid with a history of explosive behaviors and impulse control issues.  I am sending a picture of what he wrote and drew for me.  Thank you for giving us both the help we needed to make the morning better.

Susan

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

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