Tactilely Defensive

I've had many students who are "tactilely defensive".

What's that?

Tactile is defined as: "Of, relating to, or proceeding from the sense of touch; tactual"
Defensive is defined as: "Intended to withstand or deter aggression or attack"

Essentially, it is when you really don't want to touch something.

Students who have lost their vision very early in life tend to have this. They don't know what is out there and they have probably had a bad experience somewhere along the lines when they reached to grab something and they were startled with how it felt. There are lots of things out there that aren't much fun to touch.

Did you ever play the game during Halloween where somebody blind folds you and then has you put your hands in a bowl of something cold, slimy, and stringy and tells you that it is frog intestines? Then they put your hands in something round and slimy and tell you it is frog eyes? You may know logically it is not frog eyes and intestines, but the first time you play, do you really know? Especially if it is the first time you've played and you are very young? Do you know what you use to get that effect? Spaghetti and peeled grapes. You get to open your eyes and examine these things and reassure yourself what is going on. What if, however, the person never showed you and never explained it to you? What if this constantly happened in life?

This is what I keep in mind when I'm working with a student and they are afraid to touch something or jerk back after touching it.

The most effective way I've helped them overcome some of their fears is to have them put their hands on mine while I explore the substance and then encourage them to take a "teeny-tiny" part of their finger and put it in a "teeny-tiny" part of whatever it is. I've also had some success with having them use a spoon and bowl while other students around them are playing in it. At some point, they most likely get some of it on them and I'll point it out after a bit. You have to be careful though because sometimes they'll get upset about it. Other times, they'll just dive right in with their friends. This sometimes work and other times doesn't.

I think we all have something that we can't stand to touch. I'll be open and say for me it is sandpaper. I hate the feel of sandpaper and always have. If I have to use it, I find some way of getting it attached to a handle of some kind. There is probably no behavior plan that will get me over my distaste of touching sandpaper. I avoid all adaptations that use sandpaper. I imagine, though, there are some who just don't care. I can't explain why I don't like it, I just don't.

It's hard though to keep that in mind when you suddenly trip into it during instruction time. Sometimes it is hard to teach them how to work around it.

I've had a student who had a fear of touching soap bubbles of any kind (dishes, bubble bath, etc). He had no problems washing his hands with the same stuff, however. I talked with his mom about it and she had no idea why he reacted this way. While you don't need bubble bath, you do need to be able to wash dishes. I worked with him and showed him how the soap he just washed his hands with bubbled up, put my hands in it, had him touch a teeny bit of it (which he was very happy when he was done braving through), and everything else I could think of. My aide, being as wonderful as she is, ended up solving the problem. She had him put the soap on the sponge and then wash the dishes. He was fine with this. He still didn't like it when it was his turn for this job, but he didn't stand there and stare at it with terror on his face.