The funny thing kids will do

Hitting themselves, flapping their hands, rocking and rolling back and forth like they have autism, staring out into space like they aren't there, bobbing, scratching, and biting are some of the thinks that your child did to survive in their mind and body in the orphanage.

Self stimulation is a way that they get to stimulate the developing sensory organs and to sooth themselves since in the orphanage, no one else has the time to. In addition, they may have been deprived of textures, colors or other sensory inputs that we take for granted . China 1 came from a drab orphanage with little amenities shall we say. The babies were in their cribs or in walkers or on those little duck potties. Definitely no toys. To help minimize the sensory overload coming to our home, we minimized the colors in her room (it was painted brown when it was my office, and it stayed brown when it was her nursery) and we packed away the stuffed animals (she was afraid of them). When she first saw a TV she tried to look behind it to see where the funny man in the box was.

It will help your chil'ds adjustment if you put away that X-box, keep a lid on Elmo and tone down the brightly colored baby room and just let them get used to you and the new funny food you are feeding them. Then after a period of time you can start to introduce these new sensory overload items one at a time.

After a couple of months if you child is still doing as much of the self soothing behaviors that they were at first bring it to your doctor's attention.