I recently attended a seminar about children with anxiety. We learned some excellent techniques for helping reduce anxiety in our children. One of the methods that really stuck in my mind was pizza massage. It is a really simple anxiety relief method that you can do anywhere. The steps are simple to remember; as long as you know how to make a pizza…
Preparing Your Child
Depending on your child, you may wish to talk them through the steps of the massage before beginning. There are some videos on YouTube that can be useful in this regard. It’s also important that they are ok with the idea of you touching and rubbing their back. Some autistic children love massage, whereas others don’t like to be touched. Ask permission or consent from the child.
The Steps of Pizza Massage
Let the fun begin! We start by kneading the dough. We do this by imagining that the child’s back is the dough. Let’s squish and press the skin gently, just like kneading real dough. Do this for a minute or two to relax the child and unknot those tense muscles.
Next we roll out the dough. We make gentle rolling motions down the back as if we were rolling dough out onto a worktop. Furthermore, there are different ways of doing this. We could use a wooden massage roller or a ball. In addition, we could make a fist and rub it down the back in straight lines.
The third step is to spread the sauce. Make a flat palm and rub it smoothly over the back as if you were spreading tomato sauce over a pizza. Make smooth, as well as sweeping motions.
Now we add the toppings. We could ask the child which toppings they’d like! Try making gentle tapping and patting motions over the surface of the back as we sprinkle all of the imaginary toppings on our pizza.
It’s time to put our pizza in the oven. Rub your hands together and blow on them to create warmth and then place them on the child’s back. Another way we could improvise this step is to get a heat pad or an item that has been on the radiator or in the tumble dryer. Rubbing it gently over the back creates a pleasant sensory experience.
The final step in pizza massage is to chop the pizza. Use your hand to make gently chopping motions over the child’s back. Now your pizza is done!
Benefits of Pizza Massage
Pizza massage is great for autistic children who are sensory seekers. Moreover, this tactile method is good for anxiety relief as it provides distraction and sensory input. It also helps to strengthen the parent-child bond. It’s a method that is very easy to remember and doesn’t require any special equipment.
So go on! Give it a go today. It’s very relaxing and fun. Maybe you could treat yourselves to a real pizza once you are done!