The Comfort of Compression

For a child with autism the world can be an intimidating place. A place dominated by overstimulation from common items such as indoor lighting and clothing. Even the way a shirt hangs off the shoulder can be an uncomfortable, emotional experience.

To help regulate this stimuli, compression clothing is widely marketed to children with autism— driven by the belief that conventional clothing could be irritating the body’s natural pressure points, resulting in the child becoming distracted by their uncomfortable state. Compression clothing is advertised to help reduce this effect by creating a blank slate in the same way that white noise is used to minimize audible stimulation. Dr. Jennifer Bisson in the Department of Psychology and her Compression Clothing and Autism Creative Inquiry team investigates if compression clothing provides benefits.

To test the hypothesis that compression clothing can help calm children with autism, the team remotely monitors Applied Behavioral Analysis sessions between children and their therapists over the course of 10 sessions. An experimental group of children, 4-10 years old, wear compression clothing during these sessions, which are videotaped and sent to the team for analysis. The Creative Inquiry team then monitors the children’s performance, stimulatory behavior and emotional state. To do so, they utilize ELAN, a computer program that is used to record the frequency and duration of certain behaviors the children display.

The Creative Inquiry team is eager to share their findings in hopes that they could be beneficial. “I really like that we are able to include people close to Clemson,” senior psychology major Kelsey Bennett said. Through a partnership with the Early Autism Project in Anderson, South Carolina, participants in this study are from areas geographically close to the university. However, the team is hoping the results will extend beyond this community to help autistic children nationwide and provide insight into a growing market.