JASMINE HUTTON
Vibrating recliner means relief for autistic teen
By MATHILDE PIARD
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Jasmine Hutton goes through two dozen AA batteries per week.
She does not use them for a tape player or a digital camera or toys. She uses the batteries for the neck vibrating pillow that she loves to wear and then toss aside once she is tired of it, without turning it off, because she doesn’t know how to.
The 19-year-old was born with infantile autism, mental retardation and the absence of temporal lobes in her brain. She doesn’t speak and wears leg braces — purple ones with butterflies. But she knows what she wants and how to get it — and when she doesn’t, she gets upset and starts to rock or pace and then moves onto banging her head against the wall and scratching herself until she bleeds.
“She needs all the help she can get to calm down,” says Jasmine’s mother, Amy Hutton. Jasmine was adopted by the Huttons at age 2 but was placed in a group home at 11 because of self-abusive behavior. It was better for the family, says Hutton, who has 16 other children.
The only thing that soothes Jasmine is her vibrating neck pillow. She wears the pillow after school each day as she sits in her recliner, alone in her room.
She also enjoys other tactile sensations — playing in the grass, sand or mulch outside, or getting tickled by her housemate.
“She’s not hard to please, as long as she has the massage around,” says Amanda Bennett, the home coordinator where Jasmine lives. Jasmine has been living with Bennett for eight years, but her adoptive parents remain involved in her life and schooling.
She goes through another neck pillow once a month, but thankfully she doesn’t have expensive tastes: she prefers the cheaper ones, with the not-so-discreet motor noise.
“Jasmine is capable of letting you know exactly what she wants,” says Bennett. She knows how to let people know when she’s hungry or thirsty, or how to turn the water to a cooler temperature if her bath is too hot.
Still, her goals sometimes seem daunting: feeding herself, sweeping her room, packing her book bag.
“Having a vibrating chair would be a motivation for Jasmine to achieve different goals,” says Bennett.
JASMINE’S WISH
Jasmine Hutton’s caregivers think she would greatly benefit from a Somatron Vibrating Recliner, which vibrates to minimize anxiety and would help calm Jasmine’s urge to scratch herself. Other things like vibrating neck pillows, plush toys, blankets, and comforting vibrotactile toys and furniture would also help her.
