# Specialisterne: leveraging the unique skills of Autistics at competitive market terms **URL:** \ **Category:** Lounge\ **Created:** [May 10, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/specialisterne-leveraging-the-unique-skills-of-autistics-at-competitive-market-terms/50245 "2011-05-10T07:15:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 54
**Author:** ![Visionary7903](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/45deac/32.png) [@Visionary7903](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Visionary7903)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/specialisterne-leveraging-the-unique-skills-of-autistics-at-competitive-market-terms/50245/54 "2011-08-10T04:46:00Z")
**Specialisterne (Danish for ‘Specialists’) seeks to harness strengths that many people with Autism Spectrum Disorders possess - good attention to fine details, precision, and high tolerance for repetitive tasks. Their consultants bring the joy of work into areas where it is often missing.🙂 To ensure their consultants achieve their full potential, the social enterprise creates a highly-planned and predictable working environment to minimise stress.** (source: [BBC News - Jobs cash for people with autism in Scotland](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-10857029)) The above is an example of ‘niche construction’ - this is the term Dr. Thomas Armstrong uses for modifying an environment (creating a ‘niche’) to suit an individual’s unique needs. Armstrong makes the point that niche construction is what animals have done for eons - for example the bird building a nest, the beaver building a dam. And the environmental modifications do not have to relate to work necessarily. For example, the sleep environment could be modified for an Autistic person - which might well produce better and/or more consistent performance in the workplace. Weighted blankets have been a treatment for individuals with sensory integration issues (including those with Autism) in the past. The Protac Ball Blanket is a special type of weighted blanket which stimulates the sensory system and, thereby, contributes to create an improved bodily consciousness. The heaviest version of the Denmark-made blanket weighs 7 kg (15 pounds) and contains plastic balls that provide the strongest stimulation of the sensory system. Here is a link to a presentation on Protac’s products, with a focus on the Ball Blanket: [protac.eu is for sale!](http://www.protac.eu/Files/Filer/Microsoft_PowerPoint_-_England_Products.pdf) Also, here is a link to some documentation/studies on the Ball Blanket: [http://www.komikapp.se/downloadFile.asp?source=20110310151738087.pdf&virtualPath=userFiles%5C14%5C2%5C75%5C](http://www.komikapp.se/downloadFile.asp?source=20110310151738087.pdf&virtualPath=userFiles%5C14%5C2%5C75%5C) And some testimonials focusing on users of the Blanket with Autism Spectrum Disorders: > [@](#): > > … **Autism** > > - In a class with 5 autistic children the Ball Blanket is used when a story is being read to them. The children sit with the Ball Blanket over them which helps make them calm down and concentrate. In recesses they use the Ball Blanket to play with: to walk on, to crawl and roll across, or to hide under. > > **Mother to a boy with autism:** > > - “My son is 11 years old and has autism. He used to have troubles falling asleep and also had a real poor sleep, before he tried the Ball Blanket. It was quite amazing the way he could walk around at night, asking for water, getting the duvet corrected in the right way, wanted to have stories read for him, everything else than sleeping. We could see an effect already after two days, he was more calm and didn’t mind to go to bed. Now he falls asleep within 10 minutes after we lay him in bed. And now that he actually is getting some sleep, he has a lot more energy during the day.” > > **Difficulties with change, Autism** > > - An autistik boy lays underneath the ball blanket for 20 minutes every day, when he comes home from school. It helps him with the change from one activity to another. It gives him relaxation and safety and helps him organize sensory impulses, so he can do another activity, for example playing computer games… (sources: [A Key Concept for Neurodiversity: Niche Construction | Dr. Armstrong’s Blog](http://thomasarmstrong.com/blog/2010/02/25/a-key-concept-for-neurodiversity-niche-construction/); [Protac - Ball Blanket](http://www.protac.eu/Default.aspx?ID=37); [Protac - Autism](http://www.protac.eu/autism.aspx?ID=495)) --- _[View the full topic](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/specialisterne-leveraging-the-unique-skills-of-autistics-at-competitive-market-terms/50245)._