22 Oct Q: Is hugging my child during meltdown considered a restrictive practice?
A concerned parent recently asked us this insightful question…
Q: Is hugging my son tightly when he has an autistic meltdown considered a restrictive practice?
A: Whether holding your son tightly during an autistic meltdown is classified as a regulated restrictive practice under the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission or state bodies (like South Australia’s DHS Restrictive Practice Unit) comes down to three factors: intent, consent, and its link to a ‘behaviour of concern’.
Under NDIS rules, physical restraint is explicitly defined as the use of physical force to prevent, restrict, or subdue movement for the primary purpose of influencing or controlling a person’s behaviour. When evaluated through a Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) framework, the classification hinges on whether the hug is used to override or stop a behaviour or to deliver voluntary sensory co-regulation using proprioceptive input (proprioceptive: your body’s internal “sixth sense” that sends feedback from muscles and joints to help you understand where your body is in space, how it is moving, and how much force to use).
If the hug is not directly linked to stopping a behaviour; given purely to support sensory processing during neurological distress. Applied specifically to stop, block, or manage a target behaviour of concern – such as absconding (running off), wandering, verbal aggression, hitting, or self-injury.
Primary Intent: Soothing the nervous system using deep pressure (proprioceptive input). Subduing, restricting, or overpowering physical movement to force compliance, prevent running, or stop an action.
Bodily Autonomy & Consent: The child seeks, accepts, or welcomes the hug. Releasing occurs immediately if they pull away or say “no.” Movement is physically restricted regardless of the child’s active resistance, verbal refusal, or pulling away.
NDIS / DHS Status: This is not a restrictive practice. Viewed as non-coercive physical guidance/support.
If however, this is a regulated physical restraint it requires formal authorisation and an approved Behaviour Support Plan (BSP).
Real-World Public Scenario: The Local Shopping Centre
Imagine walking through a busy shopping centre packed with fluorescent lights, echoing chatter, food court smells, and dense crowds. For an autistic child, this environment can trigger severe sensory overload. As their nervous system shifts into fight-or-flight, their internal body map scrambles – their brain temporarily loses track of where their body ends and the chaotic room begins.
First the overload: Standing near noisy supermarket checkouts, sensory input peaks. The child experiences a meltdown, displaying behaviours of concern like verbal aggression (yelling/screaming) or attempting to abscond or wander through the crowded aisles to escape the noise.
Next the sensory seek: Realising they are unsafe and overwhelmed, the child reaches for their parent, pulls on their arm, or leans heavily against their legs – seeking intense physical contact to “reset” their nervous system.
Response is a proprioceptive hug: The parent squats down and offers a firm, squeeze-like hug. The deep touch input activates receptors in the child’s muscles and joints, sending immediate signals to their brain saying, “Here is where your physical body is, you are grounded, and you are safe.”
The outcome: Because the pressure was requested and welcomed to relieve neurological distress (rather than applied as force to subdue them) it acts as a therapeutic anchor, not a restrictive practice.
Our Neuroaffirming PBS Perspective: Meltdowns Are Not “Behaviours of Concern” A neuroaffirming approach recognises that an autistic meltdown is an involuntary neurological overload response, not a deliberate “behaviour of concern” to be managed or suppressed. Many autistic individuals rely on heavy proprioceptive input (such as tight hugs, compression, or deep pressure) to re-anchor their sensory systems during overwhelming states. Behaviours like absconding, wandering, or verbal aggression are distress responses to sensory overload or anxiety.
Restraint : If you physically grab and lock your arms around a child specifically to stop them from running away or shouting against their will, the NDIS framework classifies this as a physical restraint.
Co-Regulation : If deep pressure is offered with their consent to help ground them so they no longer feel the internal urge to run or scream, it is sensory co-regulation.
Questions to assist you to identify the ‘purpose’ of your hug:
Is the hug a response to sensory distress or an attempt to interrupt a target behaviour? (If it’s to calm an overwhelmed nervous system at the child’s invitation, it’s co-regulation. If used forcibly to block absconding, wandering, or aggression, it crosses into behavioural physical restraint.)
Does the child have freedom of exit? (If you loosen your hold and he chooses to stay, it is co-regulation. If he tries to escape and you exert force to hold him in place, it becomes a restraint.)
Are self-directed sensory alternatives available in the community? (Offering compression shirts, weighted backpacks, portable lap pads, or heavy-work activities like pushing a shopping trolley allows him to access identical proprioceptive grounding on his own terms.)