🌟 The Hela Theory of Patterning in Autism

helafemininelove
Dec 6, 2025
3 min read

Revelation 1 — The Nervous System and Patterns

Autistic children are not simply “choosing” unusual behaviors; they are doing their best to survive and create safety in a world that often overwhelms their nervous system.

Their behaviors make far more sense when seen through the lens of nervous system survival and self-regulation, rather than compliance or defiance.

1. The Fight–Flight–Freeze Loop

Many children on the spectrum live in a near-constant fight–flight–freeze loop, rather than dipping in and out of stress like neurotypical nervous systems do. Their body is not just occasionally dysregulated; it can be chronically cycling through survival modes:

fight → flight → freeze → fight → freeze → flight
over and over
day and night
internally and externally

Over time, this can become the baseline, the default mode of their brain and body.

In this state, the brain is working hard to:

predict danger
scan the environment
protect itself
find safety
maintain control
avoid overwhelm

What looks like “behavior” from the outside is often the nervous system doing anything it can to feel less unsafe. When survival is the operating system, a child’s reactions are better understood as protection, not misbehavior.

2. Why Autistic Children Cling to Patterns

When the internal world is chaotic, external patterns become essential.

Repetitive movements and rigid routines often create predictability, control, and comfort in an overwhelming world. In simple terms:

Patterns = predictability
Predictability = safety
Safety = less fight/flight activation

So when a child:

lines up toys
repeats words or scripts
walks on toes
flaps hands
watches the same video
recites songs
rocks
splashes water rhythmically
insists on mechanical routines

…these are not random or meaningless behaviors.

They can function as self-generated external patterns designed to override internal chaos. These behaviors are often called “stims,” but in this framework, they are better understood as self-regulation attempts — intelligent adaptations to an overloaded nervous system.

This perspective is transformative: the child is not “stuck in bad habits”; the child is actively building a patterned world to make life survivable. For both parents and therapists, this invites a shift from “How do we stop this?” to “What is this behavior protecting them from, and how can we support that need more safely?”

3. Higher Patterns as Children Stabilize

When a child becomes less overwhelmed, the patterning often evolves.

Instead of pure survival (meltdowns, shutdowns, bolting, aggression), the child may “trade up” into more organized, more complex, but still repetitive systems of pattern. For example, a child may move:

from chaos → to lining up objects
from chaos → to music and rhythm
from chaos → to scripting and dialogue
from chaos → to numbers and math
from chaos → to memorization and facts

These can be understood as transitional pattern systems: more organized than raw fight–flight–freeze, but still primarily serving regulation. They may also become channels for learning, identity, and joy, while continuing to help the nervous system feel safer.

In the Hela Theory, these higher patterns are not treated as problems to eliminate. They are honored as bridges:

from chaos to pattern
from pattern to regulation
from regulation to connection, flexibility, and a deeper sense of safety in both body and world

For parents and therapists, this means higher patterns are first respected and joined, then gently expanded, rather than shut down.

About Hela Kammoun

Hela Kammoun is an internationally recognized expert in reflex integration, neurodevelopmental therapy, and holistic brain healing.

She is the founder of The HELA Method™ and HELA Soul Awakening, integrating reflex therapy, functional neurology, neurosensory technologies, nutrition, and consciousness-based practices to help children and adults achieve deep nervous system regulation and lasting transformation.

With over 12 years of clinical experience and thousands of client sessions, Hela specializes in reading movement, decoding the nervous system, and guiding autistic children and other neurodivergent individuals into greater safety, connection, and regulation.

Her work is shaped by both professional mastery and lived experience as a mother, and by her own journey through burnout, autoimmune illness, and profound personal healing.

“HELA Method graphic representing nervous system balance, bilateral integration, and reflex pattern organization.”

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