Can an adolescent perform "brushing" on themselves?

by Kristen
(Denver, NC USA)

I am actually an Occupational Therapist with 11 years of experience 9 of those exclusively in pediatrics. I am one course shy of completing SIPT training. I have extensive continuing education in the area of sensory integration. I have not, however, been able to locate the answer to a question raised by a co-worker recently.

It was my belief/understanding that brushing protocols were not to be performed by a child on themselves. In this case a co-worker had located some research about adults performing a "self-brushing" technique and assumed it would be ok to teach this to a cognitively typical adolescent. I am aware that this would not be the DPPT, as I am aware of the details regarding the 3 steps of this program and the intense nature of this. So this raises yet another question, if someone is brushing themselves, is this still an accepted sensory intervention that has any evidence of yielding improvements with sensory defensiveness?

I would love a second opinion, as like I mentioned, as I would not have recommended this as a treatment intervention, nor have I heard of any evidence indicating that this is effective or safe.