Why did he hit his leg with the stick every night?

From what I hear the rolling is a martial arts thing to toughen the legs up for kicking.

Hitting himself was rage and was probably not part of the routine.

Also, this: http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000130/nest/263626706

As a father to two autistic young men, I can tell you that the loud music, the rolling pin on the shins, the strobe lights would be an example of "desensitization".
Desensitization is not approved by a lot of therapists, since they insist on not challenging the child's weaknesses.
One of my boys could not handle loud noises, so I played nothing but punk rock and heavy metal, and watched tv and movies with the volume blasting. The other child didn't like to be touched, so I enrolled him in martial arts, where he continuously got hit. Today, most people cannot even tell that my sons are autistic.... but of course, they still are...

?hank you all for the replies!!

the main purpose for the lights, rolling pin, and loud sounds is to address his sensory issues. he does it to heighten the threshold of his sensory issues. for persons with autism, their senses are amplified compared to a regular person.

these activity is a form of treatment or therapy that would address his sensory problems and eventually lessen the probability of having this issues affect his daily activities.

Desensitizing.

I do it every night for PPPD. Put myself in situations that really, really irritate my symptoms by simulation. I have a strobe and also a disco ball. Noise doesn't bother me, so I don't use it. I do however do it in a very crowded space. I will jerk my head sideways as I do it too. Doing that for 10 years has done more than two of the best doctors in the United States have done with their "treatment".

My guess on the rolling was two-fold. I took Muay Thai for decades. Your legs get banged up and calcify. Rolling them out helps break that down and also build up some callouses.

On the other hand, I will sit there and take a rolling pin to my neck or have my wife dig her nails into my skull when I overload, so again, maybe it's desensitizing.

cause he's retarded.

you're welcome.

MMA fighters do this to destroy the nerve endings in their legs. The fighters will kick and be kicked in that area and do this to mute all pain and also build up cartilage and scar tissue to toughen up that section.