If He Spat To Communicate Anger:
Wed say nothing, put him in his room, and set a timer for 2 minutes. After the timer went off, wed tell him it is okay to be angry and tell us you are angry, but it isnt okay to spit. Spitting is yucky. We told him instead to clinch his fists if he is angry.
But, moving him to his room when he was angry often led to tantrums, and the tantrums often led to meltdowns. So then we decided instead of trying to move him, wed remove ourselves from his presence and go into another room. Id tell him, I dont like when you spit on me. I am leaving for two minutes. After the timer, went off, Id come back and again, remind him not to spit but that he can say he is angry and clinch his fists. Removing ourselves from the room led to fewer tantrums and meltdowns, and the spitting did begin to improve slowly.
Why Is My Child Hitting
As outlined above, an autistic child may be hitting in order to physically express pain or discomfort, or for other medical reasons. People often assume that, barring these issues, a child hits becauseâ¦wellâ¦they have aggressive tendencies that cannot be controlled easily. Digging deeper can help you understand the childâs true motivation for hitting.
For example, does your child smile while hitting? If so, they may think that the sensation of hitting feels good, or they may be trying to socialize with the person and not realize that hitting is an improper way to go about doing this. Does your child hit in order to get something? If so, youâll need to examine whether the child has been receiving something for hitting. Does your child seem excited by your over-the-top reaction to the hitting? If so, that is an important signal you will need to act on.
If He Created Pools Of Saliva On The Floor To Play With For Seeking Sensory Input:
At first, we decided to call attention to this being yucky and having him clean it up, but that didnt work. We realized this pooling was happening if he wasnt engaged in a task. So we shifted. Instead, when wed see him pooling saliva on the floor, wed engage him in a task such as a game or eating a snack. Again, over time this reduced the behavior. He hasnt done this in nearly a year.
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Autism Is Called A Spectrum Disorder Because Every Autistic Person Is Different And Some Of Them Function Better In Certain Areas Than Others
Coping with an autistic child’s inappropriate behaviors can pose some serious challenges. The national autistic society website contains useful information on asd, including what it is Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental condition that affects a person’s speech and nonverbal communication, social interaction, and causes restricted/repetitive behaviors. The cause of autism is not clear. Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition that creates difficulties in social interacti.
If you’ve recently learned that your child has or might have autism spectrum disorder, you’re probably wondering and worrying about what comes next. There are many approaches to managing the. I’m also really bad at understanding or interpreting how someone for someone to be considered autistic or to be on the autism spectrum, he must have. You may hear health professionals call some behaviours challenging. He has a lot of issues w he has an o/t & speech therapist, we are meeting today to discuss his behaviors.
Autism in children who are high functioning may some times have add and anxiety symptoms and may need medications for that but ocd vs asd: The first step is to manage any pressing medical problems, such as sleep apnea or seizures. How to manage autism ? But, for those that do, this group of behaviors can create a lot of stress for their parents or caregivers. When children learn to manage challenging behaviour, they can get along better with others.
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Rule Out Medical Conditions
Before you begin taking steps to get your child to stop hitting, talk to a doctor to rule out any other medical conditions. When depression, epilepsy, or even allergies are ravaging the body of an autistic kid, hitting may be a response to the pain or discomfort. Hitting is their way of expressing negative feelings with their body, and fixing the medical issue can resolve the hitting problem as well.
Remove Overwhelming Sensory Input
If your child is over-reacting to sensory input, there are many ways to change the situation. Of course, the first step is to simply avoid overwhelming sensory settings such as parades, amusement parks, and loud venues such as movie theaters. You can also make changes in your home such as replacing fluorescent lamps with incandescent bulbs or turning down the music. When that’s not an option, consider ear plugs, distracting sensory toys, or plain old bribery to get through difficult moments.
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How To Reduce Spitting In Kids With Autism
Spitting behavior in children could be frustrating for the parents to deal with. Some children spit just for fun or to gain attention, while others spit to express their emotions like anger or dislikes and some children exhibit the behavior due to sensory needs. Children with autism tend to have this kind of behavior, as they have a communication difficulty.
Some children use spitting behavior as a self-defense action when they dont like others to touch them and/or their things
How to respond to the behavior if the child does it for fun?
Always it is essential to analyze the reason for any behavior the child express. If they do to gain attention, ignoring them will fade the spitting behavior.
How to respond to the behavior when expressed due to anger?
- Do not react immediately, stay calm.
- Analyze the reason with Ws why, where, when.
- Tell your child, IT IS NO GOOD or ITS BAD BEHAVIOUR.
- Make the child clean his/her spit.
- Apply time-out, which would help the child to calm down.
- Teach the child possible ways of communication, for example, either to communicate using monosyllable words like NO, MOVE, GO, etc. or via hand gestures.
- If the child communicates appropriately, then reinforce the good behavior.
How to respond to the behavior when expressed due to a sensory need?
Worry Less About Others’ Opinions
Your child is really doing a fine job in the grocery store. He may be flapping a bit, but it’s no big deal. Until you catch the eye of the mom with the perfect little girl, and she’s staring at your son. Suddenly the flapping seems like a very big deal, and you find yourself snapping at your son to “just put his hands down!” It’s not easy, but it’s important to remember that he’s autistic and not intentionally embarrassing!
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Create A Behavior Chart
Psychotherapist Amy Morin recommends creating a behavior chart in her article How to Create a Behavior Chart for Your Child. This is a quick and easy behavior modification tool that children enjoy.
You can start by working on a few behaviors at a time and then choose times to offer rewards. You might have some smaller rewards such as a sticker or a star, and then you can have larger rewards for a streak of good choices.
It is essential to set reasonable goals for your child and then explain the chart. Your child needs to know that this is a positive exercise, not a punishment. You can use positive reinforcement by praising improvements in your childs behavior and the progress they make.
You can modify the chart as you move forward to incorporate more aggressive behavior such as hitting, biting, excessive crying, and self-injurious behavior.
Children usually enjoy using a behavior chart, and they enjoy seeing stickers as they accomplish goals. You can use this as a positive tool to encourage and reinforce good behavior and good choices.
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How To Curb A Saliva Obsession Based Of Function Of Behavior
I am no behavior therapist, but my son has been in behavior therapy long enough, and Ive asked enough questions that I realize the road ahead will be a lot of work for my husband and me, but here is our new plan.
- Behavior Function Communication: If he spits at us out of anger, we say nothing and immediately put him in his room for 2 minutes. After we tell him it is okay to be angry and tell us you are angry, but spitting is not okay. It is yucky. We will tell him he can clinch his fists if hes angry instead.
- Behavior Function Attention: If he spits to gain our attention, we say nothing and immediately put him in his room for 2 minutes. After we instruct him to clean the spit and tell him if he needs something to ask us.
- Behavior Function Sensory: If we see him chewing on things and creating large amounts of saliva we ignore the behavior and offer a drink, snack or other distraction.
- Behavior Function Sensory: If we see him creating a pool of saliva on the floor we tell him its yucky, we instruct him to clean it and we offer him a drink, snack or other distraction.
- Behavior Function Sensory: If we see him blowing raspberries creating saliva in making sound effects during play for rockets or dragons, etc, we will ignore the behavior and model a replacement sound effect such as vroom for a rocket or roar for a dragon.
Sometimes those who challenge you the most teach you best. Anonymous
Find Ways To Have Fun Together
It’s not always easy to associate autism and fun. But if you think about it, rolling your child up like a hot dog, bouncing on a trampoline, or even sitting and cuddling together can be a lot of fun. Instead of worrying about the therapeutic value of each action, try just enjoying the silliness, the tickling, the cuddling…and the child. At least for a little while.
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Try To Understand Why The Child Is Spitting
The first step in reducing spitting behavior in autism is understanding why the child is spitting. You might start by taking your child to the pediatrician to make sure that there isnt a biological reason for the spitting. If there is no biological reason for the spitting, you need to figure out why your child is engaging in this behavior.
Your child might be trying to get attention, or the child might be signaling that he or she wants to be alone at this time. The child may even enjoy the way that it feels. It is also possible that the child doesnt realize that the spitting or drooling is happening.
It is important to observe the child and understand the reason for the spitting to address it.
Start by using the five Ws strategy. Ask yourself who, what, when, where, and why. Look to see if a particular person or type of person brings the spitting out, such as a teacher or specialist.
Maybe it happens when the child doesnt want to transition. It could be at a particular time of day, or it might occur in a specific place. If you consider the five Ws, you may determine what is causing the spitting, which will help you address it.
If He Spat For No Apparent Reason Other Than Seeking Sensory Input:
This was probably the easiest behavior to curb. We gave him appropriate places to spit. If he spat on the floor, Id tell him, You can spit in the potty or the garbage can. Then Id ask, Where can you spit? Once he repeated the appropriate response of The potty or the garbage can Id have him go to either and spit. This reinforced that I understood his need to spit, and there were appropriate places to do it. Within a few months, when he felt the need to spit, hed independently go to the potty or garbage can.
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Dealing With Meltdowns And Tantrums
Challenging Behaviour In Autistic Children And Teens Is Common
Your son’s actions are not out of the ordinary for children with autism spectrum disorder . For this reason, people often refer to autism as autism spectrum disorder . Why it matters and how research is helping. Medications can help manage autism symptoms and those of related conditions. Autism is a spectrum disorder, and it’s truly different for every person who has it. The key to dealing with a particular behavior is in understanding it. Low arousal offers effective crisis management in a world of noise. The american academy of pediatrics recommends you start to research therapies as soon as you suspect your child has autism, rather than waiting for a formal diagnosis. Children with autism express anxiety or nervousness in many of the same ways as typically developing children do. Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental condition that affects a person’s speech and nonverbal communication, social interaction, and causes restricted/repetitive behaviors. The cause of autism is not clear. When my king #2 developed an obsession with spitting, things got a little out of hand. Learn about the causes, symptoms, treatment, and diagnosis of autism.
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Find An Alternative Stimulus
Another approach is to find another stimulus so that the child adopts a replacement behavior. Studies show that a child might stop spitting if there is another more interesting stimulus.
For example, if you notice that the child is spitting during specific times, the spitting could result from boredom. You can provide stimulation that helps the child to overcome the boredom. For example, an intervention like playing soft music could remove boredom.
You might have to try different things because every child is different, but if the spitting is a result of boredom, changing the stimulus can help to teach your child to stop spitting.