So what do you do if your child with autism has severe problem behaviors?
Today we're covering that.
Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Barbera, autism mom, behavior analyst, and best selling author. Each week I
provide you with some of my ideas about turning autism or signs of autism around. So if you
haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel, you can do that now. Today we are sharing part two,
um, a small excerpt from part two of my interview with Zulekha Williams, who's a mom to a son who's
four years of age, non-speaking, and he has severe self-injurious behavior.
So we talk about that today. It sounds like you're, he's, he's really having a hard time,
um, transitioning to people, to activities. One of the things I'm hearing,
um, and, and you're just trying to survive. Mm-hmm. um, you're just trying to calm him
down as quickly as possible and so he can get on to learning, which is totally normal.
Mm-hmm. Um, but I hear a lot of, you're trying to calm him down in the moment and you're,
you're needing to use all these reactionary, deep pressure, bringing him out of the store,
bringing him outside from ABA therapy. Those changes in the environment and what you're doing,
just you're, you're really finding it hard not to use these reactionary strategies.
But what he's learning is if I throw my tablet and start hitting and start throwing around,
then I get better things. Then I, mom's phone comes out. I get deep pressure, I get,
um, to go in the backyard and run around mm-hmm. . And so I have this in,
I think both my books. So if I gave you a thousand dollars,
the therapist is coming soon today. If I give you a thousand dollars
for Maddox to have no meltdowns today, or even for half the session. Mm.
What would you do? For a thousand dollars for him to not have any meltdowns? He would have
his tablet the whole entire day, . Okay. But he might still have tan uh, meltdowns because the,
the tablet may break or he may get bored. Or you Yeah, you're gonna have to feed him
something. Right so if the, say the battery dies on the tablet and then he does have a meltdown,
um, I would, um, maybe have a favorite book, book ready cuz he loves books or start singing
to him. He loves music, he loves songs. Um, uh, what else is that? Is that like music and songs?
Is song time built into ABA therapy? Yes, it is. His book time built, we call it circle time
because at school they have circle time and that's what they do at school. So we're trying to help
him in the school setting as well too by having circle time at home. So watching some, like I
said earlier, happy and you know, it clap your hands or different super simple type of songs.
He loves those. So we'll do usually like three or four songs in an ABA session. Okay.
Um, so. You know, part of my course and everything I preach is spend 95% of your
time preventing problem behaviors. Which it sounds like it's a tough situation because you, you, you
wanna get out of being there constantly, right? But you keep having changeover of staff. Exactly,
and I'm trying to go back to work too. And right now it's seeming impossible right now. Yeah.
So I know you don't have time to watch my course, but you, you left, which you know
a lot of people do, and I was telling you beforehand, like you recently came back, but
we used to have a pretty clunky transition from the toddler course to the verbal behavior bundle.
We changed, we changed everything about that. It is so much smoother. The community is completely
positive. You know, you stay for a year or month to month, but very low price,
like 2015 pricing. Anybody out there listening that used to be in the course or courses and left,
probably because they got busy like you and they, you know, they have ABA and like, why
would I need to still be a part of the community? I really urge all parents and professionals to
email us info@marybara.com if you've ever been in the course. We are still offering
2015 pricing right now, um, for a limited time to come back. But I really do think Zulekha,
that you did well with the toddler course, he was learning. You know, and I do believe that some of
the answers are in the course are in the, we have a, um, a mini course, uh, so you have access to
the course now it's called No More Time Out. We're actually changing the name because it's
um, it really is just preventative positive and then reactionary strategies that you should use.
And so it's gonna be called Turn Tantrums Around because really it isn't about timeout, cuz most
moms like you and I aren't really using timeout. We're just trying to like, get through the day.
Um, yeah, I think the video's in there and the, you know, It's only an hour and a half,
so I would say that would be my first tip is to watch that course. I would also look
at those chewing and mouthing video blogs. See if you can schedule some kind of evaluation.
Look at the food lists, and maybe instead of just bringing out a sandwich, you bring out a
very small sandwich with some chips and some other easy foods and or maybe just serve him easy foods,
like the foods you listed that he would eat pizza. You know this, that you know.
Serve them easy foods if you think that might help prevent a meltdown.
That's all about it. You know, think every day if I gave you a thousand dollars,
what would I do? So for now, you are gonna, unfortunately have to stay in therapy
with, you know, with the new therapist and pair up things and um, and I. would, um, even though I'm
against moving for most people, you know, picking up and moving isn't necessarily the answer.
I do think that you would, he will benefit more from a, a structured, potentially in clinic,
in in school, but that BCBA and that therapist has to be highly trained, has to be and use
the VB MAPP, not just for an assessment but for programming. They need to believe in my approach,
the turn autism around approach and believe in preventing problem behaviors.
And I really do think that it's a critical time for you to, um, get the supports needed because
he is, he is suffering if he's having this many meltdowns, and then when he does have a meltdown,
if he's hitting you or hitting his brother or hitting himself, hitting, you know,
take weapons out of his hands. Keep him safe. Don't let him bang his head. Don't leave him
alone. Protect his head. Like his life depends on it because you do not want him banging and
you don't want him to be aggressive, you know, if there's a soft area where you could take him.
Um, and at this point, you know, he's, he's small enough that you can carry him and get him into a
safe environment most places, right? That's not gonna be the case,
um, for, for very much longer. So I do, what I notice too is when he started,
he started school August 1st. That's when a lot of his behaviors escalated when he went
back to school. So we're right now thinking of not doing school anymore because where we live, it's,
they have lack, he has a one-to-one, but they have lack of staffing. So that way his one-to-one isn't
always being used just for him. You know, she's being pulled everywhere else. So even just the
look on their faces, when I pick him up, they look stressed out. And even his teacher asked me, she's
a first time teacher, you know, bless her heart. She was a teacher's aide last year. She's, you
know, still going to school right now. The whole, his whole entire staff changed. He loved preschool
last year. He absolutely loved it, but this year he gets so upset just to even see his school.
So I don't really feel like school is very. He's only four. But yeah, I don't feel like it's very
beneficial for him, at least in that classroom. I hope you enjoyed that brief excerpt from episode
202 of the Turn Autism Around podcast. If you did, I'd love a thumbs up, comment,
share it with somebody who might benefit. And for more information about joining our online
course and community, to begin to look at these videos and bonus videos and, um, get a community
of support to turn things around to help you. Um, you can attend a free workshop to find
out more at marybarbera.com/workshop, and I'll see you right here next time.