When people find out I'm a behavior analyst and work with children with autism the most
common question I get is how do I stop my child from problem behaviors?
Such as hitting?
So how do I stop my child from hitting?
Or biting?
Or yelling?
How do I stop my child from doing something?
Today, I'm going to cover the question, how do I stop my child from hitting?
Hi, I'm D.r Mary Barbera, autism mom, board certified behavior analyst and best-selling
author.
Each week I provide you with some of my ideas about turning autism around.
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A few months ago I published two blogs on the subject of reducing problem behaviors
but since aggression is such a big issue for many kids with autism I could literally talk
about this every single week, and in a way, I actually do.
Because even if I'm talking about teaching a child to answer questions or tie his shoes
or get a haircut half of the equation of teaching a child any skill, especially a child with
autism, is that you always have to be considering how to best prevent and treat problem behaviors
around the clock.
Before I get started with some strategies to stop or reduce hitting I want to give you
a disclaimer.
This information, all the information in my video blogs is not intended to serve as a
substitute for consultation with medical and behavioral professionals.
Only qualified professionals who know and work with a child on an ongoing basis can
adequately assess and supervise a child's program.
I always recommend including a board certified behavior analyst on a child or clients team.
This is especially important if a child is in danger of hurting themselves or others.
Now that we've got that cleared up, with any behavior we want to increase or decrease we
have to start with assessment.
How often does the child hit in this case?
Who or what is the child hitting?
Some kids hit walls, for instance.
Some kids hit their own heads.
Some kids hit their siblings or teachers.
You also want to look at whether the hit is with an open hand or a slap, or a closed fist
like a punch, and obviously, the age, the size and the strength of the child are also
factors.
If we are talking about a two-year-old that's kind of flailing and hitting, versus a 15-year
old whose punching people in the face?
Those are the same type of behavior but very different circumstances.
The most important thing to assess is the situations where the child is most likely
to hit and then to analyze the function of the behavior.
Or, the why?
Some kids hit other people when those people put demands on or tell the child that they
can't have something they really want.
Other kids hit themselves when they're not engaged.
When they're bored or when they're in pain.
Another important thing to look at is when the hitting does not occur.
So, if you said your son would not hit if he was given free access to his iPad all day
long or he won't hit if he's in a swimming pool that will give you important information
as you make a plan to stop or at least reduce the behavior.
The final thing to look at is in terms of assessment is how frequently the hitting and
other problem behaviors are occurring.
The thing about hitting is that it usually doesn't doesn't happen in isolation.
Hitting usually happens with screaming, with kicking, with falling to the ground or the
floor, and sometimes with biting, too.
It sounds really complicated.
Even just the first step of assessing and it is.
A lot of people treat problem behaviors without knowing the answers to these important questions
first.
Interventions end up backfiring and the behaviors can often worsen, not get better especially
if there's no board certified behavioral analyst to help assess and help the family or school
team make a plan.
Once the hitting is fully assessed the next step is to make a plan.
The plan is most likely going to revolve around how to prevent hitting, because once hitting
starts it can become dangerous.
Making a plan is really gonna be helpful if prior, when you're assessing, you checked
when the behavior happened but also, importantly, when the behavior never happens.
Most people are way too reactive to problem behaviors and we need to turn that around
and look for ways to prevent problem behaviors.
You might want to increase those activities like swimming in a pool when you know that
hitting is not going to occur in those situations.
It gets complicated when it becomes winter and you can't be in the pool in certain climates
and all that.
You certainly don't want to let a child on an iPad all day long so as you increase some
of the preferred activities you're also going to be increasing reinforcement, but you're
gonna have to make a plan to increase demands and slowly fade out some of those reinforcing
activities.
In summary, stopping hitting or any other problem behavior is a lot more complex than
I can cover in this short video blog, but I do have a three-step guide to help you assess,
plan and even learn how to start taking easy data.
To get things turned around for any child with autism download my free three-step guide,
which covers the three steps you can take today to help move forward in starting to
turn things around.
Whether you're a novice parent or a seasoned autism professional I know you'll find some
helpful new tools in this guide.
Leave me a comment, share this video and subscribe to my channel for more autism videos week
after week, and I'll see you here, next week.