Autism Self Injurious Behaviors

When Your Child Is Frustrated Do They Show Self Injurious Behaviors?



Frustration can be overwhelming

for anyone dealing with Autism.

When I think about what it must be

like to be autistic, I picture it like

getting  on the wrong plane at the

airport and taking a detour to

 another country.

How frustrated would you be by the time you made it back

home if you didn't speak the language? Or couldn't read any of the signs.

There are Characteristics Of Autism that can be very

challenging at times. These "odd behaviors" like

Hand Flapping you think are cute until they

get older and  there are harmful Characteristics

like Self Injurious behaviors that can drive

us as parents insane.

My son has eaten harmful things because of Pica Eating Disorder

 that required medical attention, he would  Head Bang against

concrete, and ran into traffic. We have been through some

 horrifying experiences with Self Injurious Behaviors but

as a parent I will tell you that I will always be there to seek

medical attention, restrain him from bodily harm,

and pull him out of the middle of the road.

That's my job as a parent of an autistic child. 

We still deal with the occasional self injurious behaviors, but in

my house there is a zero tolerance.  He throws a fit and he

is in trouble. I might not have the right answer but I have

a plan. I thought about my daughter when she was his age. 

She could be a real brat when she didn't understand something.

She had been invited by her friend to her birthday party. I took

her shopping to buy a gift. We wrapped it, and signed the card.

We had two days of this wrapped gifted sitting on the

kitchen counter driving my daughter crazy. She wanted

that toy so bad she couldn't stand it. I told her, we bought

that for your friend for her birthday and it would be rude to

open that gift and not give it to her.

 My daughter crossed her arms, stomped

her feet, and said "But I want it Mommy, right now!

" I said no, so she stormed off,

screaming and yelling and slamming her door.

The point of all of this, is that she got frustrated

because she didn't understand why she had to give it away.

She threw a temper tantrum. We must know that

giving in each time is only going to give them more reason to

keep doing it.

If I had given her that toy, then she would stomp her feet at

me everyday for the rest of of my life, if I let her!

I use to coddle my son when he would throw fits,

my fear was that he was hungry or in pain and

I would misunderstand. We have since realized that the

more independence we give our son, the less frustrated

he is, the less self injurious behaviors we have to deal with.

He would get mad when he wanted a snack, so we gave

him a way to get his own snacks,

he now has his own shelf in the pantry. If the pantry door is

open then it is open snack time. If the door is closed we will

be having dinner soon.

We worked on ways to get my son to show us what he wanted.

There are only so many things your child wants and needs in one day.

If you give your child a way to show you what they

want then you can eliminate most of these Self Injurious Behaviors.

Whatever it takes to get your child communicating Pecs, signing,

or encouraging one word verbal commands like "yes" or 'No", Giving

autistic children a way to communicate their needs will lessen the

frustration for the both of you.

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