Autism Support Group

I'm currently teaching a young man with autism at a private school in Virginia. This young man came to our school two years ago. Two years ago I was only an assistant at the school as I had not completed my licensure work yet. While at our school this young man displayed aggression almost daily. Hitting, kicking, pulling hair, yelling, screaming, and throwing things. The motivation for the behaviors was that 1)he wanted to do something other than what he was supposed to be doing and would tantrum to get out of work and 2) his OCD triggered tantrums. This behavior was decreased by the use of a social story which described what the student should do when he is frustrated or mad such as "when ______ is mad he needs to recharge (he loves robots and robots have to recharge sometimes. This means going to a corner with a bean bag chair) When _______ is mad he can yell, scream, hit the bean bag chair and stomp his feet. When _______ is quiet and calm he can return to work." This actually worked in the classroom before he had to relocate because of his father's work. Just before he left I did not even have to verbally prompt him to recharge, he would immediately run to his recharge spot and stay there until he was quiet and ready to work again. He was no longer aggressive! This was usually about 5 to 10 minutes. from what was once an hour to 45 minutes of tantruming. Then he moved. When he moved he had homebound services at home because a private school was too expensive.

His father has relocated back to Richmond and I am now his lead teacher. I am seeing the same behaviors he exhibited before he left the first time. The technique that worked when he was previously here does not seem to be working. We ignore his behaviors and do not talk to him except to remind him that we will talk when he is quiet and calm. He is now getting up from his "recharge" spot and seeking out staff to hit, kick, scream, yell and pull hair. These negative behaviors are not responded to. He is escorted back to his "recharge" spot without any words until he can calm down. We have completley emptied his room except for the daily materials we use for his programming. This way he is not tempted to throw anything because there is nothing to throw. This student uses a picture schedule and in fact, is given opportunities to decide what program he will work on next so he feels he has some control. He is notified in advance of any changes. He uses a token board for work and a first then board.

Recently, the behaviors seem to be more violent and aggressive. He pulled a staffs hair so hard that she now has a bald spot. His hitting and kicking seems like it is with the intent to actually hurt someone. We never let him get out of work for these behaviors. This student does not like to be confined or feel like there is no way out. He will absolutely lose it if he feels like he is being "confined" in any way. So my question is what are some suggestions to protect my staff and continue to ignore this students behaviors? We have a safe room that has padded walls so that students can thrash about if they need to and we know they are safe and cannot hurt themselves. However, this is too confined for this particular student. We have to stay in the classroom with him while he is tantruming for his safety. I would never leave a child alone.

This student also has OCD. For instance today, we watched a video about social skills. This students favorite part of the video is the rocket ship at the beginning. He was finishing up a program when the movie started and did not get to see the rocket ship. He tantrumed because he needed to see the rocket ship. We have six other students in the classroom. We can't rewind the tape just because he missed the rocket ship. He was told he could sit down and watch the movie or that he had to work in his classroom. He exhibited aggressive behaviors - flipped his chair, kicked his assistant, hit his assistant and he was escorted to his "Recharge" spot in his room. He tantrumed for 45 minutes about the movie before we could finally redirect him to reading a story and answering questions. What should we do with a student who has OCD. Should we really rewind that video for one student? I understand why he was upset but at the same time he can show me he is upset in other ways besides hitting and kicking.

At this point, I simply need some suggestions for what to try next. I need to protect my staff from being injured and I want to be able to help my student cope with changes and his frustrations better.

Thanks for any advice!

you sem to be doing everything right,I cannot see anything that should not be working.However once blownup we cannot focus on stories and visuals they are like a chocolate kettle at that stage

he is on meds,is his family ok.

you did not mention mom where is she

Have you tried the gym or a trampoline.

Have you tried asking him what the issue is,does he have sensory issues,

is it the sam member of staff he attacks or random.

divertion is the best thing to do but it needs to be just done no trying to take him to it.

For instance when my youngest is aggresive we first go through the motions,his he hungry thirsty,wet ill in pain,the we do the sensory side,off clothes,tickle etc.thn we put on a video and let hi approach it in his ow time,i does not wok al the time but more often than not it does.

I also leave a lot of visuals for the above then he brings me which one he needs.

It could also be that he has been messed about having diferant teachers,differant enviroments,differant teaching methods that he just cannot do it.

Thanks so much for your response. I really do appreciate it! This student is currently here at the private school that I teach at. He is typically not aggressive at home because if he is aggressive at home mom and dad spank him. We cannot do that here at school and will not do that here at school. Of course at home there are less demands placed on him than at school so of course we'll have more behaviors here at school. His mom is aware of his behavior issues. He has had these issues since he was in school. Most of these behaviors he picked up in public school from another student because he learned if he hit or kicked a teacher they would send him home. Here at my school, we do not send children home. We work through their behaviors. This student is constantly on medication and at the first sign of aggression his mom will often make a snap decision to go to the Dr. and get it changed. We try not to mention daily behaviors to his mom because she brings attention to the behavior by yelling at him which is exactly what we don't want to do and she's yelling at him after the fact - hours sometimes, after he had behaviors. We make sure to have a lot of movement breaks throughout the day. He likes to run so he has to request to run and then we make it functional such as running to the opposite end of the hall to pick up a sight word and bring it back to his teacher to read.

I just don't know how to help his OCD. Like the video yesterday. He had a tantrum because he missed his favorite part of the video. I can't rewind that video because there are other students who are sitting appropriately and showing appropriate behaviors that are watching the video. When he was told he could watch the movie from the point that it was at, or he had to work he threw a tantrum and we escorted him to his classroom so he could meltdown away from other students. But it's OCD. so really, when his OCD triggers a tantrum it is very hard to get him to settle down because he just "has" to do whatever it was that he feels he needs to do. Such as seeing the very beginning of that video.

I just want to be doing the right thing. I know that no behavior plan works overnight. Thanks so much for your response!

she really does does need a good shake.

you have not many options left,any kind of restraint will anger.

A treadmill may help but they are expensive running can be put into good use for many things,

why do you think its his ocd causing issues in my experience and my youngest son loves to rewind and stop on his fav bit it is not a compulsion but a predictable experience.

This is how I see it

at home he cannot do anything without a word or chiding

at school he knows no matter how angry he gets he is not really punished,so his frustrations that he has to hold in at home are coming at school,in a way he feels like he can explode and be partially understood which leaves him calm when returning home so he will not get in trouble at home because it all came out at school clever really.

changing meds will also have adverse affects until he learns to work with it instead of against it,we need an alternative to his anger,timers,lots of visuals and alternatives to a not wanted activity.

Also if you are hooked up to the web at school when the other student s are watching something you could let him watch it on you tube.

This student has been diagnosed with OCD as well as autism and is taking medication for OCD. Some of his behaviors are escape behaviors. Thanks to "Recharging" most of the escape behaviors have stopped because he knows he will eventually have to work and that he can't do anything to get out of it. He is obssessed with being on time to things. If he is late to snack and his friends have already started he crys, yells, hits and kicks because he's late and in his mind he can't be late to anything. He has to be on time. It's the same thing with the video, if he misses the very beginning of the video which has a rocket on it, then he crys, hits and kicks wanting us to rewind the movie so he can see the rocket which is the part that he has missed. He's very dependent upon doing the same thing every single day, in the same way. We've tried to work on this by using a picture schedule and letting him make up his schedule (to a certain extent) but it's almost like he can't control himself when he's late or when he misses something that he wasn't supposed to. It's almost like no amount of talking through it will work because he's so upset that he hears nothing you say. Nothing will calm him down except viewing the part he missed or always preventing him from being late. Does that make sense? Of course at the first sign of a really rough day his mom will change his medicine in hopes that the medicine will cure all his behavior issues. Which of course it won't. This student is great with transitions and he uses his picture schedule nicely. It's really the things that he does not have control over that he tantrums such as being late to the movie and missing the beginning. Thank you so much for your input!

ocd and autism go and in hand what I am saying is that you think the cause is his OCD tendancies it isnt.

this seems to do with timing and reptition and anxiety towards tasks,timers and clocks,watches can help him with this along with visuals to show what the timer is being used for.

Post edited by: spectrummum, at: 10/22/2009 06:52 AM

I got it. Thank you. That makes more sense now. To me it seemed that he was obsessing about having to see that rocket and whenever he misses it, he tantrums. We watch a different movie about social skills every day and when the movie does not have a rocket and he misses the beginning of the movie it is not an issue. It seemed to me that he was being obsessive. In fact, yesterday he had no behaviors except for when he missed that rocket. What you said makes sense though. Thanks!

you are more than welcome, you have to look beyond the surface,its like an iceberg effect ustbecause the top is poking out does not mean there is no underneath.