5 replies to this topic

[amethyst]

Hi. Does anyone have any suggestions here. At work we have a 3 year old boy with autism. He is absolutely adorable but when frustrated or upset he will scratch and dig his nails in. I have been doing one to one with him so I seem to be the one who is mainly getting the brunt of it, but other staff members have been hurt too. I have to admit, since he has been having one to one he is getting slowly better but he hasn't stopped altogether. We tell him it hurts and sometimes he throws his arms round for cuddles, but I'm never too sure how much he understands as his language is delayed. When upset as I say he can scratch, like the other day leaving me with what loooked like a slash down my cheek or will dig his nails in and twist them. My hands and arms are a mess now in various stages of healing from them. I have also got scars too that don't seem to be going anywhere. We have spoken to mum who is sort of still in denial and he never does it at home. I asked about his nails and she cuts them on a regualr basis (once a week) but this is not enough. Apart from trying to sit him down and cut them ourselves which we don't think is a good idea we are all at a loss as to what to do.
Has anyone found themselves in a similar situation and does anyone have any ideas except for body armour?

[leo]

is it not possible to hold him in a way that prevents him from hurting you?

why don't you observe the trigger signs that cause him distress- make a record and that way you may be able to addressthe root triggers that cause him to panic.

very often it can be chnges in routine. if that is so then you could make photocards of the day's routine and go through it 1on 1 with him every day so that he gets used to changes in the day. ofcourse this is just a blind suggestion and his behaviour may be triggered by soemthing completly differnt and unrelated to this - in which case sorry for waffling.

[amethyst]

Hi Leo.
Changes in routine does upset him, but alot of the time it is when is has gone up to another child and scratched or wacked him/her first. Or pushed them over. Sometimes it's when he wants a toy that another child has. We have to try to explain to him that he has hurt them or that he needs to share. It is quite often here that he will hurt the adult dealing with the situation. If we can hold him then he can be calmed and we do manage to hold him usually in a way he cannot hurt us, but most times he just grabs at my arm as I am near him and digs nails in. I'm sure we will get there with him, just hoping my arms and hands don't end up too scarred in meantime. Mum is horrified when she sees them and cannot apologise enough. We have a child who is 6 and attends our after school club and he is also autistic. I'm wondering whether alot of it is where he has seen his behaviour and is imitating as the older child also pushes the smaller ones. He has been known to kick staff aswell.
Ooops
I'm waffling!

[Susan]

oh Ametheyst, I dont know what to say except how awful for you!
This sort of behaviour would not have been tolerated in my school, inclusion or not. In fact it would have been a trigger for outside agencies to be involved and alternative provision saught. We had a little boy in Reception several years ago whose behaviour was a cause for concern, he was frequently hurting others, staff and children alike and eventually my head took action to send him home immediately he hurt anybody, His family were in denial but eventually had to accept that there was a problem and were eventually very grateful when he settled well into alternative, appropriate provision.
No help to you really, except to say seek help I suppose from whatever outside agencies are at your call.
This little boy is probably frustrated by his lack of verbal communication and reacting in the only way he knows how.

Good luck and keep covered up as much as possible?!

[Inge]

We have had several childrn on the autistic spectrum and they all differ widely however they all have had a tendency to violent behaviour at some time. There always seemed to be a tirgger but the trick was to observe record and interpret what that may be. we used makaton to assist with language delay and this did help relieve the frustration she had in not being able to communicate as the other chidlren do. We discoverd that she bit us and children when she was trying to be affectionate! She even bit someone on the bottom!!
It took time and perserverence makaton helped a lot. we also used picture symbols for routines and she learnt to show us the picture of something she wanted. (3 years on she is now talking clearly)
.

Once she was able to communicate a bit more this did stop for most of the time- we still were a bit worried whenever she tired to cuddle us though.

not wanting to generalise but it is unlikely to be learnt behaviour / copying as they often have difficulty with relating to toher children, unable to hold eye contact or communicate easily. often prefering to have a set routine followed every day

May not be much help have you any local outside agencies to help (like springboard- ours are excellent) they have several strategies and can often help as they can see the child at the setting.

Inge

[amethyst]

Thanks Susan and Inge. We have got someone from a local special needs school coming in to see us in December but this appointment has already been made twice and been delayed, so hopefully this time. Their nursery teacher is coming to met him and give us (hopefully) some advice. The next step will be me visitinng them to try to get some ideas. Just really concerned that if he can hurt me the way he has, that he could really hurt one of the other children.
I like the point that you made about biting and affection. I will defintiely do some observations and records for a couple of weeks and see if there if any particular trigger or also whether he could also me trying to show some sort of affection. I have noticed that alot of the time as soon as he does it he throws his arms round my neck and wants cuddles. I think that frustration definelty has something to do with it as when he is digging his nails in sometimes he starts really pushing hard, and you can see he is putting all his stranghth into it. So much so that sometimes he will start trembling as he does it. This is the main problem here. Nothing is consistent. Its sometimes this and sometimes that. If we have staffing to do so tomorrow I may get one of the staff members to observe his behaviour while I am working one to one with him