Need help with discipline, age 3

[jack'smom]

My three year old son Jack has started hitting, biting, and kicking, all within the last three weeks. The biting behavior is an old recurring pattern, seems to be a bout every six weeks or so. I believe he is getting some molars which may be increasing the undesired behavior.
Currently he is non-verbal, and is for the most part non-communicative. He consistently signs "more" and "finished".
My question is how to discipline (or educate on) the behavior. Obviously I can't hit him or kick him back. Does anyone have any suggestions????
Many thanks!

[ohiomom]

[QUOTE=jack'smom]My three year old son Jack has started hitting, biting, and kicking, all within the last three weeks. The biting behavior is an old recurring pattern, seems to be a bout every six weeks or so. I believe he is getting some molars which may be increasing the undesired behavior.
Currently he is non-verbal, and is for the most part non-communicative. He consistently signs "more" and "finished".
My question is how to discipline (or educate on) the behavior. Obviously I can't hit him or kick him back. Does anyone have any suggestions????
Many thanks![/QUOTE]

My daughter Marissa is six and we have been dealing with the same problems, she has even hit her teachers and therapists. About a year ago we began to put her in a safe room when she would hit or kick us and after about three weeks she finally stopped. It was hard because I knew some of her behaviors she couldn't control, but she finally ot through it. She will occasionaly hit us but it's not as aggressive as it was last year.

[sharon]

Jack's Mom,
Silly suggestion perhaps but maybe try signing "finished" combined with "stop" when he bites. Although they say that children in the spectrum have difficulty reading social cues, you can let Jack know that you don't like it when he bites. It hurts and you are annoyed/mad/angry.

How have you been letting him know that a behaviour is unacceptable? If the behavior is new, consider what has been going on since the reoccurance, or what the pattern may be.

[clgonzal]

Hi

My son is 2 1/2 y o and we controlled using a pattern for BT (behavior Therapist) even when they have not verbal skill they listen and understand (my son is not verbal too) when you're consistent. Our BT teach us that every time he starts crying and kicking or showing aggressive behavior just have to take their hands to an easy position, come down to his level make them look at you (it's hard at beginning, because they don't like to look at the face but eventually he will look at you) and say NO! Using a strong tone (not yell).

After several tries with consistency between wife and I he's not showing aggression and when he does it with a NO! Is enough, but it takes time.

BT has help us a lot with comprehension of the ways they learn faster and to control anxiousness

For anxiousness you need to have something that he can bite, it help them regain control of their bodies, and to lower level of anxiety common cause of aggression and bit behavior. We have with us all time some sort of very strong rubber toy, and when we start seeing signs of anxiety we give it to him, and after some biting on the toy he’s calm again.

A good way to teach him follow commands is to give him threat, it can be affection or a video or some prefer candies. We started using candies to get his attention and to give you an example to get his candy with ask him to sit, etc. and it will eventually build a strong sense to listen to your voice and obey commands.

I hard work and won’t say it is not, it’s been six month since we started doing BT work with him, but it is worthy, we can now call him form very far away and he come to us, do what we say, sit, stand up, clean your hand, call him to eat, etc. you named it. When we started he did not follow or understand any command.

Regards

[Momof3]

We have the same problems. Clayton is 3 1/2 and not being able to communicate add to it.
Have you noticed if there is anything that keep happening at this 6 wk mark? Is he recieving SLP or ABA? Both have helped us with his talking and now we have learned to make him talk and use his words.
Clayton's behavior was out of control and I started fishing about 8 months ago and came across the Gluten Free Casine Free Diet. Beleve me it works! Since we changed his diet his behavior has gotten better, 80%! I know this sounds crazy but it is worth a try for your sanity. Since we started him on the diet he has gone to a Nutricianist and they ran an allergiy test on him. It turns out he is allergic and sensitive to the foods that were omitted form the diet. So I was right in changing his diet. When ever he gets something he isn't suppost to have he goes nuts all over again for about 3-4 days, once it is out of his system things get better.

[AutMom]

Another thing to consider is yeast overgrowth, which is fairly common in autism and can affect mood and behavior. Has he ever been on antibiotics?

[longshot5000]

I also have 3 1/2 and 5 year old who have been diagnosed as Autistic. My 5 year old has done brillant with early entry and now is in reception with kids his own age. Currently there is no goverment support - or non existant support in South Australia for Autisitc children so all this support to get him to this level has been from his school. But, Noah is different - he still only has one word see ya. he doesn't communicate in any other way except to bring us an item he wants...like the cordial or his cup. he takes our hands and has our hands point to something if he can't get it. he is starting to scream very loudly and kick out and not listen at all. We have just started timeout with him time out with him. Once we did try ABA but didn't see much success at the time - he was 3 years old. We did keep up with this but eventually we couldn't keep affording the therapist to provide this support. We have read in lots of places that you have to do around 20-40 hours a week with your child. i am about to try the program again...but there is no way I can do that many hours. both my wife and I work oppisite shifts so that there is someone always home with our boys. I am also going to try doing the program with things he loves. Right now...we just want to work on his behavior...have him happy...and hopefully eventually have some form of commication. We are going to also try the pecs system soon. Also. does anyone have any suggestions.

I even had a friend who was a web develop design a site for me..with a forum hoping to talk to other families in Australia. Unfortuenly the site doesn't seem to be taking off...to well. www.autismadventure.com

[stressed mom]

Today I went to the pool. We had to leave early because my son decided to go wild and angry. I am tired. I have to hurry through the store. Get what you really need first and get out. I want to know if this gets better. Micahs mom

[emerald]

Hi

My son who is 5 has been in early child intervention special ed classes in school since September and although I have seen significant improvement in his social skills and behavior I am still concerned about his finger snapping and flapping which seems to appear when he's excited. He also has facial expressions and gringes but it's not consistent and I have not been able to figure out what causes him to do that.

We are scheduled for a neurologist to diagnose him as the school requires it so that that can specify what help he needs since he's already 5 years old.

I was wondering if anyone else has any suggestions on how to help my son as he stands out when he's playing with other children who begin to ignore him quickly since his speech is also delayed and he sounds like a 2 year old not a 5 year old.

Thanks