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Aggression...

Calebs Mommy's picture
Submitted by Calebs Mommy on Sat, 07/21/2012 - 11:31

We went to see the neurologist yesterday because last week at Caleb's eval at Regional Center he got so aggressive that he spent upwards of the last hour of the eval trying to run out the door (which me made it to the parking lot a couple times) and when restrained he would punch, kick, scratch and head butt. Regional Center has always said he is high functioning but the neurologist said yesterday that when you see that kind of aggression that it is normally in the lower functioning Autistic? I know he is regressing and not catching up developmentally so this makes since to me BUT has anyone else heard that before? Is your child aggressive and if so where do they land on the spectrum? Caleb is going to be 7 years old in a couple weeks... I worry about his aggression when he's bigger then me... What do I do then?

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seebert's picture
Submitted by seebert on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 17:14

I am high functioning- and was undiagnosed until 30- and have struggled with anger issues my entire life.  Getting my diagnosis put them in perspective somewhat.

Philosophically, autistics are idealist perfectionists.   But we often have a twisted sense of priorities- twsited by our sensory issues.  Thus, while all philosophical idealist perfectionists experience some cognitive disorder distress, autistics (whether high functioning with large vocabularies like mine, or low functioning with no vocabulary at all) end up very cynical and angry at a world that will NEVER match what they think it SHOULD be like.

Here's my suggestion- figure out the type of snoozelen therapy room you need to build in your house for him.  Try to teach him to go there first, *before* he loses control.  Cornering him after he loses control just activates his fight-or-flight instincts and makes matters worse, not better.  Give him a safe place to fly instead of fighting, and the violence will go down considerably (even if he disappears on you for hours on end, perhaps a motion detector in the room to turn on a light to let you and other family members know he's in there and to leave him alone).  Doesn't have to be very big either- just a comfortable space large enough to sit or lie down.