My dd is 5 (as of Sunday!) and she has really made an effort to become the center of attention...
I am not sure if it is "typical" behavior. I know that many kids, NT, want to be the center of attention but hers is more of a controlling issue to me. She cannot stand when I praise her brother and when I talk about the upcoming baby, due in a few weeks. She jumps all over the place, right in my lap mostly and pulls my face to hers and just sits there. She acts badly and does whatever it takes to pull attention to her.
Do kids on the spectrum tend to do things like this? She has never been "aloof" but more inapropriate when it comes to social situations. Is this an age thing? Adjustment to a new little one? What suggestions does anyone have to offer me? I am at my wits end TRYING to control this situation but I am FAILING and she is out of control right now.
Thanks everyone ...
age thing. ignore it :) Figure out how you are reinforcing the behavior (maybe some negative attention is actually reinforcing it) and ensure that you no longer reinforce the behavior. Offer lots of praise when she doesn't exhibit this sort of behavior during a time she normally would.Thanks Fred, but lately it seems like there is no time for praise:) She is NON-STOP with this behavior.
I am exaggerating of course but tonight has been really hard. She just jumps right on me and like I have mentioned, I am pregnant. Its frusterating saying the same things over and over...dont jump on my belly, dont hurt your brother, the cats dont like that, leave them alone...
I guess I dont know if I am expecting too much...its hard for me because I believe she is on the spectrum but she has no dx. I dont know if she should understand me and listen to me or if its a problem that she is not because of an ASD thing...
Hope I am making sense...
it could be a combination of all 3...big change in her life, her age and ASD...I agree with Fred, any positive reinforcement you can give her will help...I know it seems like there isn't anything to praise, I've been there, but every little bit helps...also maybe something like a time-out would work...we don't use time-outs (making him sit in a chair) here, they didn't work, so we use a "break"...I have visual cards for Mason with 3 stop signs and then a picture of his room...I give him the 3 warnings and then tell him it's time for a break...I don't mind if he goes up there and plays just as long as he stays there for his duration of 5 minutes...it was a struggle at first to even get him in the room, but after a little while he became used to it and realized it didn't matter how much noise he made or how he acted, he was still going up there.
I used to count with my fingers and it didn't help at all...then I tried pictures and it really helped a lot...if your daughter is ASD, pictures might really help her visualize that you mean business about what you are saying no to.
Hope that helps a little, and good luck!
I use the count down method with Daniel. 5...4...3...2...1... If we get to 1 and he hasn't stopped his behavior, he has a time out in his room. I guess it's more of a break. We do 10 min instead of 6 (2 min for every year). We do this mainly because we've noticed anything less than 10 and he comes right back out and does what he was previously doing.