headbanging hell
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My 3 year old is head banging constantly, to the point his is bruised. I have tried to get help from his preschool, but they aren't helping. His teacher called me today to let me know that something needs to be done and that I need to get him behavioral services and a TSS worker. I immediately called to get a worker and they said I am on a long waiting list. What am I susposed to do??? He also goes to daycare for 2 hours a day 3xs a week and has been hitting kids. He is non verbal and I can't get him to make eye contact with me. I was so desperate I called his old OT from EI and she said it's propreoceptive and to work on bouncing and climbing. The preK doesn't do any thing sensory, I don't know what to do. How do I make this stop??? I went through this with my first son and it tood 6 months for it to stop. I can't mentally handle this again, please help! Thanks Kelly I have no idea if this will help or not, but can you get him a special helmet to wear to protect his head?I agree with the helmet. But he is 3 and so now doesn't that make it the schools responsibility? Don't they need to get a BCBA in there and an OT and put a plan in place? I'm confused that the teacher is telling you you need to do something about this. I would think an emergency IEP meeting needs to be called so that the team can address this issue. Hopefully someone will come along with a better answer, sorry I'm not that much help.I'll be watching this, my son head bangs too. I always stop him immediately. We have wood and ceramic floors all through our house. He will bang his head so hard. And it's like he doesn't even feel it. I so feel for you! Is he in a regular preschool or in a special program. I have to say that even my kids regular peschools had sensory activities (and tables), it seems really backwards that they don't. They have those little preschooler trampolines at many places (like 'leaps and bounds') now - maybe your school could invest in something like that. Trampoline is a great sensory asd activity. My ds did not do the headbanging but he was a senory pusher. Did not win him many friends either. We tried all kinds of sensory stuff and behavioral stuff and it went away after about 9 month. Headbanging is not uncommon, particularly in nonverbal children. The suggestion of a helmet is a good one. You can get a specially designed helmet through a special needs catalog that would help protect his head where it is impacted most. However, if he's not tolerant of hats, clothing, etc. you might wind up with increased frustration because of the sensation of having to wear it. Mr. B (my son) banged his head incessantly for about a year, sometimes as a stim, sometimes as part of a total meltdown and sometimes out of frustration and anger. We discovered through allergy testing that he was allergic to tomatoes and showing the signs through behavior. When the tomatoes disappeared from his diet, his frustration and headbanging decreased by 50%. If you haven't had your son tested for allergies, you might consider it. We also introduced PECS and using pictures for communication, as well as getting a mini-trampoline, and encouraged large movement games - in/out tunnels, climbing, stretching, jumping on the trampoline etc. All of the combination helped to decrease the sensory needs, and as his vocabulary increased through the intensive use of PECS and Baby Bumblebee videos, his frustration levels decreased. One of the other tricks I used was to give "bear hugs" - hug him tightly by wrapping myself around him from behind and rocking - that seemed to provide him deep pressure he was needing plus movement, and could often substitute for the banging. He still occasionally headbangs, but now only in extreme anger/frustration, and usually all it takes is one thump on the floor and he's done - he realizes that it now hurts worse than the feeling of being frustrated or angry You can also check the book "Out of Sync Child", which offers some headbanging/sensory advice. Some have had success in decreasing headbanging through the use of cranio-sacral massage and also the technique of Wilbarger brushing. A large exercise ball to sit and bounce on at home might help, as would one at school. They have got to put some techniques in place to assist him when this happens, not simply call you and say "get it handled". I completely empathize. It is extremely unnerving, particularly when it goes on for extended periods time and you feel completely helpless in preventing it, not to mention sleep deprived if he does it in the middle of the night. Does your child have allergies or problems with ear infections? This was the only time of year my son would bang his head, and we figured out it was due to allergies. Try to rule out any medical reasons. The helmet is a good suggestion, but you always want to go with the least restrictive first. Maybe provide a pillow and teach him to do it on there. That is what our BCBA did, and it made my son stop and think before he did it. To me, it sounds like there is a problem at school and giving the child a helmet is equivalent to giving a child who kicks things a steel toe boot so he doesn't hurt his foot. Yes, the school needs to get some professionals in to address the situation. It peeve's me to no end when the school calls and says "Johnny's" doing this YOU need to fix it... well, what the h3ll am I suppose to do ... I'm not there managing you all. I would ask for a FBA (functional behaviour assessment) by a child psychologist preferrably with behaviourial training (BCBA). We had the same sort of problems at Rozie's school; they needed help to set up the program expectations and how to manage and respond to the behaviours. Often they would inadvertently reward her when she'd headbang bite etc. We sent a letter stating we were removing Rozie from the program until this was addressed due to escalating and severity of the headbanging (she was also bruising her forehead and it was becoming a habit of response) because we felt the current program was more detrimental to her. They did fast track and FBA and replaced the aide. And, we haven't had any biting(which she also doing to the aide and childrne) headbanging has dropped to almost nonexistant. They should also look at their expectations and evaluate whether the goals are too high. This is all stuff a BCBA would assess based on the individual needs of your ds. My concern with giving the school a helmet, I think, it acts as something that continues to allow the behaviour without having to address it in triggers or rewards and staff may begin to feel they no longer need to have any responsibility. There also may be a feeling that since he's wearing a helmet he can go ahead and bang and its an accepted behaviour. Which, basically lets the school off the hook and perhaps prolongs that behaviour and makes it more ingrained or worse, it escalates. We saw an ear nose throat doctor, and it was covered by insurance. If you need it your primary care physician can refer you to one. I really encourage you to seek another placement. Your child is trying to tell you something. My youngest son hits himself in the head sometimes, but not hard enough to really hurt himself. That's bad enough for me to watch -- I feel bad that you have to be going through something much tougher. Here's an article that you might find interesting. http://www.autism-help.org/behavior-self-injury-intro.htm Good luck with everything -- I'll be thinking of you. |
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