self injury | Autism PDD

Tj has always hit, bit or pinched himself. He was doing really well not dooing this for quite some time. Since he started school it is worse than ever. He is punching himself in the head, neck, stomach or private parts. I have tried redirecting him and it is so so. Now he is taking his aggression out on me and his sisters again. SOmetimes he can be redirected with "patty cake". I try to tell him no but he just gets worse. He is now complaining if his clothes are wet, when I wash his hair,and several other things some of which he never complained about before. All this started when he started school and we increased his meds. His teacher says he is good at school with several meltdowns, They will rock him or some other source of rought play to redirect him. He just get so tired form the meltdows he has fallen asleep in class. I guess what I am askong can he be actually getting worse. Now that ei is over and school started he is talking a lot more. It just seems like every step we take forward, we take 3 back.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Kathy

Have you talked to the school at all?? The previous school my son went to, I would let them know when his anxiety stim popped up even worse and we worked to lessen the expectations so his anxiety went down.

This included getting a separate room to do his school work when he started getting overwhelmed. The principal or VP would stay with him (as he is too high functioning for an EA). This seemed to work.

I also got him some feeley balls that he could play with so he would use that instead of his stims.

The dr also took my ds off his meds because we figured out that some of his stims weren't stims but a side effect from the meds :( He started picking his fingers when overwhelmed but that only appeared with the meds.

Good luck :)

My daughter will at times hit herself in the belly or arm (she doesn't do this often), but it is scary when she does. She is not on meds at this point.

I am sorry that your little one is going thru this ((hugs))

Kathy how old is TJ? (sorry I can't remember) My guess is he is having difficulty in the change in routine having started school back up... He may also be overstimulated /overwhelmed with all the activity going on. It will probably take a few weeks or so to settle into this routine and get things back on track. Why were the meds increased when school started? Generally speaking if they are doing ok on the current meds and dosage you don't increase meds until a few weeks into school - after they have settled into a routine and only if the dosage then no longer is efficent, Meds work best at the right dosage - too much med when it was working at a lower dosage can actually produce negative results. Also was the dosage increased gradually so he would adjust to the new level? Have you discussed this with his doctor? Have you spoken to the teacher? Does he have ways to release all his energy, stress etc at home? what about at school?

My son just started scratching himself, it happens when he is at therapy, Dr's office. Last year he started hitting, scratching others, again this occured after he lost in home therapy and started school.

You may want to read this

http://groups.msn.com/TheAutismHomePage/selfinjuriousbehavio r.msnw

I have formally requested the schooldo afunctional behavior assessment because my chils behavior (which imho is directly due to his ASD), causes him to be unable to activly participate in his FAPE

I am aorry that your child is having this problem, for me it has been one of the worst things we have faced. To see my child so overwhelmed that he actually scratched and pinched himself in order to "feel" better.